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HERE’S A LAW THAT
NEEDS TO BE PASSED PRONTO
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published March 6, 2017
For those of you who read the Miami Dade
Grand Jury Report you know that right off the bat the report
starts off with the fact that the problem of unit owner access
to records is worse than ever before. It’s a problem that exists
for decades. The Florida Legislature has no addressed the
problem at all and the grand jury’s solution is to criminally
penalize officers and directors for destroying the records and
making them personally pay monetary fines should the directors
be found to deliberately prohibit access to the records.
How about a more practical solution? An easy
one.
How about amending Florida Statute
718.111(12)
and Florida Statute 720.303(5)
to include a provision that states as follows:
All of the official records of the
condominium association shall be maintained on a website that is
accessible to all unit owners. An official record of the
association shall be posted on the website within ten days of
same coming into possession of the association and the
association shall maintain a log indicating the exact record
that was posted on the website, the date and time it was posted,
and by whom. If the association is managed by a licensed
community association manager and/or management company said
manager or company shall be responsible for timely updating the
website. If the community is not professionally managed, the
responsibility to update the website shall be the association’s
Secretary. If the Association does not have a Secretary, it
shall be the responsibility of the President. Nothing contained
herein precludes the association from contracting with an
outside vendor, other than a management company or manager, to
perform this service. The website shall not contain any of the
information referenced in 718.111(12)(c)(7). Failure of the
association to place the official records on the association’s
website as required herein, subjects the association to a
$100.00 per day penalty. Nothing herein precludes the
association from recouping this penalty from the party who
failed to timely put the records on the association’s website
and/or who obstructed the party responsible from doing so. This
shall be the sole means of access to the official records of the
association by unit owners.
The entire court system is now based on
electronic filing. There are hundreds of thousands of lawsuits
in Florida that are happening simultaneously and in every case,
every document is now filed electronically. Everyone can see
every paper that is filed. It is an amazing system that appears
to be working flawlessly. If the entire court system can work
this way, it is no big deal for a condominium to work this way.
No more complaints that the association was
hiding the records in hundreds of boxes. No more complaints that
a person failed to show up for their appointment. No more time
taken away from the manager searching for records and needlessly
sitting next to someone to ensure they don’t walk off with the
records. Managers would no longer have to deal with hysterical
screaming people in their office refusing to leave until they
see every official record that exists. No more exorbitant costs
for copies.
Management companies and/or other vendors
should be allowed to charge an additional fee for this service.
Failure to put the records on the website subjects the guilty
party to a monetary penalty and not just the association.
Managers would cooperate because they would be getting paid to
perform this additional service and they know they would face
monetary penalties and disciplinary measures if they failed to
comply with the statutory requirements.
This is not rocket science. Everyone is
posting something every day on their Facebook page or writing a
comment on a blog. Putting the condo records on a website is not
much more complicated and the requirement to do same is long
overdue.
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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