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PENNY WISE POUND FOOLISH
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published April 17, 2023
In light
of the new laws requiring mandatory inspections, mandatory
repairs and mandatory reserve studies, some associations are
looking to cut back and save money. That’s not a bad idea;
unless you’re cutting back on your legal counsel reviewing all
of the contracts provided to you by those engineers, architects
or general contractors who perform any of these inspections or
repairs.
I’m
starting to see more of this and it’s an alarming trend. It
boggles my mind that an association would spend millions of
dollars on a contract for repair of their property, but won’t
spend a few hours on their attorney reviewing that contract
first. No question in my mind that the failure of the Board to
have that contract reviewed by counsel before signing, is a
breach of their fiduciary duty to the unit owners they
represent.
I teach a
class called “Before You Sign That Contract.” It talks about so
many ways in which the association can suffer financial loss by
having the wrong clauses in the contract or by failing to insert
certain clauses into the contract. Once sentence can
potentially cost the association hundreds of thousands of
dollars. And you chose to cheap out on a few hours of
attorney’s time? Really?
Even
smaller contracts need to be reviewed. If the association does
not have the proper remedies in the contract for the
contractor’s breach, the situation can turn into a long lasting
nightmare where the association will never be made whole.
And…….the association will have to spend its own attorney’s fees
now to correct the problem with no chance of recovering them
later on.
We are
about to enter into a historic time here in Florida where these
types of contracts will be flying off the shelves. They will be
everywhere, in every condominium. Be careful. If you didn’t
hear me the first time, I said BE CAREFUL AND DON’T BE
CHEAP. GET LEGAL HELP BEFORE SIGNING.
DON’T COME TO ME AFTER YOU SIGNED A CONTRACT AND SAY “HEY
ERIC…OUR ASSOCIATION SIGNED THIS MULTI MILLION DOLLAR CONTRACT.
CAN YOU NOW GET US OUT OF IT?
THE ANSWER IS OFTEN TIMES……NO I CANNOT. YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED
ME TO LOOK AT IT BEFORE SIGNING IT.
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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 three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 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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