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WHO TO TURN TO FOR HELP
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published May 4, 2015
My column two weeks ago regarding the estoppel fee bill and what
has happened since, has proven a point made long ago by fellow
blogger Jan Bergemann. The community association laws are
written by, directed, guided and championed, not by the people
who live in these communities, but rather by the people that
provide service to these communities.
In the last two weeks I have received many e-mails
from law firms and not for profit entities that claim to have
the association’s best interests always at heart, all taking the
position that the estoppel fee bill “continues
to threaten Florida neighborhoods. The consequence of these
bills is a significant financial burden on the nearly 9,000,000
homeowners and residents living in Florida’s community
associations.” I have yet to see one word in any of this e-mail
propaganda about how it actually hurts a community association
financially. Only broad sweeping statement with no factual
support.
I guess if a management company wants to charge the
association more than what the association will be allowed to
charge by law to the unit owner it hurts the association. On
the other hand, if a management company can’t do an estoppel
letter for a fee that will now range between $250.00 and $450.00
the association may want to look for a new management company.
Why would this fight for a reasonable cap on an estoppel fee be
fought so hard? I know you think your interests are protected
here because you paid to join one of the several organizations
that say they have the homeowner’s interests at heart. If they
say it’s bad, they must be right. Here’s the thing……..
These organizations are all controlled by service providers.
Every one. They’re even controlled by the ones that get paid
to prepare the estoppel letters.
In addition to the service providers, you are all
fighting the developers. Make no mistake about it, if a
scientist issued an opinion today that there is gold lying
underneath each and every Florida condominium and HOA, tomorrow
The Florida Legislature would pass a law that allows the
developer to immediately tear down your home, dig up and keep
the gold, and then charge you again to put your house back
together.
If you have any doubt about what I opine here, just
look at the legislation that has been passed in general over the
past decade or so. Management agreements used to be limited to
a three year contract. That’s gone. Bulk buyers who are really
developers now are allowed to buy up your whole community and
have no corresponding developer obligations at all. Even worse,
if they own 80% of the units, they get to kick you out of your
home despite the fact that you are paying your mortgage and your
assessments. The Florida Legislature passed a law that provides
that developers in an HOA don’t have to give warranties for what
they build, despite the 5th District Court of Appeals
saying they do provide such a warranty. The banking industry
still gets away with murder by almost not having to pay any
assessments that are due on a unit when they foreclose and take
back ownership. This is despite the fact that the other unit
owners are paying to in effect maintain the bank’s collateral
while the bank drags their feet for years. All the while, these
service provider dominated organizations push for more and more
laws that allow unit owners to fight with each other. For
example, delinquent owners can be prevented from running for the
Board, from remaining on the Board, from voting and from using
the common elements. I routinely ask at my seminars if any of
these bills have helped community associations and the
resounding answer is NO. After all, nobody is going to pay back
the association thousands of dollars because they lost the right
to vote or be on the Board. On the contrary, they feel you
should be paying them to be on the Board.
Jan Bergemann and I do not agree on everything when
it comes to the community association industry. However, there
is only one organization that I am aware of that truly has the
interests of the unit owners at heart. There is only one
organization that does not have a single service provider
directing its course. That organization is Cyber Citizens For
Justice. Take a look at the legislation that Cyber Citizens for
Justice helped get passed two years ago and what they have been
pushing for the past two years if you want to learn where their
heart is.
Service providers are essential to the community
association industry. There are so many exceptional management
companies, law firms, accounting firms, landscape companies and
the like. Many of these companies not only provide outstanding
service, but also go above and beyond and strive to educate the
community association industry in the classroom. In fact, I am
an attorney that represents community associations. That makes
me a service provider too. I’m proud to be one. It is an honor
to be able to represent community associations throughout
Florida. However, I call it as I see it. If you live in a
community association, what happens now and in your future is
dependent upon attorneys like me, other service providers, banks
and developers.
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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 eight
attorney law firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and
Naples.
The
firm also has satellite offices in Tampa and Fort Myers.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze and
HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show 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 8,000 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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