|
THE EMERGENCY IS OVER!
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published July 19, 2021
On June 27th, Florida was no longer considered to be
in a State of Emergency. Governor Desantis did not renew the
emergency order. So that means all of the emergency powers that
Boards of Directors of condominiums and HOAs had during the
COVID pandemic have expired.
The question is…….in practical terms --- what does that really
mean for owners living in condominiums and hoas? Other than
re-opening all of your amenities, I am hoping for not much
changes at all. I’ve always said, an amazing thing happened
over the pandemic. We all learned how to have zoom meetings and
participation at board and unit owner meetings was higher than
ever before. Just because the state of emergency is over
doesn’t mean we should stop allowing unit owners the right to
show up at meetings via zoom.
I have been asked if going forward we need to have a physical
place for the board meeting --- or can everyone simply continue
to show up by zoom? Well, as the law stands right now…….. there
must be a physical place for the meeting. Unit owners have a
right to physically go to a meeting. But when they get to that
meeting, all of the Board members have the right to appear not
in person, but by zoom. The directors have that right, but
under the current statute the unit owners do not. That needs to
be changed.
Many of you have canceled your elections for the past year.
What should you be doing now? This is a little tougher to
answer because the law is unclear. Keep in mind that it
generally takes over two months to notice the owners and send
out the voting materials and have an election. So, I can only
tell you what I think would be reasonable: If you did not have
an annual meeting within the last year, and if your by laws say
your annual meeting and election is at least 6 months away, I
think you should immediately have an election now, and then
again on the date provided in your bylaws. Yes, you would have
to do it twice.
There
is nothing in the law that would allow Board members to serve a
two year term with no election, even with the Pandemic in
effect. On the other hand, if you have not had an annual
meeting within the last year and according to your bylaws your
election is only 6 months or less away, no need to have two
elections --- that would be silly ---just comply with the date
in your bylaws going forward.
I think we can officially say that as far as Covid goes --- the
crisis is over and we’re back to the way things always were. No
more closing down pools, no more prohibiting guests, no more
preventing deliveries, no more mandating masks, no more
canceling annual meetings, no more canceling budget meetings.
Bottom line ---- it’s back to business.
And I for one am thrilled.
|
|
About
HOA & Condo Blog
 |
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.
|
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.
|
