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BUT THEY DON’T EVEN LIVE HERE!
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published October 9, 2023
Election season is beginning in all of our condos and HOAs. Now
is the time that most of your associations are sending out their
first notices of the annual meeting and people are returning a
notice that says they want to run for a seat on the Board of
Directors.
Each year, without fail, I get a complaint from someone that
says a particular unit owner should not be allowed to run for a
seat on the board because they only live in the condominium or
HOA half the year. I tell them time and again that as long as
they otherwise meet the criteria (no prior felony conviction
where civil rights have not been restored for at least five
years or being delinquent in assessments) the snowbird has the
right to run. It gets a lot of people mad. They think that
someone who lives in the community half the year, cannot
possibly be a good board member because they cannot physically
attend a board meeting. With the invention of ZOOM, physical
presence at the board meeting clearly isn’t necessary.
And then there’s the next person who quite possibly may be able
to run for the Board. Hold on to your hat now. A person who
doesn’t even own a home or unit in your community. You heard me
right. Sometimes you can review the bylaws over and over and
there is simply no requirement for a board member to own a
property in the community in which they are a board member.
Clearly, it would be difficult for such a person to run for the
Board, because only owners are entitled to notice of the
election. However, I have personally been involved with
condominiums where once the board is elected, the members need
to fill an open vacancy and look outside of their community
association if the governing docs allow for it. Sometimes they
know someone who is an accountant or an engineer that they
believe would make a great fit for the board, and as long as
that person is willing, the board appoints them to fill a
vacancy and/or makes them an Officer.
There are some people that are willing to serve on multiple
boards at the same time. There are some people willing to serve
on boards in places they don’t even live. Even if I think that
these people are sadists, no doubt that they can lend a helping
hand to communities where it’s difficult to find others willing
to serve.
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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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