By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published
October 7, 2013
Let's
do the blog a little differently this week.
Before reading on, click here and watch this report and
then come back:
Kissimmee HOA walks off with residents' trash bins
Now
that you watched the news report, I would love to get your
thoughts. Here's
mine. These garbage
cans were stolen from people's property.
Period. The
association keeps justifying this bizarre move by stating that
everyone had advanced notice that their garbage cans were going
to be removed from the property.
So what? There's
still not a provision in the governing documents that allowed
this association to send its landscapers on to the owner's
property and take what isn't theirs.
One neighbor said it best when questioning whether this
H.O.A. would now take bicycles left out on the lawn.
As
you know, Jan and I will be advocating this upcoming legislative
session for the Department of Business and Professional
Regulation to start overseeing homeowner associations just like
they are already doing for condominium associations.
This case demonstrates a perfect example of why this is
necessary. This
particular Board is still arrogant enough to warn people that
it's going to keep happening to them.
They are not going to stop.
The owner's property is going to repeatedly get removed
from their own homes. Now,
if this were happening in a condominium, any owner would
immediately have the ability to file a complaint with the
D.B.P.R., an investigator would be assigned and a letter would
go out to the Board advising them to cut the nonsense or face
fines and penalties in the future.
Because this is an unregulated homeowner's association
however, these homeowners have nobody to complain to and must
take legal measures to stop the association's abuse.
You
wonder why I pushed so hard for certification and educational
courses for H.O.A. directors this past legislative session?
Look no further than this case as a perfect example of
why I thought it was necessary.
Although, it would not surprise me one bit if this
particular Board signed or will sign the self serving all
knowing affidavit that says they read their governing documents,
instead of spending a few hours at an educational seminar.
After all, they don't have the time for a class.
They're too busy walking the streets looking to take
their neighbor's garbage
cans.
