By Eric Glazer, Esq.

Published September 30, 2013

As many of you know, the State of Florida has no idea how many HOA’s there are, or where they are located.  In effect, HOA's have largely been out of sight and out of mind at the legislative level for quite some time, until this past session.  Make no mistake, HOA's and HOA reform received lots of attention this year and should see a lot of attention next year.  However, as a good start, The Florida Legislature thought best to first get a handle on finding out just how many HOA's there are and where they are located.  So, the new law requires that by November 22^nd, 2013 the community association manager, or management firm, or the association when there is no community association manager, shall report to the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes, the following information:

• Name of the association,

• Federal employer i.d. number,

• Mailing and physical addresses,

• Total number of parcels, and

• Total amount of revenues and expenses. 

There is no fee involved.  The DBPR form can be found on-line by clicking here:  http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/hoa.html 

Some people have acted like The Florida Legislature just required all of their HOA members to sign up for the draft.  That's hardly the case.  Perhaps we can pass even better laws if we know how many people those laws  would be effecting, where they are located and the average amount of their HOA budgets and expenses.  Perhaps by getting these numbers in place now, we can learn that the DBPR can provide consumer assistance to both HOAs and condominiums at a price of less than $4.00 per unit as currently charged to condominiums.  Isn't it worth finding out?  Especially when the cost for HOAs to register with the state is zero?

As an aside, one of the best parts of HB 7119 that passed, is the ability for HOA members to get certified just like condominium members can.  I am proud to announce that I will be teaching a class that certifies both condo and HOA directors on the following dates in 2013:

October 10^th, - 9:00 a.m. – at the Miami Beach Convention Center ;

October 16^th, - 9:00 a.m. at the West Palm Beach Convention Center ;

October 24^th, 8:00 a.m. at the Tampa Bay Condo and HOA Expo;

November 16^th, 9:00 am. at the Holiday Inn at Universal Studios in Orlando ;

December 4^th, 8:00 a.m. at the South Florida Cooperator Expo in Fort Lauderdale .

Come learn all about certification, budgets, proper procedure for meetings, hierarchy of your documents, suspensions of voting and use rights, foreclosures, collections, whether or not new laws apply in your community and much much more.  There's also lots of questions asked from the audience.    To register for any of these free seminars, please go to www.condocrazeandhoas.com.