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HB 623 – MAKE LAWYERS EVEN RICHER!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published January 17, 2020
There
is no argument about the Division of
Florida Condominiums,
Timeshares, and Mobile Homes being horrible. But in all reality
it’s not the system or the laws, it’s the employees of the
Division being unwilling to do their job – the job they are
getting paid for by our tax-money. The arbitration section of
the Division is manned by incompetent people, who are rather
making up their own laws instead of following the laws as
enacted by our legislators. We have seen outrageous rulings,
rulings that ignore the intent of the laws and create havoc
among owners and attorneys alike.
But throwing out the baby with the bathwater is
definitely not the right solution to this serious problem. But
HB 623 is doing just that – much to the joy of Florida’s
specialized community association attorneys. Add to the bill the
provisions the attorneys are planning on adding to the bill once
it goes forward! This bill – if enacted – serves only one
purpose: MAKE ATTORNEYS EVEN RICHER!
It
leaves unit-owners with even less protection than they have now.
Make no mistake: The solution to the problem attempted in this
bill will cost associations and owners a pretty penny, because
they will pay even more than they do now.
Florida statutes FS 718.501 has admittedly flaws, but it’s about
100% better than what HOAs regulated by FS 720 have to deal
with. In my opinion enacting HB 623 will be a financial disaster
for the more than 1.5 million condo owners in Florida. And this
in an election year! Do our legislators really believe that the
votes of these attorneys will count more than the votes of about
1.5 million condo-owners and their families? Our government
officials want the property taxes of these condo owners, but
they are obviously unwilling to protect the financial welfare of
their voters!
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Jan Bergemann is president of Cyber Citizens For Justice,
Florida
's largest state-wide property owners' advocacy group.
CCFJ works on legislation to help owners living in
community
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associations. He moved to
Florida
in 1995 - hoping to retire. He moved into a HOA, where the
developer cheated the homeowners and used the association dues
for his own purposes. End of retirement!
CCFJ was born in the year 2000, when some owners met in
Tallahassee
- finding out that power is only in numbers. Bergemann was a
member of Governor Jeb Bush's HOA Task force in 2003/2004.
The organization has two websites to inform interested
Florida
homeowners and condo owners:
News Website: http://www.ccfj.net/.
Educational Website: http://www.ccfjfoundation.net/.
We think that only owners can really represent owners, since all
service providers surely have a different interest! We are
trying to create owner-friendly laws, but the best laws are
useless without enforcement. And enforcement is totally lacking
in
Florida
!
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