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ARE YOU REALLY COVERED?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 17, 2023
The Florida Legislature enacted in 2013 a law for HOAs (FS
720.3033(5) that states: “(5) The
association shall maintain insurance or a fidelity bond for all
persons who control or disburse funds of the association.”
For your info: For condominiums the provision is at:
FS718.111(11)(h)
Sounds great and was intended to make property owners in
community associations sleep better. But here is the big
hang-up: Lack of Enforcement!
Have you ever checked out if your association has really
followed the law and is “maintaining
insurance or a fidelity bond for all persons who control or
disburse funds of the association”?
Let me tell you, many boards don’t even know that such provision
exists – and especially “bad” boards are avoiding to keep such
insurance or fidelity bond, And since there is no enforcement of
existing community association laws, it’s often difficult for
owners to find out if the association is in compliance of these
laws. Many bad boards are plainly refusing to allow owners to
inspect the records (including insurance policies) – see
examples like the Boca View Condominium or the Hammocks HOA.
We have seen in recent times examples where embezzlement by
board members and/or CAMs was proven, but then it turned out
that the board had failed to keep the above described insurance
or fidelity bond.
Like Eric said in his blog on Monday: “MAKE
SURE YOU’RE COVERED”
by requiring your board to show you a copy of the insurance
policy or the existence of a fidelity bond that is up-to-date.
Only after really seeing it “you can sleep better” as intended
by the Legislature when they enacted this law.
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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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