|
UPDATE ON CONDO BILL SB 154
By
Jan Bergemann
Published April 14, 2023
The big
CONDO RELIEF BILL SB 154 made it through the Senate
after undergoing many changes in various committees. And the
bill got a 40:0 approval rate, something that doesn’t happen
very often. Read here the
ENROLLED VERSION OF SB 154 as voted upon on the
Senate floor. The bill is now In Messages to the House, where it
is expected to be voted upon favorably. The companion bill HB
1395 would still face to more committee hearings.
But if condo owners in hi-rises expected financial relief from
this bill they will be utterly disappointed. The sponsor of the
House companion bill, Representative Vicky Lopez already stated
that the Legislature will deal with the financial problems
created by last year’s special session bill SB-4D next year. May
sound promising, but it will not help the many families who will
not be able to pay the much higher monthly maintenance bills we
have already seen popping up in many of these hi-rise
condominiums.
That leaves the question: Will we see another foreclosure
disaster as we saw in 2007 or will we see a market flooded with
condos up for sale because lots of families will run out of
money and will have no other choice as to either waiting for the
association to foreclose on their homes or quickly sell their
homes on a market that most likely will see a big drop of prices
for all these units.
In all honesty: I don’t think the Legislature did their
homework!
|
|
 |
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
|
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
!
|
