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RULES, RULES – AND MORE RULES!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published April 17, 2020
Let’s face it: Many
of us are always complaining about all the rules our government
is imposing on us. But in all reality: Government is imposing a
lot less rules on us than community associations.
Living in a
community association means that your daily life is governed by
rules, often imposed by dictatorial boards who have no clue what
they are doing. These boards are only too often listening to
attorneys and CAMs, whose views are more often guided by dollar
signs than by common sense -- or the actual statutes and rules
governing these community associations.
One of the most
common reasons for lawsuits and/or arbitration are rules imposed
by power-hungry boards. Many board members don’t understand that
their rule-making powers are limited – and many of the rules
they are trying to enact are actually requiring the vote of
approval by a super-majority of the membership in order to
become enforceable.
Especially HOA
boards (FS 720) often ignore the fact that we helped in 2007 to
enact the bill that created
FS 720.3035 (Architectural
control covenants; parcel owner improvements; rights and
privileges).
This provision in the HOA ACT severely limits the
power of boards to create rules that are not based on provisions
already included in the original declaration of covenants.
HOA board members –
and owners – should read this paragraph in the statutes more
carefully – and obey by it. Otherwise these board members may
learn about it the hard way: A costly court ruling telling them
that they made rules they were not entitled to make!
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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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