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IT’S A NECESSITY TO CARRY THE RIGHT INSURANCE
By
Jan Bergemann
Published May 18, 2018
If the association doesn’t carry necessary insurance it can
create financial havoc among its members.
Over the years, especially after hurricanes, many owners lost
their homes because the association didn’t have the right
insurance policies – or carried insurance policies with very
high deductibles – without having reserves to cover the
deductibles.
Owners should never forget: THEIR HOMES ARE COLLATERAL FOR
ANY DEBT THE ASSOCIATION OCCURS!
But not only hurricanes create financial havoc because lack of
the right insurance policy – so can scams and embezzlement.
In recent times we have seen many reports of scams and
embezzlement by board members and community association
managers. Because of it we fought in 2013 to add a
provision to HB 7119 requiring all associations to carry
insurance or a fidelity bond.
See: FS718.111(11)(h) + FS720.3033(5) The
association shall maintain insurance or a fidelity bond for all
persons who control or disburse funds of the association……….
But, as we have seen in quite a few recent cases, boards fail to
follow the law and the damages still are being covered by the
membership. Another reason why “easy” enforcement of the
law is so important for the welfare of the owners.
Shouldn’t our legislators see the necessity to ensure
enforcement of the laws they are enacting year for year?
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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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