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FLORIDA STATUTES? WHO CARES?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
June 10, 2016
The hype about illegally charged transfer fees is just another
example that the powers to be plainly don’t care what the
statutes say. It’s an issue that has been discussed in
Tallahassee since quite a few years. The service providers have
been claiming that the set fee of $100 per applicant is not
sufficient to cover the cost of background checks etc.
Obviously, the legislators didn’t agree with the “industry” and
refused to jack-up the cost for transfer fees.
But that didn’t stop boards and management companies to charge
applicants hundreds of dollars – totally ignoring the clear
language in community association law.
Let’s make one thing very clear: The provision was created to
enable associations, where screening of new owners and
renters is allowed by the governing documents, to charge the
cost of such screenings to the potential owners and renters. The
provision was not created to put some extra profit in the
pockets of greedy boards and community association managers. But
that’s what it looks like nowadays – and it happens not only in
South Florida, as the article in the Miami Herald assumed, but
it happens all over Florida.
I got a real good laugh when I read the comments of the folks
breaking these laws. Their excuse was in my opinion about as
ridiculous as stupid excuses can be: CAMs are independent
contractors and are not bound by community association law.
But they are agents of the association and the association has
to follow the laws – like it or not! By the way, if these folks
would bother to read FS 468.436(2) 7.
[Violating any provision of chapter 718, chapter 719, or chapter
720 during the course of performing community association
management services pursuant to a contract with a community
association as defined in s. 468.431(1)] they would realize
that they are bound by these laws as well.
And I’m pretty sure that quite a lot of board members don’t even
have a clue about all the extra income these CAMs are creating
for themselves.
Make no mistake: Many CAM companies bill these applicants
directly – and the money never shows up in any association
accounts.
It’s done because the folks who permanently violate Florida laws
know that nothing will happen to them if they get caught
red-handed. Violations of community association law are so
common that nobody seems to care any more about violating these
laws. Many professionals plainly ignore them!
When will the Florida legislature acknowledge that all the laws
created by them to regulate community associations, will be
useless without the necessary enforcement. Laws are only as good
as the punishment for breaking these laws.
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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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