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IS NOT REWRITING GOVERNING
DOCUMENTS SAVING MONEY?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
June 12, 2015
I guess the WESTWOOD GARDENS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. in
Palm Beach Gardens found out the hard way that not having one
specific sentence in their governing documents is costing them a
fortune.
In a recent court ruling the 4th DCA [Pudlit
Joint Venture LLP v. Westwood Gardens Homeowners' Association,
Inc.] ruled that the governing docs of the association
didn’t contain the all important sentence: “as amended
from time to time.” When will association boards and
their attorneys finally learn that new laws don’t automatically
apply to their association – if this sentence is missing in the
declaration.
It seems that many folks still believe that new laws are new
laws and will apply to their association.
Latest after the Supreme Court ruling in the case
Susan Cohn v. The Grand Condominium Association
everybody should know that saving a few pennies
for not re-writing the association docs can get very costly.
Community associations are based on contract law – and a contract
is binding – no matter what new laws are implemented. Make sure
your declaration contains the necessary language so new laws
will be valid for your community.
It can save you and your neighbors
lots of money!
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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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