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KAUFMAN LANGUAGE – TOTAL NONSENSE!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published June 7, 2024
For me, being born and raised in Germany and having worked in
many different European countries until I was 39 years old, it
is very difficult to understand how a contract can make the
Constitution and/or the law of the land moot.
When the Florida Supreme Court ruled in the case of
Cohn v. The Grand Condominium,
it
created nothing but total chaos in Florida’s community
associations, especially if the governing documents of the
association didn’t carry the Kaufman Language – “as amended
from time to time”!
Just imagine you own property in a condo that was built in 1986.
There was no CONDO ACT (FS 718) and even FS 607 (FLORIDA
BUSINESS CORPORATION ACT) and FS 617 (Corporations Not
For Profit) was very different than it is today. Good luck
finding out what the laws that actually regulate your condo
associations really are. Even on the website of the Florida
Senate, which I always use to find the latest version of all
laws, you can only find laws dating back to 1997. Now what?
It’s no more: Is your association regulated by FS 718 or FS 720?
No! It’s: Do the governing documents of your association have
the Kaufman language? In most cases the answer will be: “How
would I know?” It’s already often difficult enough to get an
answer to the question: “Do you live in a condo or an HOA?”
This nonsense has to end – rather sooner than later. In the next
legislative session – or if there is a special session in
between – the Florida Legislature has to find the necessary
language to make all community associations obey to the latest
laws – Kaufman language or not!
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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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