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HB 919 – THE REMAINS OF A ONCE GREAT BILL
By
Jan Bergemann
Published June 23, 2023
When HB 919 (Click
here for originally filed version) was filed by
Representative Juan Carlos Porras on February 16, 2023
(companion bill SB 1114 filed by Senator Ana Maria
Rodriguez) it was an excellent bill that would have helped condo
owners and homeowners (FS 718 and FS 720) to deal with scams,
fraud and embezzlement. The provisions of the bill would have
created enforcement and would have – especially important for
condo owners – protected the reserve funds they are now forced
to create – see
SB 154 (Chapter 2023-203).
Here are the few crumbs left for homeowners in
HB 919 – Chapter 2023-228
But after incoming speaker Daniel
Perez was done butchering the bill there is not much left to
really protect homeowners. The provisions left in the ruins of
this bill may sound good, but it is again up to the owner to
finance the enforcement. The remains of the bill make sure that
there is plenty of extra income for the association attorney.
Protection for condo owners was
totally deleted. Obviously Perez thinks that there are
absolutely no problems in condos.
And to crown Perez’s efforts, in a
last minute deal a very important protection for homeowners was
removed and the original version of FS 720.305 was reinstated: “A
fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien against a parcel.”
This is a horrible provision and enables bad boards to
“blackmail” homeowners. It’s being used against unwanted
candidates and owners who don’t agree with actions of board
and/or management. Remember, in FS 718 liens for fines are
prohibited. But Perez seems to think that homeowners living in
mandatory homeowners’ associations are only second class
citizens. It looks like he is not interested in the votes of
more than 2.5 million families living in these homes.
It us pretty obvious that Perez
just can't help himself: He has to make sure that his attorney
colleagues have one great pay-day after another: At thev expense
of the people who elected him.
There are a few good provisions left.
The bill approved by the Governor contains some "threats"
against “bad” board members, but these threats are pretty empty
because it is again left to owners to “finance” the enforcement
of these provisions. That means that owners will hear again
attorneys and board members telling homeowners at meetings: “Sit
down and shut up – you don’t have the money to sue us anyway!”
I always have to laugh about
legislators who think that they can do the bad deeds behind
closed doors without the public knowing. They seem to forget
that many of the staff members live in condos and/or homeowners’
associations – and they don’t like what these “elected”
officials are doing.
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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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