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ARE BOARD MEMBERS ABOVE THE LAW?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published July 7, 2023
There is not one day that the media is not reporting about some
sort of serious violation committed by the board of a Florida
community association.
In many cases these boards have been warned that their actions
are violating the Florida statutes. But many of these board
members just don’t care. They think they are above the law.
Often they are being informed by the association attorneys that
statutes are being violated by their actions, but these warnings
often come with a statement like: “Don’t worry, even if people
complain and even sue, there is no punishment for your actions.”
Why should board members afraid of violating the laws if there
is no punishment?
Many association attorneys even support these board members and
cover up for them – going as far as telling owners complaining
about the actions of the board at board meetings: “Sit down and
shut up! You don’t have enough money to sue the association
anyway!”
The latest serious example: “THE
HAMMOCKS FRAUD CASE!”
The Hammocks’ board members couldn’t have done it without the
help of the association attorney who must have known full well
what was going on! And I hope that SA Katherine Fernandez Rundle
will add him to the list of defendants in that case.
Bad board members can destroy the financial welfare of the
owners real fast. They have a huge responsibility and should be
held responsible for “violations” they committed, especially if
they were officially informed that their actions could cause
serious harm to the owners of the community. And it should start
with mandatory education – with a refreshing course once a year
– to learn about the laws and rules governing their association.
You may ask why a refreshing course? Imagine a condo board
member attended a board certification seminar two years ago and
remained on the board. Does he/she know about all the new
regulations enacted by the Florida Legislature in the last two
years? Definitely 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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