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WHAT’S REALLY SCARY?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published November 1, 2024
I hope you all had fun at Halloween
and saw enough scary costumes – and not too many bad tricks!
But many condo owners living in older
hi-rise buildings are really scared about losing their homes due
to the provisions of the newly enacted
CONDO SAFETY BILL.
Let’s face it: Folks living in
well-maintained buildings with well-funded reserves can continue
to live in their homes without being scared. But others are
getting into serious financial trouble after the provisions of
the bill (HB
1021) revealed the total price of living in a condo
at the beach. Recent reports revealed that there are many older
buildings were maintenance and repairs were totally neglected
and reserve funds are non-existing.
State Representative Julio Robaina and
CCFJ had been trying to include mandatory fully funded reserves
into FS 718 after the train-wreck hurricane Wilma caused in 2005
and many buildings didn’t even have enough money to pay for the
insurance deductibles to repair the damages to the building.
Julio and I went to various town hall meetings trying to
convince owners that mandatory fully funded reserves are really
needed to avoid future big special assessments and foreclosures
on homes where owners were unable to pay for these special
assessments.
But the lobbyists of the CAI and the
Florida Bar, supported by many condo owners killed the idea of
such a bill and it never came to pass. Instead the legislature
allowed a bill to be enacted that allowed condo owners to vote
down fully funded reserves year for year. And many did!
I guess many of these owners now
regret voting against fully funded reserves because they are now
facing huge special assessments many of them will be unable to
afford.
Well, in case Halloween wasn’t scary
enough for many condo owners, what is happening now on the condo
market is really scary, but it was predictable. Warnings were
written on the wall, but too many folks were willing to plainly
ignore these warnings. And I’m sorry to say: Now the bill is
due!
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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 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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