|
“DESIRABILITY” IS
THE MAGIC WORD
By
Jan Bergemann
Published November 2, 2018
The Florida
Legislature made sure that homeowners’ associations understand
how to “beat” MRTA (Marketable Record Title Act). They
added Florida Statute
FS 720.3032 to the HOA ACT.
I guess most folks
dealing with these issues know in the meanwhile that
DEED-RESTRICTIONS run out after thirty (30) years – if
not renewed in a timely manner.
But the author made
sure to add the words “desiring
to preserve covenants from potential termination after 30 years”
to this provision.
Not
all owners are really gung-ho about renewing the
deed-restrictions after finding out what homeowners’
associations are all about. There have been many lawsuits in the
past where so-called revitalization attempts were successfully
challenged in court by owners sick and tired of HOA-tyranny
after boards failed to renew the deed-restrictions in a timely
manner.
This
new provision added to the HOA Act should make it clear to
everybody what really needs to be done to continue with valid
deed-restrictions.
We
have seen in the past even so-called specialized HOA-attorneys
making serious mistakes leading to very costly lawsuits.
So,
the question is: Is preserving the covenants really desired?
I know two cases where owners actually ran for the board shortly
before the 30-year time-limit in order to stop any
revitalization attempts. In both cases they actually succeeded –
and were proud to announce that there no longer is a HOA in the
community after the time to renew the deed-restrictions.
I
guess it show that definitely not everywhere exists a
desirability to preserve the covenants.
|
|
 |
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
!
|
