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HOA BOARD ELECTIONS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published November 22, 2024
No matter
how you look at the statutes regulating HOA election procedures
[FS
720.306(8) + (9)] it’s pretty obvious that our
legislators took the easy way out and left procedures more or
less to the governing documents of the homeowners’ association.
And that
is the reason why election disputes are often ending up in front
of an arbitrator, whose decision could then be appealed to an
administrative judge (Trial De Novo).
These
litigations can be very costly, especially since loser pays for
all the legal expenses, unlike with recalls where both parties
pay their own cost – no matter the outcome.
Considering the many problems this country has with all kinds of
elections, I find it hard to understand that the legislators
took the easy way out. Funny, they created very specific
provisions for elections in the CONDO ACT [FS
718.112(2)(d)], but HOAs are treated as the
stepchild in Tallahassee since many years.
After the
disaster in the Hammocks it looks like more HOA statutes found
their way to Tallahassee, but election procedures were not on
the menu this year. But State Representative Juan-Carlos Porras
(R-Miami) has promised to add more owner-friendly provisions to
the HOA ACT next year. Hopefully election provisions are on the
table next year. It’s so easy: Just take the language from FS
718 and you have provisions that are reasonable fool-proof.
Homeowners definitely deserve to have fir elections for board
members, and not provisions were board members can legally rig
the election to make sure they (or their friends) win again.
Never forget: Bad board members can ruin the private
financials of each homeowner of the community!
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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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