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DIVISION OF FLORIDA CONDOMINIUMS, TIMESHARES,
AND MOBILE HOMES: PRETTY USELESS!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
December 9, 2016
Yes, Florida’s community associations
desperately need a regulatory agency with strong enforcement
power – but the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares,
and Mobile Homes is not it.
This Division is another government agency that only serves the
purpose of employees getting their pay check – with no use for
the people (condo-owners) who are paying for it.
Over the years we have seen many decisions made by this agency
that are either false, create “laws” that don’t exist or
interpret things the wrong way. The people in charge of the
Division have obviously “power” problems – and they clearly fail
to understand that it’s the Florida legislature that enacts the
laws – laws the Division is supposed to enforce – not to add
non-existing language to the statutes.
The latest example of their total incompetence: Their
“interpretation” of the statutes [FS 718.112(2)(l)] regarding
the retrofitting of sprinkler-systems in condominiums. Why
trying to force somebody to opt-out of something they don’t have
to do in the first place?
Some of the decisions made by the Division leadership – and
employees – have caused havoc among the owners – and even
financial hardship. But that happens if you pay low wages: You
get only the “talent” nobody else wants – and you get decisions
that make no sense.
When Division Chief Michael Cochran retired and was replaced by
Kevin Stanfield I was happy because I was under the – obviously
wrong – impression that a knowledgeable guy took office – a
person that had attended many town-hall meetings and had heard
the endless complaints of the condo-owners. Boy was I wrong!
Instead of taking a turn to the better, the Division took a turn
to the worse – and there seems to be no end to the downfall!
Since many years I have pleaded with Florida’s legislators to
increase the salaries of the Division employees in order to
attract better talent. The money is there – paid for by the
condo-owners into the Condo Trust fund. But it’s obvious that
our legislators rather spent the money on some frivolous issues
instead of the purpose it was intended for.
And that is the reason why condo-owners face the disaster of
being “regulated” by a Division with totally incompetent
leadership.
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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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