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TURF
WAR
FOUGHT ON THE BACK OF OWNERS
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
February 14, 2014
Since
last years a TURF
WAR is raging between association attorneys and
community association managers. No matter who wins or loses –
the owners of properties located in
Florida
’s community associations will in the end pay the price. Make
no mistake: Both sides say it’s about the definition of Unlicensed
Practice of Law, but in reality it’s about money: Who
can bill the association for what?
While
the attorneys turned to the Florida Supreme Court to protect
their turf, the community association managers turned to the
Florida
legislature for help.
In
my opinion the “wish lists” of both sides go too far. In a
way both sides have valid arguments, but both sides want too
much. There are things attorneys should do and there are things
CAMs should do. Once formal templates for letters are set up,
why do we need an attorney to mail it? On the other hand, it’s
often a matter of liability and who pays for “wrong” advice?
Take
for example "calculating the votes required for a quorum or
to approve a proposition or amendment." Many lawsuits are
being filed disputing the numbers being used. Who will pay for
the damages caused by a wrong “calculation” if the board
followed the advice of a
CAM
?
I
get daily copies of e-mails written by CAMs. In many cases these
e-mails show that these CAMs have no clue what they are talking
about. Make no mistake: There are quite a few incompetent CAMs
working in
Florida
. Admittedly, there are as well quite a few very knowledgeable
CAMs around, but who decides who is knowledgeable and who
isn’t? Most likely a judge when it comes to a lawsuit. The
above topic is pretty difficult -- even attorneys seem to have a
problem with figuring out the right numbers. Imagine the
CAM
advises the board wrongly? Who pays for the cost of the wrong
"calculation?" Too many boards rely on the
"wisdom" of CAMs. In this case mistakes can get very
expensive! But for whom -- the
CAM
? This will be a hot topic. If the CAMs take over the
responsibility – and are allowed to charge for it -- they
should as well take over the liability!
The
House Civil Justice Subcommittee will file two committee bills
supporting the side of the CAMs, in the moment listed as PCB
CJS 14-02 (Duties of CAMs and Association Liens) and
PCB
CJS 14-03 (Exemptions to Unlicensed Practice of
Law).
These
are the legislative answers to the wish list of the attorneys
given to the Florida Supreme Court.
That
leaves the question: Wouldn’t it make sense if both parties
sit down and come up with reasonable solutions instead of trying
to find out who has a bigger clout in the Florida Supreme Court
and/or in the Legislature?
But
to put it all in perspective: While attorneys and CAMs are
fighting among each other for bigger profits, they still lobby
united when it comes to bills pending in the
Florida
legislature that will create bigger profits for service
providers. They are still united when it comes to charging the
associations – meaning the owners!
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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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