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SHOULD
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO RENT YOUR CONDO OR YOUR HOME?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
February 28, 2014
Since
it’s your property, you definitely should have the right to
rent it out -- within certain limits. Renting out your property
is not always a decision caused by the idea of making profits.
Health, job change or many other reasons may cause you to make
it necessary to rent out your property! It's not something you
can easily predict -- and it's often not your choice to make it
necessary to rent out your property.
In
2004, long before the foreclosure crisis, we fought long and
hard in Tallahassee to get one single sentence added to Florida
statutes FS 718.110:
(13) An amendment
prohibiting unit owners from renting their units or altering the
duration of the rental term or specifying or limiting the number
of times unit owners are entitled to rent their units during a
specified period applies only to unit owners who consent to the
amendment and unit owners who acquire title to their units after
the effective date of that amendment.
This
single sentence was the legislative response to the ruling of
the Florida Supreme Court: Woodside
v. Jahren – and that provision is still valid
today.
This
court-ruling caused a lot of hardship among owners who had
bought investment property for the sole purpose to rent it out.
With the help of Senator James King (†) we succeeded to get
this sentence added, protecting such owners against new rules
prohibiting them from renting out their units.
But
obviously this clear sentence is too strong and too precise for
certain attorneys who make their money by creating disputes.
This year we see another attempt to water down this provision in
companion bills H807/S798
(Moraitis/Ring):
(13)
An amendment that prohibits
prohibiting unit owners
from renting their units or altering the duration of the rental
term or that specifies or limits
specifying or limiting the
number of times unit owners are entitled to rent their units
during a specified period does not
apply applies only
to unit owners who voted against
consent to the amendment.
However, such amendment applies to unit owners who consented to
the amendment, who failed to cast a vote, or and
unit owners who acquired
acquire title to their
units after the effective date of the
that amendment.
On
first view it doesn’t look like much of a change, but as usual
the problem is in the detail. And that’s the trap hidden in
this amended provision – called a clarification in order to
deceive unsuspecting owners. Like usual: Nothing is further from
the truth. Remember the fact that the original language required
an owner to agree to the rule change – in writing. Now – if
this provision is enacted – it allows this rule to be imposed
on people who just didn’t vote on approval/disapproval of this
new rule.
Don’t
forget, it is common practice for owners who don’t agree with
amendments not to vote at all, since no-votes don’t count for
anything. By law a certain percentage of “votes
of approval” are required to pass an amendment. So, if
this “clarification” to existing law passes, people who
don’t vote – or are even not informed that such a vote is
taking place – will lose their voting rights without even
knowing it – and more costly lawsuits (billing hours) are in
the making.
That’s why I always say: Don’t trust lawyers’ lobbying
groups claiming to lobby “for” associations – and
legislators who file such bills that are clearly against the
interests of owners!
Oh,
by the way: As usual homeowners owning property in homeowners’
associations don’t have such consumer protection at all. They
are – as usual – treated like step-children of society!
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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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