MORE LEGISLATIVE NONSENSE:
REVOCATION OF VOTING RIGHTS IN HOAs!

By Jan Bergemann

Published April 6, 2012

This is another typical example of the nonsense coming out of Tallahassee – nonsense homeowners living in homeowners’ associations regulated by FS 720 have to live with. In their desperate attempts to throw bread crumbs to the complaining owners who had to pay the dues for their non-paying neighbors while protecting the banks that caused the whole financial disaster in community associations, legislators came up with absolutely weird ideas to appease the desperate owners – and did more harm than good.  In 2011 the Florida legislators in their infinite wisdom passed a bill [H1195/S530] that included a provision stating that board members “may suspend the voting rights of a parcel or member for the nonpayment of any monetary obligation due to the association that is more than 90 days delinquent.” [FS720.305(4)]

The wording of this bill is just about everything that dictatorial boards had been looking for.

1.) The word MAY allows the board members to take their pick: They can revoke the voting rights of their foes while leaving the voting rights of their friends intact if they so please, to make sure that the board members will be reelected.

2.) The definition of the words any monetary obligation allows a wide range of options – and gives boards some more great dictatorial tools. The word ANY really means ANY OBLIGATION, not just unpaid regular maintenance dues. This wording allows board members to revoke the voting rights of any neighbor they don’t like or they think will be voting against them. Considering the wording of the statutes, it’s really easy to find the necessary non-payment of monetary obligations. Just cash the monthly maintenance check late – and create late fees, interest to be paid and legal fees. If the owner doesn’t want to pay these “invented obligations”, the board can revoke the voting rights. Pay or don’t vote! If all other attempts fail, board members can always levy a fine for any made-up charge – no need to prove the reasons for the fine. They can blackmail the disliked owner with an amount of up to $1,000. Pay or don’t vote! What more legal tools can a dictator wish for to stay in power?

And if that wording isn’t bad enough, take a look at what it doesn’t say in the statutes. It allows the revocation of voting rights, but lacks a provision deducting the number of revoked voting rights from the number of total voting interests. That can have even worse effects. In some hard-hit communities board members can revoke enough voting rights to make it impossible to amend the governing documents, hold membership meetings with elections or even recall the board. There are not enough owners with voting rights left to reach the required number of votes needed to hold elections, hold a recall or amend the governing docs. And if enough homes are empty and abandoned, the board doesn’t even have to revoke voting rights. Once in office, they will stay there forever – or minimum until the economy recovers. And that recovery surely will take quite a few years – even if we are lucky!

Hail to the dictators – called board members -- who were given all the necessary tools to stay in power forever by Florida ’s legislature, no matter what even a simple majority of owners may want.

You like NONSENSE? Just read some of the community association bills passed in Tallahassee ! One really has to wonder if legislators actually read the bills they are enacting – or if they plainly don’t understand what nonsense they create!