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IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE DIVISION!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published July 26, 2024
Looking at the new Condo Laws (FS 718) it seems that the Florida
legislators was sick and tired of hearing complaints from their
constituents about the failure of the Division of Florida
Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes to deal with
complaints from owners. The normal excuses of the Division
employees: “We have no jurisdiction” – or: “Our investigation
couldn’t find any wrongdoing”.
No miracle, because they plainly failed to read the documents
attached as proof or to contact the witnesses named in the
complaint.
HB 1021 added lots of provisions to FS 718.501, giving
the Division a lot more jurisdiction over a myriad of issues –
and gave them $7.1M to hire more staff. The law is effective
since July 1, 2024. And the money is budgeted and ready to go!
But so far there is very little action that can be seen. Since
Spencer Hennings resigned as Condo Ombudsman on March 31, 2023
the position is still vacant. The office operates with just
regular employees – no licensed attorney on the helm as required
by law.
The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile
Homes has still no Division Chief after the former Chief
Chevonne Christian was removed.
Is anything happening to fulfill the requirements of the
Legislature – or do we deal again with: BUSINESS AS USUAL?
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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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