Your Homeowners Association Rights: Condo Rights & HOA Rights
By Dr. Joyce Starr | September 22, 2008
Filed under Condo - HOA Rights, Florida Condo Act, Home Foreclosures, Homeowner Rights, Topics & Guests
Dr. Joyce Starr – Your Condo Coach – HOA Coach. Homeowners Association Rights: Condo Association Rights & HOA Rights -Florida Condo Act FS 718 – Florida Law H 995.
Click Here for Your Condo Rights - HOA Rights Defense Kit
Do you have a condo rights problem. Contact Dr. Joyce Starr – Condo Coach – HOA Coach at 786.693.4223 or visit StarrPublications.com for condo rights and HOA rights books and special reports.
Topic: Important changes to Florida Condo Act FS 718 resulting from the recent passage of Florida Bill H 995.
Show Date: SEPTEMBER 24, 2008 at 5:00 PM. Join our mailing list on the right-hand sidebar to receive instant notification about future homeowner association rights broadcasts.
Guest: Jan Bergemann, President, Cyber Citizens for Justice, CCFJ.net. Back by popular demand, Jan Bergemann discusses condo association board candidate eligibility and certification.
He will also discuss the soon-to-be released CCFJ HOA REFORM SURVEY. Although final survey results are still being tallied, Jan provides important highlights. Condo & HOA owners demand reforms, especially regulatory agency enforcement reforms and increased accountability for the people in charge.
Click Here to Learn How to Defend Your Condo & HOA Rights
The plunging housing market and roller-coaster stock market demonstrate that owners are being misled when told that condo associations and HOAs inherently protect property values.
To the contrary! Numerous condo associations and HOAs create a serious financial liability for their association members.
The many foreclosures and empty homes/units create a crippling financial burden for responsible owners. Associations have to raise the monthly fees and levy special assessments to cover the budget shortfalls caused by foreclosed and empty homes.
This results in greater financial strain on owners whose finances are already overburdened – causing more families to lose their homes!
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To your empowerment!
Dr. Joyce Starr
I would like to hear this program on condo issues. However, I do not have a sound card on my computer. Is this show broadcast on a regular radio station? What are the call letters? Thanks Jerald
REPLY:
Dear Jerald,
Thanks so much for your question. We air on Internet radio. However, please feel free to
urge your favorite stations to carry and syndicate our show. The good news: You
can purchase the replay and download it to an external player. The purchase
link will be available following the show.
Regards,
Dr. Joyce
i recently purchased a condo in florida with my sister whom I reside with for years. I am now told that one of us will be allowed to use all amenities of the condo (golf – pool etc) and the other will be a guest and subject to fees. My attorney has read my documents and says that this is not noted in the docs. The board will not bend. What recourse do I have or could the Board have such a right. We are told that we do not fit the definition of a family.
To Whom It May Concern,
I have had many issues with my HOA. The current President and his wife have been harassing my family. Every time we object to the way the BOD and Management Company is handling our Association, within a day or two, they retaliate by contacting the City Hall, code enforcement, and the county EPA, in order to try and get my family in legal and monetary trouble. I attended the November BOD meeting, because they posted it as a budget meeting, and just after this meeting, they called DCF on us to report us for child abuse, which we are now under investigation, and awaiting the outcome of the case.
This BOD is engaged in amending the general restrictions without a vote of the members, selective enforcement of restrictions, selective privelege to committee members, and harassment with intent to harm of some members.
The following letter is one I just submitted to the management company, and I have not heard from them yet. They tend to side with the BOD, since they are advising them of actions to take regarding certain matters, whether illegal or not!
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 6:54 PM, Lisa Goffinet wrote:
Kevin,
I always believed that the BOD should be available to homeowners to discuss things they had issues with, or had questions on, directly after a meeting, as we are not allowed input during a meeting. The meetings where you are in attendance have shown that you are willing to speak with homeowners after a meeting is adjourned, especially as there is a time constraint during an open forum at a meeting. This is much appreciated by homeowners.
However, I wish to object to any further meetings of this particular BOD being held at 1229 Cheshire Street. Two other homeowners and I were not welcomed at the November BOD meeting, just told to sign in. We were given dirty looks by one of the homeowners the whole time we were there, and then that same homeowner, who is not a member of the BOD decided when we objected to a vote on the budget due to what we believe was insufficient notice to homeowners, to tell us in a very nasty tone of voice that we were not allowed to speak at a meeting. Then, the meeting was adjourned without an open forum where we could adress any issues. As soon as the meeting was adjourned, the homeowner walked to the door and opened it for us to leave, and told us to get out. We were not finished discussing things, so I objected to the President, and the 3 other BOD members present, that meetings could no longer be held where we were not welcomed or allowed to address the board, especially as board business was still being discussed. Then the same homeowner threatened to call the police if I did not leave, and then got nasty with me. There was a confrontation with heated words exchanged.
I feel that this is a conflict, as this homeowner dislikes me, and the other homeowners that were attending the meeting. I, along with any other homeowner, should be able to talk to BOD members about issues, even if we have discussed them with them before. The BOD should be able to go over things with us to our satisfaction, after all the current President and his wife demanded the same of the past BOD. The whole BOD agreed that the home was private again since the meeting was over, and that the homeowner had a right to ask us to leave, yet board business was still being discussed, and we had a right as a homeowners to be there. They told us that we did not as it was legal matters, issues with the old documents and the proper turnover from the old board to them, that was being discussed. That is as much my business as theirs.
Also, this homeowner who is not a BOD member voted on the budget. I plainly heard her express her yes vote. I did not mention it at the time, but would have if you had ever returned any of my calls I placed to you the very next day.
Although I formally objected and was heard by four BOD members, I am formally objecting to you as well, that all further meetings of this BOD be held anywhere else but at 1229 Cheshire Street. As you know, there was a problem with this homeowner doing this very thing once before as well, and as you told us at the last annual membership meeting, that behavior by her was unacceptable.
I see that the December BOD meeting is posted and to be held there, so it is plain that the BOD is ignoring the fact that the meeting place was objected to, just as they have ignored many objections to the way they are handling business matters, and the way certain people are privy to information that they should not be.
At this time, I expect the meeting to be held elsewhere, where I may attend without worrying about being harassed, or told to leave before I can ask any questions, or being threatened to be arrested.
Lisa Goffinet
If someone could please let me know what recourse I have in order to stop these people from doing what they are doing, other than expensive legal fees that I do not have, please let me know! I have tried to get other homeowners involved, but they are afraid of retalliation, and a lot of the homes are foreclosed on and bank owned, so no help there. The only homeowners interested in making sure this BOD is acting legally, and in the best interests of the Association are past BOD members who do not wish to run again to remove the current BOD.
Any information or help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for your time,
Lisa Goffinet
Lexington Estates
Any more seminars on condo and homeowner’s association in the near future?
Hi Vivian,
Yes, I will offer a seminar on Pets in Condos in the Miami area in
April. Please join our list for notifications.
All the best,
Dr. Joyce
Can we cut utilities, specifically water and cable, to owners and their tenants when HOA / COA condo association management fees are late. Some are 180 days past and we’d like to tow their cars from common area garages, cut their water, maybe restrict amenities access.
I am a unit owner in a HOA in Port Orange, FL. We purchased in December 2005. I have served as President and Treasurer intermittently. I recently discovered our primary Treasurer for the past 5 years has been steadily increasing our fees and recommending assessments while saving large sums of funds from year to year in the association savings account. When I served as Treasurer, I found over $7,000 from the previous year and pushed the Board to refund the money to the unit owners because we were already 4 months into the new fiscal year. Now this Treasurer has finally gotten enough Board members to vote for her large grass replacement project and suddenly we have $20,000 in excess funds to apply to this special project in our operating funds. What actions if any can I take to remedy this wrongful behavior?
Dear Catherine,
Complaints to to the Florida Ombudsman and/or the DBPR won’t help, because the Board took a legal vote. Alas, your only hope is a speedy Board recall (and they are rarely speedy). However, we offer a special report that might help: How to Recall Your Condo or HOA Board in Ten Easy Steps.
We have an owner who took out a very large second mortgage on their condo here in Century Village East and then abandoned their unit. The owner’s son is now back and living in that apartment. They have not paid any condo fees, maintenance and, I’m certain, no property taxes. The remaining owners have had to pay their condo fees since their departure 2 years ago. The bank has done nothing. What can we do to get possesion of the apartment so we can re-coop our loses?
THANX..
Dear Charles,
Has your Board instructed the Association attorney to deal with the bank? If the owner failed to pay property taxes, an individual or organization can effectively purchase the property by doing so – then cut a deal with the bank (to reduce the mortgage). What is your attorney doing to resolve the problem? Owners are helpless in this regard if the Board fails to demand results from the attorney. The Board could try to deal with the bank directly (generally not as effective). Have they done so? Your Association could also restrict the son from using the pool or other shared amenities. It doesn’t solve the problem, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.