AS THINGS QUIET DOWN

By Eric Glazer, Esq.

Published May 26, 2014

  

Today is Memorial Day which unofficially kicks off the summer.  It’s a strange and quiet time of year coming up for most associations.  The budget and the elections are over with, the Board members are hopefully certified by now, and the next election is still far enough into the future so there’s nothing to plan for at the moment.  Dare I say it, but it seems that’s it’s time, at least for the next few months, to simply sit back, relax and use the pool, exercise room, bar b que and all of the other amenities your association has to offer.

 

There are other owners however who see this time of year as an opportunity  to escape the brutal Florida summer.  They simply pack up and head north, leaving their unit vacant.  But remember…..just because you leave your Florida condominium for a few months doesn’t mean that your responsibility to continuously maintain your unit stops.   Even when you’re away from your home, there is still a responsibility to maintain it.

 

Every declaration of condominium has a general clause that requires the owner of the unit to maintain his or her unit in good condition.  In fact, arbitration decisions have held that:

"where an owner does not reside in the unit, it is incumbent on the owner to routinely and periodically examine and inspect the unit to ensure the absence of leaks and conditions that would otherwise lead to damage to the building and its occupants.  In recognition of the fact that where multiple owners occupy a single building, a problem that develops in one unit may well affect other units and the common element components of the building."  See: Los Prados Condominium Association v. Lemley Case No. 03-6092, May 25, 2004, Arbitrator, Scheuerman.  

 

          Many associations have rules or provisions in their declarations that require owners to leave a key with the association to their unit, in order that the association has the ability to enter the unit in the absence of the owner.  

 

Unit owners may be required to provide the Association with keys to their units, because the right of access is for the protection of all units within a building and the owner of one unit may not be available to give permission at the time of an emergency. Costa Bella Ass'n, Inc. v. Scuteri, Arb. Case No. 02-4624, Final Order (June 7, 2002). A common type of emergency occurs when a plumbing leak in one unit causes damage to another unit or to the common elements. See Oceanview Towers Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Diaz, Arb. Case No. 2006-01-6632, Final Order (January 3, 2007).  

 

                Unit owners can also forget about refusing to provide a key.  They will lose in arbitration every time.  They can also forget about placing any restrictions on the association’s right of entry or otherwise complaining about what is or isn’t an emergency. 

  

In general, issues of the timing of the entry and notification to the owners are a function of good business judgment, prudence, and civility, which are concepts that resist further enunciation and definition in the case law. The fact that the statute, case law and governing documents do not attempt to define emergencies demonstrates the futility of an effort to specify unexpected events or foreseeable events happening at unexpected times.  In re: Petition For Arbitration,  The Marina Club of Tampa Condominium Association, Inc., Petitioner, v. Robert B. Schwartz, (May, 2012)
               

         Respondent's defense that the Association has not met his conditions for entry is invalid. An impermissible denial of access occurs where a unit owner seeks to place conditions upon the association's access to his or her unit. Park Lake Towers Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Halley, Arb. Case No. 2003-08-3367, Amended Final Order on Motions for Attorney's Fees (January 28, 2004)(Where the association sought access to the respondent's unit in order to fix a plumbing assembly, and where the respondent directed that the association would only be permitted access upon providing proof of insurance and a valid building permit, the respondent was held to have denied access to the unit.) Pursuant to Section 718.111(5), Florida Statutes, Respondent must allow the Association access to his unit to repair the common elements without any conditions.

  

          A few years ago, my sister’s condo unit was accessed by someone who stole the keys from the condo’s office.  At first, she didn’t even realize it.  Luckily, nothing valuable was stolen.  However, after about the third day in a row, she noticed that something was wrong when there was a half eaten apple on her kitchen counter.  A check of the refrigerator showed that the crook also helped himself to some Weight Watchers frozen dinners. 

  

            So my legal advice to the snow birds is…….don’t forget about your unit while you’re away and give up your key to the association -- but you may want to hide your food.


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About HOA & Condo Blog

Eric Glazer Eric Glazer graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after receiving a B.A. from NYU. He is currently entering his 20th year as a Florida lawyer practicing

community association law and is the owner of Glazer and Associates, P.A. an eight attorney law firm in Orlando and Hollywood. For the past two years Eric has been the host of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show on 850 WFTL.

See: www.condocrazeandhoas.com.

  

He is the first attorney in the State of Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium Board of Directors and has now certified more than 7,500 Floridians. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Finally, he recently argued the Cohn v. Grand Condominium case before The Florida Supreme Court, which is perhaps the single most important association law case decided by the court in a decade. 


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