WHAT’S A MATERIAL ALTERATION?

By Jan Bergemann

Published January 15, 2021

That’s the Million-Dollar-Question that will in my opinion be left unanswered forever. It’s one of the most disputed issues in condos and HOAs – and arbitrators and judges have tried to solve this riddle without coming up with a reasonable answer to that question.

Even something as little as a RING DOORBELL can cause complicated and expensive lawsuits. Video cameras – in every size and form – have caused myriads of lawsuits, mostly caused by privacy concerns. Especially in condos, where people live very close together, privacy is a major issue. Nobody likes the neighbor to know who is visiting his/her unit at what time, and when the visitors – or owners -- are leaving the unit. But “Big Brother” is anyway everywhere and who can really be the judge of what should be considered “privacy” and what should be considered necessary for “safety”.

Digital technology develops faster than laws and rules and in the past years we have seen a multitude of new technologies that overwhelmed lawmakers and courts.

That leaves us with the question: Will the “case of the ring door-bell” reach an arbitrator – or a court of law – or will the parties find inexpensive ways to come up with a reasonable solution?


HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
 
Jan Bergemann 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  

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 !


Join the 

CCFJ Email List
Email:  

For Email Marketing you can trust