BILLS ON THE MOVE?

By Jan Bergemann

Published February 11, 2022

 

We are past half-time of the 2022 Legislative Session and so far the only owner-friendly bill on the move is SB 394 and companion bill HB 547: Mandatory Board Certification Seminars.

 

The other community association bills on the move so far only help developers, attorneys and other service providers and are definitely not written to protect families living in these community associations.

 

These bills (SB 1702 and SB 7042) will definitely --  together with the immense raise in insurance premiums – seriously increase the monthly maintenance fees of condo owners, but all these increased fees will do little to create money needed for structural repairs.

 

Yes, on paper it will create more reserve funds, but as long as these reserve funds are not protected there is no guarantee that the money will still be there when needed for the purpose intended. Many owners don’t want mandatory funding of reserves since they have seen how reserve funds disappeared – not only by scams and/or embezzlement, but also being spent by dictatorial boards for other purposes than intended.

 

As long as these reserve funds are not being protected – see bill proposals SB 274 and HB 811 (not on any committee agenda so far) – the Legislature is failing to protect condo owners as initial claims indicated: Preventing another catastrophe like the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside that has cost 98 lives!

 

I will never understand why our legislators always look out for the “welfare” of the service providers instead of making sure that the lives and welfare of the families living in Florida’s condominiums are protected.

 

And it looks like the interests of more than 2.6 million owners of homes in mandatory homeowners’ associations (FS 720) are again being ignored: SB 1296 and companion bill HB 1033 have so far made no great progress. A committee substitute added complicating fining procedures (FS 720.305) and mediation requirements (FS 720.311) to the existing version of HB 1033.

 

In my opinion the Florida Legislature is again – so far – catering to the requests of special interest to the detriment of Florida’s homeowners and condo-owners.


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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 !


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