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FAIR HOUSING IN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published March 13, 2020
Fair Housing laws often interfere with the regular rules of
community associations – and it’s a legal trap many board
members fall for.
There is a lot of misconception about the Fair Housing laws.
People seem to forget that associations are not “PUBLIC”
buildings – or even government buildings.
Legislators were very careful when discussing fair housing
issues in the statutes regulating community associations. The
provisions dealing with these issues are very vague and often
lead to misinterpretations ending in lawsuits.
We again have to deal with the word reasonable – a word every
lawyer just loves. It leaves the law open to interpretations,
making attorney’s bank accounts very happy.
REASONABLE is a word that allows about every
interpretation n the book. One person may think something can be
considered a reasonable accommodation, while the next person
thinks it’s plainly disgusting.
And that is exactly the reason why we see so many lawsuits with
variable outcome.
There is not clearly a straight line, but no matter what,
fighting with the government should be avoided by association
boards under all circumstances, It’s normally a lose-lose
situation, that can cost the owners of the community lots of
money.
In my opinion: Make sure to use common sense when trying to
interpret FAIR HOUSING laws. It may help your bank
account!
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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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