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REMEMBER: WHEN YOU BOUGHT YOUR CONDO, YOU MORE OR LESS ONLY
BOUGHT AIR -- AND WALLPAPER?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
March 20, 2015
Many condo owners seem to forget that most all of the unit they
are living in belongs really to the association, even if it is
considered private property. If you look at the insurance policy
of your association you will find that about everything that was
initially part of the construction of the building is insured,
meaning it is owned by the association, not by the private condo
owner.
The rule of thump when buying a condo: You actually buy a lot of
air surrounded by -- if any -- wallpaper and a share of the
common interest property since you are part of the association.
That said it is much easier to understand that you need permits
for about everything if you want to make any changes to your
unit. You not only need the permit from your local city/county,
but especially the permit from your association -- often harder
to come by than the permit from your local building department.
And since our "favorite" politicians promised not to raise taxes
-- many voters always fall for these false promises at election
time -- they have are seriously increasing the cost of permits
year by year -- and add new permit-requirements to make life
even more difficult -- and expensive!
You can still change a roll of toilet-paper without pulling a
permit -- but that's about it. I'm not kidding: Permits rule
your life!
And make sure you have the necessary permits when starting to
work on the desired changes. Don't rely on the contractor when
looking for permits, even if you have made sure that the
contractor carries all the necessary licenses and insurance
needed to do the work.
Remember: In most all cases of making changes to your unit you
need a permit -- even if it's a pest to pull a permit for every
little improvement.
But pulling a permit is a lot easier -- and less expensive --
than dealing with a code enforcement officer citing you for all
kinds of offenses for not pulling the necessary permits before
starting the work -- or with the letter from the association
attorney telling you that you will get sued if you don't remove
all the changes to your unit you just paid for!
In short: Don't even consider starting any work on your condo
until you are in the possession of all the necessary permits
from your local building department and your association board
(in writing)!
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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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