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WHO PROTECTS WHOM?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
May 8, 2015
There is absolutely no protection for owners of properties in
mandatory homeowners’ associations regulated by Florida Statutes
720.
As usual, the Florida legislature treated these owners like
stepchildren of society. The legislators passed one good
provision that will stop nasty condo commandos, who work behind
closed doors and mail out nasty letters that are not signed, in
their tracks. The new provision, if signed by Governor Scott
(strong possibility he will sign the bill), will require boards
to vote at a public, officially noticed meeting to send out
fining letters before these nasty letters can be mailed. Every
board member will be forced to take a public stand on this issue
– and the minutes of the board meeting will reflect these votes
– for all to see.
On the other hand the legislators voted to allow electronic
voting – opening another door to cheat. Already lots of cheating
goes on with regular voting, now add computers to the mix.
Electronic voting has been tried in general state elections,
only to be cancelled quickly because of election fraud. Any
halfway knowledgeable hacker can falsify votes at his/her
heart’s content.
It’s just amazing how the greedy community association industry,
with the help of incompetent board members who support bills
without even knowing what these bills mean, control the
legislature. Remember, the Broward Coalition even supported the
bill that created the Safe Harbor provisions protecting banks –
at the expense of homeowners. Get the drift?
How stupid can one get?
Everything else stays AS IS: No regulatory agency for
homeowners in HOAs -- leaving these homeowners unprotected
against fraud, scams and embezzlement.
Make no mistake: The bill that passed in 2013 that requires
associations to maintain insurance or a fidelity bond for all
persons who control or disburse funds of the association [FS
720.3033(5)] is often plainly ignored, and when needed
the protection meant for owners isn’t there. What a progress!
With other words: Our esteemed legislators, who behaved like
they are in a Kindergarten instead of being in a legislature
supposed to work for the good of Florida’s citizens, left
homeowners again unprotected against fraud, embezzlement and
abuse.
And then the industry claims that HOAs are protecting property
values? What a joke!
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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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