FLORIDA STATUTES? WHO CARES?

By Jan Bergemann

Published June 10, 2016

The hype about illegally charged transfer fees is just another example that the powers to be plainly don’t care what the statutes say. It’s an issue that has been discussed in Tallahassee since quite a few years. The service providers have been claiming that the set fee of $100 per applicant is not sufficient to cover the cost of background checks etc. Obviously, the legislators didn’t agree with the “industry” and refused to jack-up the cost for transfer fees.

But that didn’t stop boards and management companies to charge applicants hundreds of dollars – totally ignoring the clear language in community association law.

Let’s make one thing very clear: The provision was created to enable associations, where screening of new owners and renters is allowed by the governing documents, to charge the cost of such screenings to the potential owners and renters. The provision was not created to put some extra profit in the pockets of greedy boards and community association managers. But that’s what it looks like nowadays – and it happens not only in South Florida, as the article in the Miami Herald assumed, but it happens all over Florida.

I got a real good laugh when I read the comments of the folks breaking these laws. Their excuse was in my opinion about as ridiculous as stupid excuses can be: CAMs are independent contractors and are not bound by community association law. But they are agents of the association and the association has to follow the laws – like it or not! By the way, if these folks would bother to read FS 468.436(2) 7. [Violating any provision of chapter 718, chapter 719, or chapter 720 during the course of performing community association management services pursuant to a contract with a community association as defined in s. 468.431(1)] they would realize that they are bound by these laws as well.

And I’m pretty sure that quite a lot of board members don’t even have a clue about all the extra income these CAMs are creating for themselves.

Make no mistake: Many CAM companies bill these applicants directly – and the money never shows up in any association accounts.

It’s done because the folks who permanently violate Florida laws know that nothing will happen to them if they get caught red-handed. Violations of community association law are so common that nobody seems to care any more about violating these laws. Many professionals plainly ignore them!

When will the Florida legislature acknowledge that all the laws created by them to regulate community associations, will be useless without the necessary enforcement. Laws are only as good as the punishment for breaking these laws.


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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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