ISN'T LIFE OF CONDO OWNERS ALREADY COMPLICATED ENOUGH?

By Jan Bergemann

Published July 15, 2016

 

I think we all are in the meanwhile familiar with the infamous magic words: As amended from time to time! The language appeared first in the ruling of the 3. DCA in the case of KAUFMAN v. SHERE , where it reads: " or in lawful amendments thereto, the provisions of the Condominium Act as presently existing, or as it may be amended from time to time, including the definitions therein contained, are adopted and included herein by express reference."

       And it was repeated -- and strengthened in the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court in the case of SUSAN COHN vs. THE GRAND CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC.


       In my opinion, the courts didn't do Florida's condo owners any favors when ruling this way. Florida condo law FS 718, the law regulating homes and lives of millions of condo owners, is already complicated enough -- and normally much too complicated to be understood by Joe or Jane Condoowner. My explanation: It was created by, for and for the benefit of attorneys who are using these owners as their private cash cows -- and make sure that the laws are getting more and more complicated.

      If the provisions of the Florida Condo ACT wouldn't be already complicated enough, these court rulings make life for millions of condo owners even more complicated. Imagine you take the time -- and make the effort -- to become familiar with the provisions of today's Condo Act, only to find out that your condo's governing documents don't carry the magic language "as amended from time to time" -- meaning your association maybe governed by the Florida statutes that were valid in the year your association was incorporated. Would you even be able to find the statutes that were valid in that year? GOOD LUCK!

      But I guess that's just part of the reason why the system of "community associations" was invented in the first place: To make life of homeowners and ciondo owners complicated and to create an easy source of income for the service providers.

        As an afterthought: So far, nobody tried to use this ruling for mandatory homeowners' associations, but it would be interesting to see if the courts would rule the same way. A lot of nasty anti-owner legislative amendments to FS 720 passed in the last few years by the Florida Legislature would not be valid for a wide majority of Florida's homeowner associations, because their governing documents lack the "magic language". Wouldn't that be nice?


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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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