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LEGISLATIVE ACTION IS NEEDED!
By
Jan Bergemann
Published July 16, 2021
The tragedy of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South in
Surfside should be the final Wake-Up Call for Florida’s
legislature to take long overdue action. Latest since 2004 we
are fully aware what needs to be done to protect homeowners
living in community associations, not only from the so-called
“service-providers” and “bad actors”, but as well from
themselves. In 2003 and 2004 we saw two important groups
traveling through Florida, collecting input form homeowners and
condo owners: The
SELECT COMMITTEE ON CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION GOVERNANCE chaired
by House Representative Julio Robaina and the
HOA TASK FORCE. Latest after the final meetings of
these committees it was very clear what needed to be done to
deal with the “beasts” called community associations.
And if these committees didn't
supply the necessary information to create much needed
legislative reforms, the meetings of the
http://www.ccfj.net/HOUSESELECTCOMMmain.htm showed
clearly the many problems owners in community associations were
facing.
But instead of taking decisive action the legislature always
gave in to the requests of the lobbyists for the
service-providers, developers, law firms, management companies
and the Community Association Institute to water down all the
proposals that were made over the years trying to help owners
living in communities without clear oversight and/or enforcement
of the watered-down laws that were added to FS 718 (Condo
Act), FS 719 (Co-ops), FS 720 (HOA Act) and FS
723 (Mobile Homes).
Now everybody is trying to blame the tragedy in Surfside on
everybody but their own profession. In my opinion the guilty
parties are being found among the folks that prevented serious
legislation to be created, always coming up with the same
excuses: “Leave the decision-making to the board, don’t make
the laws too burdensome for the owners and similar excuses”.
In reality these “excuses” only served one purpose: Making
money for the service-providers – all represented by the
COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE.
If you read all the media reports you could read that these same
folks now created Task Forces which in my opinion only serve one
purpose: Finding excuses to water down the bills that will
definitely be filed for the next legislative session.
Let’s make it very clear: There is no need for any “TASK
FORCES”! There is no question what needs to be done if the
Florida legislature is serious about preventing another disaster
like the one we just saw in Surfside. CCFJ will publish our list
of legislative demands tomorrow – demands that will make sure
that we don’t see another tragedy killing innocent condo-owners.
Just read on Saturday on our CCFJ Website:
NECESSARY LEGISLATIVE CHANGES TO PREVENT ANOTHER CATASTROPHE!
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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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