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“STEALING”
PROPERTY WITHOUT HAVING LEGAL POSSESSION?
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
August 24, 2012
I
sometimes wonder if all judges, lawyers and board members can
read proper English -- or if they use “selective” reading,
meaning they only read what they like, add what they think fits
their purpose, but ignore the language they don’t like.
I
have no other explanation for associations taking possession of
property without being the deeded owner, without going through
the proper foreclosure process. They just change the locks and
rent out the property, without legally acquiring the deed to the
property.
And
judges even seem to play along. Read this case that is still
pending in a court in
Pasco
County
: “COURT
DISPOSSESSES DEEDED OWNER WITHOUT EVEN A HEARING.”
Even when the
attorney for the homeowners objected to the judge, the judge
didn’t even seem to care.
As
much as I understand that associations need money to fill the
empty coffers and cover the budget deficits caused by unpaid
dues and/or foreclosures, taking somebody else’s property
without jumping through the required legal hoops is actually
going a bit too far.
FS 718.116(11), FS
719.108(10) and FS
720.3085(8)
[language is the same in all three statutes] contain
language that allows associations to collect unpaid dues from
the renter and allows associations to evict renters if they
don’t pay the rent to the association. But there is no
language in the statutes that allows associations to change the
locks and rent the property to anybody else once the original
renter was evicted. The language allowing associations to take
possession only exists in the imagination of some attorneys and
board members who don’t seem to care if they violate every
property right in the book!
Where
I come from, taking possession of somebody else’s property is
considered theft and is punishable with jail.
Russia
under communist regime was famous for expropriation of private
property, but last I heard
Florida
wasn’t part of
Russia
.
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