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THE
STATUTES ALLOW REVOCATION OF VOTING RIGHTS – BUT …
By
Jan Bergemann
Published
August 16, 2013
It’s
definitely debatable if a homeowner or condo owner should lose
his/her voting rights because of unpaid association dues. Eric
explained that in his blog on Monday at length. But our
legislators in their infinite wisdom passed laws allowing this
to happen – no matter what.
It
creates serious legal problems, especially if it’s used to
black mail owner to pay an unjust fine. We are always seeing
dictatorial boards revoking voting rights of owners who are
unwilling to pay fines that have not even been levied according
to the guidelines of the statutes. This was one of the most
often discussed issues during the meeting of the HOA Task Force.
We
heard during the meetings the testimony of countless owners
complaining about the methods these fines were levied. Make no
mistake there are quite a few association boards using fines as
a method to shut up owners who don’t “agree” with them.
Since
the legislators allowed these revocations of voting rights, we
should make sure that everything is done by the book.
The
statutes regarding revocation of voting rights make it very
clear: Board members can’t just decide behind closed doors to
revoke the voting rights of an association member. They have to
follow the rules and jump through the hoops described in detail
in the statutes.
Example
FS
720.305(4)
An association may suspend the voting rights of a parcel or
member for the nonpayment of any monetary obligation due to the association that is more
than 90 days delinquent. A voting interest or consent
right allocated to a parcel or member which has been suspended
by the association may not be counted towards the total number
of voting interests for any purpose, including, but not limited
to, the number of voting interests necessary to constitute a
quorum, the number of voting interests required to conduct an
election, or the number of voting interests required to approve
an action under this chapter or pursuant to the governing
documents. The notice and hearing requirements under subsection
(2) do not apply to a suspension imposed under this subsection.
The suspension ends upon full payment of all obligations
currently due or overdue to the association.
(5) All suspensions imposed pursuant to subsection (3) or subsection (4)
must be approved at a properly noticed board meeting. Upon approval, the
association must
notify the parcel owner and, if applicable, the
parcel’s occupant, licensee, or invitee by mail or hand
delivery.
With
other words, if an owner is more than 90- days behind in paying
dues owed to the association, the board has to hold a public,
officially noticed board meeting and vote on suspending the
voting rights of the association member.
But this revocation of voting rights is not effective
until this owner has been duly notified.
The
wording of the statutes is not very difficult to understand, but
nevertheless many boards do it wrong – and the fight is on.
By
the way, it says: “An
association may suspend the voting rights…” – meaning
it’s up to the board members to decide if they want to go this
way!
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