Last month, the State Attorney for Miami-Dade County released a Grand Jury Report titled “Addressing Condo Owners’ Pleas for Help: Recommendations for Legislative Action”. You can read the Miami-Herald Article about the Grand Jury Report here.
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Breaking Up is Hard to Do: Part I – How to Navigate Management Company Transitions
Hopefully, most of us enter into relationships with the expectation that they will last. However, for those of us past adolescence, we realize that even long-term relationships can end and, even when they were good for a long time, the …
Florida Condo Associations Cannot Waive Year-End Audits for More than Three Consecutive Years
Question: Our annual budget is always over $500,000 and requires a year-end audit unless waived by the owners, which I understand cannot be done more than three consecutive years. Is there a penalty and what could happen if …
Departing Condominium Board Member Must Relinquish Keys Within Five Days
Question: Recently, our association’s president resigned and took a job with our management company at another complex. While our office manager was on vacation this former president was in her office for a few hours. If he resigned …
Can a Candidate Withdraw From a Condominium Election and Then Change Their Mind?
Question: The bylaws of our condominium association specify that the board of Directors shall be comprised of not less than five nor more than seven members. Six members filed their applications for candidacy by the required deadline (40 …
Voter Apathy Plagues Florida Community Associations
Question: Our condominium association has been trying to amend our condominium documents since the developer sold out 10 years ago. The documents require 75% of all unit owners for amendment. This has failed several times, primarily due to …
Why the Florida Legislature Needs to Fix Condo Sprinkler-System Problem | Sun Sentinel Opinion
For more than a decade older high-rise condominiums throughout Florida have been discussing, debating, and exercising their legal rights with regard to sprinkler system retrofitting requirements. In 2003, the Florida Legislature responded by allowing each community to vote to opt …
Assessments and Combined Lots in Florida HOAs
Question: I live in a homeowners’ association community. Recently, one of our owners purchased the vacant lot next to their home. The owner has now combined the properties into one parcel with the taxing authorities and is now …
Florida Condominium and HOA Fining Laws are Slightly Different
Question: There seems to have been a lot of change in the law about fining. Has the legislature finally made the condominium statute and the homeowners’ association statute the same on this issue? (C.M. by e-Mail)
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Secondhand Smoke on Condominium Lanai: What are my Rights?
Question: I just read the question you answered in one of your prior columns about a man wanting to smoke cigars in the common area of his condominium complex. You said that “the ill-health effects of secondhand smoke …