Florida panel to hear home association complaints

Florida panel to hear home association complaints
BY JOE KOLLIN South Florida Sun-Sentinel
January 17, 2008

The new state House committee created to look into problems in condo, homeowner and co-op associations in Florida will hold its first meeting in Pembroke Pines on Jan. 26.

State Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, said Wednesday the hearing will run from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the auditorium at Broward Community College's south campus, 7200 Pines Blvd. Robaina is chairman of the Select Committee on Condominium & Homeowner Association Governance.

The only other South Florida meeting will be from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Feb. 9 in Miami Beach , but an exact location hasn't been determined. Other meetings will be in Orlando, Tampa and Tallahassee on dates to be announced.

On Monday, House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, announced a new committee to investigate accounting, budgeting, auditing and thefts of association funds by officers. He also wants it to investigate problems with elections, access to records and other issues.

He ordered the committee to report its findings and recommendations for new laws on March 3, a day before the start of the next legislative session.

The committee wants to hear from owners with evidence of financial irregularities. If an owner has had difficulty getting access to association documents, which must be open under state law, the committee will subpoena them, Robaina said.

"We want cases that have come to a standstill because of lack of information or stalling," he said.

The committee will consider nonfinancial complaints, but only from owners who can document they have tried unsuccessfully to resolve them, such as by mediation.

Only owners who can't get financial documents and believe they will need subpoenas should sign up in advance. Call Robaina's office at 305-442-6868.

Condo Living Report

CONDO LIVING REPORT

In December-February 2006, a survey was conducted from this website asking visitors in their character of condo owners about the level of satisfaction they had with their respective board of directors. The underlying purpose of the survey was to isolate specific conflicts between the owners and their board administrators, with the intention of addressing those conflicts through a future process of mediation. It had six questions, listed here:

Question 1

How satisfied are you with condo life, especially related to your condo board’s administrative performance?

Question 2

Do you consider the process of electing condo board members as it is now, as fair?

Question 3

Is there enough transparency in your condo board’s decision-making process?

Question 4

Do you have easy and prompt access to all official condo documents?

Question 5

Are special assessments (extra payments due to unexpected expenses) convened upon with input from the majority of owners?

Question 6

Do you support the need for owners and board members to be more educated about laws, regulations, and bylaws concerning condos?

To obtain a copy of this Condo Living Report, please go to:

http://floridacondomediation.com/condoreport.htm

Many thanks!