Laws regarding Homeowners' Associations and Condominium Associations have long needed an overhaul in Tallahassee. Currently there

are thousands of homes at risk of being lost due to Associations going after their own members, many times in retaliation for a

member disagreeing with the direction of the Board of Directors. There is very little protection against Homeowners' and

Condominium Associations using Association funds to wage a war against an Association member. In most cases, the Association

member does not have the money that is needed to fight the Association and eventually loses. People who do fight are subject to

losing everything including their retirement, savings, and their home. Click the CCFJ seal to the right for additional information on

Homeowners' and Condominium Associations.

While the idea of a Deed Restricted Community is a good concept, there has been no REAL protections for those in Deed Restricted

Communities and Condominiums against overzealous Boards of Directors and their attorneys. Most people do not have the time nor the

money to fight an Association and, therefore, succumb to the Association in fear of being targeted by the Association and their

attorneys.

Living in an HOA, I personally have experienced inappropriate conduct by Association Boards. Many times, I have found that those

who serve on the Board of Directors do not know the content of the Florida Statues nor the Association's governing documents. This

is where the inappropriate actions come in. How can someone effectively make decisions when they do not know the Florida Statutes

and governing documents? When a Board of Directors is made aware of a decision that conflicts with the Florida Statutes or the

governing documents, the Board then targets the individual as a trouble-maker and uses whatever means necessary including

Association funds to go after and silence the trouble-maker. Too often, this has led to Association members losing money and,

sometimes, their homes. Board of Directors members are easily getting away with ignorance of the law and of the governing

documents of the Association.

The primary issue here is that current laws indicate that disputes will be settled via mediation, arbitration, and in the courts. Such

disputes cost a significant amount of money. Attorneys are the ones who benefit as the attorneys are paid regardless if they win or

lose. Associations and Association members are the losers here because no matter the outcome, someone, and many times both

parties, are paying the attorneys. Association Boards have the money from the Association assessment revenues to pay for any fight

they want to pursue where Association members must put up their own money to defend against being targeted by the Association.

There needs to be a way to level the "playing field". There was once a suggestion to have a government run Association dispute

department where disputes would be handled and cost each party a nominal fee. In such case, there would not be any recovery of the

opposing party's legal expenses allowed. This would easily level the "playing field" and those who once were in fear of losing

everything for speaking up would then be able to speak up with very little consequence. This would put Association Boards on notice

and provide opportunities for Association members to correct inappropriate decisions made by the Association Board with little

expense.

There are other areas in Homeowners' and Condominium Associations that need attention. The processes employed by Associations

and attorneys for Associations are bordering on criminal. Fees are charged to Association members' accounts in excessive amounts.

This ends up with Association members having significantly high account balances and eventually leads to legal action costing the

Association member even more. There needs to be a schedule of fees indicating the maximum allowable charge for each type of

process. This would stop the money hungry attorneys from running up Association members' account balances.

Additionally, there needs to be better scrutiny of Association Boards, property managers, and Association attorneys. Information is

key here. A publicly accessible database containing all disputes from all Homeowners' and Condominium Associations needs to exist.

Having such information, a person looking to buy a home can easily research the Association they would become a member of when

purchasing the home and make the decision to continue with the purchase or not. By making all Association information easily publicly

accessible, Associations, Property Managers, and Association attorneys would no longer be able to hide their activities. Finally, all

Associations should be subject to periodic audits that would look for wrong doing by the Association from decisions by the Board that

are in conflict of the law and/or the Association's governing documents to inappropriate spending of Association moneys. Association

Board members should be held accountable both civilly and criminally for their actions.