This is the time of year that my family starts to see less and less of me. I’m writing this column from a hotel room in Bradenton, Florida. Tomorrow morning I have the honor of kicking off the L&L Condominium and HOA Expo by teaching our Condo Craze and HOAs Board Certification Course for both…
Year: 2015
SAYING I’M SORRY
Last week was the holiest day of the year for me. It was Yom Kippur. It’s the day we atone for our sins. It’s a day that we say I’m sorry I have offended you. I’m sorry I upset you. Please forgive me. It is incumbent upon the person being asked for forgiveness to forgive.…
CAN YOU GET KICKED OUT OF YOUR OWN HOME?
Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. About two weeks ago, I get a call early in the morning from the President of a condominium in Broward. He tells me that last night a unit owner unloaded 50 rounds of ammunition inside of his unit from his AR-15 assault rifle, his AK-47 assault rifle and…
THE NEVER ENDING RECORDS REQUESTS
Everyone knows that whether you live in a condominium or an HOA, your association has an obligation to provide the unit owners access to the association’s records. What is an association to do however with the owner that won’t stop asking for access? Week after week, month after month, year after year, the requests don’t…
IT'S LABOR DAY ---- SIT BACK AND RELAX
It’s been a tradition for the last few years in this blog to talk about how various Presidents of their community association spend their Labor Day. After all, the President of your association not only worked the whole year for your association, but did so free of charge. (But for those who were arrested for…
ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH TO BE A BOARD MEMBER?
There are all kinds of Board members and all kinds of reasons to want to become a Board member. Maybe you think expenses are too high. Maybe you think there’s not enough transparency. Perhaps you want to bring some diversity to a Board that has basically been the same group of folks for the last…
IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME-PART 2
It’s the end of the summer. Millions of kids across our state have to suck it up and return to school. And if the kids have to endure school for the next ten months, all of you can endure a measly three hours. I’m talking of course about Condo and HOA Board Certification. There’s a…
IF YOU THOUGHT SOUTH CAROLINA WAS BAD…… LOOK AT YOUR OWN STATE
I think most lawyers would agree that some cases are simply more interesting than others. Over the last few weeks I have had the privilege of working on one of those interesting cases. It involves an attempted recall of two directors who were on the Board of a Hollywood Condominium association. I represented the owners…
LET’S GO TO THE VIDEO TAPE
Although some Board members and unit owners often object, Florida community association law is clear, unit owners have the right to video tape meetings. For condominiums: FLORIDA STATUTE 718.112(2)(C) states: Board of administration meetings.—Meetings of the board of administration at which a quorum of the members is present are open to…
CHOOSING THE ASSOCIATION'S ATTORNEY
For obvious reasons, this may be the toughest column I ever wrote. In fact, I’m not going to say much at all, as I want you guys to tell me the factors that you consider important when deciding to hire counsel for the association. I’ll tell you one thing that I’m not thrilled with. Association…