Blogs

In May of 2018, at about the same time the engineer was advising Champlain Towers South that their building need millions and millions of dollars in repairs, I wrote about the dangers facing condominiums all over the state because of the ability for owners to opt out of funding reserve accounts.  I implored The Florida…

On June 27th, Florida was no longer considered to be in a State of Emergency.  Governor Desantis did not renew the emergency order.  So that means all of the emergency powers that Boards of Directors of condominiums and HOAs had during the COVID pandemic have expired. The question is…….in practical terms — what does that…

As they say…hindsight is 20/20.  The tragedy in Surfside rips your guts out.  I had to go there and see it for myself.  I did.  I then walked over to the memorial and saw pictures of the victims, including little kids, entire families and you wonder how anything like this could have possibly happened.  Immediately…

I was lucky enough to be on vacation the past two weeks.  On my last day, I woke up to the tragedy that was unfolding in Dade County as the Champlain Towers South Condominium came crashing down in Surfside.  There are still over 150 people missing or unaccounted for.  Before commenting on this devastation that…

I worked my way through college by working at The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.  I loved my job.  I would interview defendants to determine if community service was a more appropriate punishment than incarceration.  If I was convinced that the defendant could be trusted, I would send him or her to a church, nursing home,…

A very interesting case was just decided by Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. RIVIERA-FORT MYERS MASTER ASSOCIATION, INC., v. GFH INVESTMENTS, LLC. 2020 WL 7767856. To simplify, in a mixed-use community, meaning a community made up of commercial property and residential housing, the Master Association adopted seven amendments to the community’s master declaration. The…

Today is the day we honor all of the amazing men and women who fought and died for this country.  There are not enough words to thank them for their service, for fighting for independence, for preserving democracy, stopping fascism, preventing the spread of communism and attempting to quash terrorism.  Every single one of them…

So the Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year. So here we go…..   Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an insurance policy issued to an individual…

So The Florida Legislature has ended their session and I’m sure everyone wants to know what association laws passed this year. So here we go…..     Subrogation New law: If a condominium association’s insurance policy does not provide rights for subrogation against the unit owners in the association, an insurance policy issued to an…

Prior to 2010 Florida law only allowed the association to fine for violations of the governing documents, if the authority to fine was contained in the declaration or bylaws. In 2010, the law changed and associations had the power to fine, even if the power to fine was not contained in the governing documents. There’s…