No doubt some changes are on the way for condominiums as a result of the Surfside tragedy. The changes are long overdue. Here’s another long overdue change that is necessary..the condominium insurance statutes. Suppose I told you that under Florida law, there is no absolute requirement that your condominium association insure the building(s). Sounds crazy…
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ARE YOUR ASSESSMENTS LOW? THEN YOU’RE LIVING A LIE
How many times have you heard someone bragging about how cheap their monthly expenses are at their condo? How many times have you heard comments like “We have a great board – the assessments are so cheap.” It turns out that those boards were not doing you a favor by keeping your assessments low. They…
EVERYONE IS AN EXPERT
Imagine a world where accountants can examine your heart and give you an opinion regarding its condition and your life expectancy. Suppose an auto mechanic can examine your kidneys and liver and give his opinion on whether or not they are healthy. Perhaps one day you can walk into my office and one of the…
I WARNED ABOUT THE DANGERS OF INADEQUATE RESERVES
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…
THE EMERGENCY IS OVER!
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…
LET’S NOT FOCUS ON BLAME – AND FOCUS ON CHANGE INSTEAD
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…
A TRAGEDY WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS
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…
THE COST OF CRIME
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,…
MASTER ASSOCIATION V. SUB ASSOCIATION – WHO WINS?
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…
MY MEMORIAL DAY
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…