News Views

New HOA Laws Will Affect You

by Guest Contributor May 17, 2013

by Guest Contributor May 17, 2013 10 views

By: Patti Lynn

If you live in a Homeowners Association in Coral Springs, or anywhere else in Broward County, new laws have been enacted which will affect you, your association, your financial records, and your property manager. The bills have not been sent to the Governor yet, so there is time for you to act.

HB 7119 is the most far-reaching of all of this year’s association bills. It will require that each association provide the Division of Building & Professional Regulation, (DBPR), the following information, by November 22, 2013:

Number of parcels in the association
Annual association income
Annual association expenses

Once that information is sent to the State, it automatically qualifies as “Public Information,” and is available to anyone who might ask for it. This is not required of condo & coop associations, just HOAs. Should you choose not to comply, and you have a property manager, that manager, or management company, will have their license censured.

The creators of the bill indicated to legislators, that their aim is to require a “per door” fee for each home in an association, just as they do for condos. That, my friends, is an additional tax on homeowners. You may remember that for the last 2 years, the state legislature has “raided” the condo “trust” fund in order to balance their budget. The $4.00 per condominium unit, that the legislature said was needed to oversee the associations’ operations was, obviously, way more than was necessary. Adding money from homeowners will just add more $$$ to their ever increasing bottomless slush fund.

Another provision in the bill is that, when documents are amended, the association must provide, to each member, a copy of the amendment(s) within 30 days of recording. Do you know how expensive that will be? You will have already have had to mail each member a copy of the proposed amendments. Now, after they are accepted, you have to do it again. Wasteful!

Another provision of HB 7119is that a Fidelity Bond must be purchased, for any board member with access to association accounts, in an amount equal to the annual gross receipts. Still another permits your association to charge up to $20.00 per hour for office personnel to provide required records.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Call, or email, Governor Rick Scott and ask him to VETO HB 7119.

He may be reached at: (850) 488-7146

EMail the Governor at: Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com

This bill has not yet reached his desk. Once it does, he will have 10 days to either sign it, veto it, or allow it to become law without his signature.

Act today.