By Eric Glazer, Esq.
Over the last several years, the issue
of delinquencies in ourFlorida community
associations became worse and worse. The
more people didn’t pay, the more the good paying owners had to pay. The more bank foreclosures, the less
the association was receiving in badly needed revenue.
The real solution to the problem was
changing the law to make a bank pay more money to the association when they
foreclose on a property and then become the owner of that property after a
foreclosure sale, instead of capping the bank’s liability at one year of unpaid
assessments or 1% of the original amount of the mortgage. Because of the
banking industry’s power in the State of Florida , that simply
never had a chance of happening.
Instead of taking the fight to the
banks, The Florida Legislature created laws that took the fight from the
association to the unit owners. For
example, there were laws passed that now prevented unit owners from using the
common areas if they were delinquent, prevented them from running or serving on
the Board and prevented them from voting. In other words, if someone owed the
association $10,000.00 in unpaid assessments, this new law that prevented the
unit owner from now using the exercise room, was somehow going to make that
delinquent owner pony up the $10,000.00 so he can now continue use of the
treadmill.
At seminar after seminar, I am told
that these new laws didn’t put any dollars in the hands of the association and
that while they sounded nice, were simply not enough of a stimulant to get
people to pay their delinquent assessments.
Finally though, a law was passed that
had teeth. This law
directly went after the worst violator, the unit owner who owns a unit, rents
it out, keeps the rent and stiffs the association. In both condos and HOAs, the law
provides:
If the unit is occupied by a tenant and the unit owner is
delinquent in paying any monetary obligation due to the association, the
association may make a written demand that the tenant pay to the association
the subsequent rental payments and continue to make such payments until all
monetary obligations of the unit owner related to the unit have been paid in
full to the association. The tenant must pay the monetary obligations to the
association until the association releases the tenant or the tenant
discontinues tenancy in the unit.
1. The association
must provide the tenant a notice, by hand delivery or United
States mail,
in substantially the following form:
Pursuant to section 718.116(11), Florida Statutes, the
association demands that you pay your rent directly to the condominium
association and continue doing so until the association notifies you otherwise.
Payment due the condominium association may be in the same form as
you paid your landlord and must be sent by United
States mail
or hand delivery to (full
address) , payable to (name) .
Your obligation to pay your rent to the association begins
immediately, unless you have already paid rent to your landlord for the current
period before receiving this notice. In that case, you must provide the
association written proof of your payment within 14 days after receiving this
notice and your obligation to pay rent to the association would then begin with
the next rental period.
Pursuant to section 718.116(11), Florida Statutes, your payment of
rent to the association gives you complete immunity from any claim for the rent
by your landlord for all amounts timely paid to the association.
2. The association
must mail written notice to the unit owner of the association’s demand that the
tenant make payments to the association.
3. The association
shall, upon request, provide the tenant with written receipts for payments made.
4. A tenant is
immune from any claim by the landlord or unit owner related to the rent timely
paid to the association after the association has made written demand.
(b) If the tenant
paid rent to the landlord or unit owner for a given rental period before
receiving the demand from the association and provides written evidence to the
association of having paid the rent within 14 days after receiving the demand,
the tenant shall begin making rental payments to the association for the
following rental period and shall continue making rental payments to the
association to be credited against the monetary obligations of the unit owner
until the association releases the tenant or the tenant discontinues tenancy in
the unit.
(c) The liability of
the tenant may not exceed the amount due from the tenant to the tenant’s
landlord. The tenant’s landlord shall provide the tenant a credit against rents
due to the landlord in the amount of moneys paid to the association.
(d) The association
may issue notice under s. 83.56 and sue for eviction under ss. 83.59-83.625 as
if the association were a landlord under part II of chapter 83 if the tenant
fails to pay a required payment to the association after written demand has
been made to the tenant. However, the association is not otherwise considered a
landlord under chapter 83 and specifically has no obligations under s. 83.51.
(e) The tenant does
not, by virtue of payment of monetary obligations to the association, have any
of the rights of a unit owner to vote in any election or to examine the books
and records of the association.
(f) A court may
supersede the effect of this subsection by appointing a receiver.
I have seen this law work well for community
associations. I personally
encourage the use of this statute whenever possible because it hits the
landlord in the pocket book and often times gets results. It certainly gets a lot better results
than threatening a delinquent owner with the inability to run for the
Board. In fact, there may
be some Board members out there right now who would gladly pay to get of the
Board.
P.S. Our Board
Certification Seminar is now out for 2015 and we will be all over the
state. To register at a
location near you, please go to:www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Read More: http://www.hoa-condoblog.com/
U.S. home prices rose at a modest pace in November, held back by weaker sales and a limited number of houses for sale.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index, released Tuesday, increased 4.3 percent in November from 12 months earlier. That's down slightly from a 4.5 percent pace in October. Home price gains have decelerated for 12 straight months.
The slowdown in price increases should help boost sales this year. Home values rose at a double-digit pace in early 2014, making many homes unaffordable. Sales of existing homes fell 3.1 percent to 4.93 million last year. First-time buyers in particular were priced out of many neighborhoods and accounted for a historically low proportion of sales last year.
Economists are hopeful that home sales and construction will rebound this year, partly because price gains are returning to levels consistent with a stable housing market. Lower mortgage rates, healthy hiring, and lower down payment requirements from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may also spur sales.
Home prices in all 20 cities increased over the past 12 months, the Case-Shiller index showed. San Francisco's increase of 8.9 percent was the largest, followed by Miami at 8.6 percent. Cleveland posted the smallest gain, at 0.6 percent.
