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Q:  My Board is currently working on its budget for next year. I am not happy with how much we are paying some of our vendors, including our property manager. In an effort to save money, is it possible to do away with an actual property manager and just self-manager? It would be a huge savings for us.– R.L., Vero Beach A:  Associations offer residents great benefits, but with those benefits come added expense to live in a community. One of the biggest expenses, as you point out is that the association needs be managed by someone. The question then...

Q:  Has the law changed on the fire sprinkler retrofit requirement for high rise condominiums? - J.M., Fort Pierce A:  Yes.  Section 718.112 of the Condominium Act was amended as of July 1, 2019. It was clarified that a high-rise condominium building is a building where the highest occupiable level is greater than 75 feet measured from the lowest level of fire department access.  High rise condominiums must comply with fire sprinkler retrofit and Emergency Life Safety System (ELSS) requirements of the Fire Code by January 1, 2024.  The compliance date used to be December 31, 2019 but it has...

Q: What happens if a Director on the Board is delinquent in the payment of assessments owed to the Association? Can they still serve on the Board?- B.L., Port St. Lucie A: Both the Condominium Act and the Homeowners Association Act provide that if a Director becomes more than 90 days delinquent in the payment of any monetary amount owed to the Association he or she is automatically removed from the Board.  Thereafter, the remaining Board members can vote to fill the vacancy and there is no obligation to reappoint the removed Director even if he or she pays the money owed. ...

Q: I recently had water leak into my home and the dry out company wanted me to sign a document assigning my insurance benefits to it.  I declined but can you explain what an assignment of benefits agreement is?- R.S., Vero Beach A: When a person assigns property insurance benefits to a company, they are allowing the company to “step into the shoes” of the policy holder/homeowner.  This allows the company to negotiate the amount of the insurance claim and even sue the insurance company. Typically, the assignment of benefits contract allows the company to retain all the insurance proceeds...

Q:     Our Board meetings are getting out of hand. There is a particular owner that takes the microphone and makes a long speech on just about everything. She often takes 5-10 minutes and argues with the Board and other owners while she has the floor. Can we stop this?E.L., Bonita Springs A:     Yes and no. The statutes are clear that owners have the right to address the Board. Specifically, the statute provides that “the right to attend such meetings includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated agenda items.” So, you are not...

Q: Our Treasurer has done an admirable job, but she is not a Director and was not elected by the owners. Is this a problem?A.T., Naples A:     No, this is most likely not a problem. The answer to this question requires a review of your specific community documents. This issue is generally addressed in the Bylaws, and most documents require the President to be a Director, but many documents allow the Board to elect officers that are not Directors. For example, you may have a very accomplished CPA in your community that wants to volunteer with respect to the budget...

Q:   One of our residents filed a lawsuit in small claims court against the homeowners’ association over the denial of his architecture review application.  He wanted to install a fence that is prohibited under our covenants and we had no idea he was going to sue. I was told owners can’t just run to court over these arguments. What is the law on this? - T.P., Stuart A: You heard correctly, but it requires some additional explanation. In a homeowners association, Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes provides a dispute resolution mechanism that seeks to avoid inundating the court system...

Q.  Our community has historically had low participation from residents in elections and important votes. As a result, not much has changed over the years in terms governance or the rules. We want to implement electronic voting to see if this helps. How do we do this?P.R, Estero A.  Electronic voting has been lawful for homeowners and condominium associations for a few years and, in my experience, has been successful.  The Association needs to take two important steps.  First, the Association needs to hire a vendor.  The statute includes some specific requirements for security and anonymity purposes, so it is...

Q: We are the middle of the summer and our condominium has still not had its annual meeting and election of Directors.  In years past, the meeting and election always occurred during season when there were the most residents living here.  Isn’t it true that the election must take place every 12 months?  -A.R., Sebastian A: The election should take place at the annual meeting and the statutes defer to the bylaws for calling an annual meeting.  For example, some bylaws provide that the annual meeting must take place in March or in the first quarter of the calendar year. ...

Our homeowners association includes a beautiful clubhouse with a great recreation room and fitness center.  I work until 8:00 p.m. and used to work out in the fitness center after work.  I went to the fitness center yesterday and it was closed citing a new “rule” adopted by the Board.  I had no idea this was happening, and the Board is refusing to re-institute the old hours.  What can be done? - J.G., Bonita Springs Probably not much.  Florida law concerning rules in homeowners associations are generally broken down into two categories: 1) rules concerning what can be done on...