Condo & HOA Law, Treasure Coast Palm

My condo board failed to timely hold an election in April and now we have one set for next week and today they are posting notice that it’s cancelled. Can they cancel with such short notice?

Q: Hi. My condo board failed to timely hold an election in April and now we have one set for next week and today they are posting notice that it’s cancelled. They are in the middle of spending about $3,000,000 of the owner’s money on beautification without any owners votes and they are dragging the election to get more contracts signed before getting voted off the board. It’s a very bad situation on our condo. Can they cancel with such short notice? I’m running with a group of good people and we’re being blocked from taking over and finding out about the financial situation of our condo.

– F.M., Ft. Pierce

A: The board has the right to cancel annual meeting for a legitimate reason (i.e. there was a mistake in mailing, the ballots were incorrect, etc.). However, canceling for the reasons you are suspecting aren’t proper. If the board cannot find a valid reason to postpone the annual meeting, then your remedy is to file for an emergency temporary injunction to stop the board from taking any further action until the election is held. Based on the fact pattern that you described, we recommend that you get legal counsel from a Florida Bar licensed attorney as soon as possible.

 

Editor’s note: Attorneys at Goede, DeBoest & Cross respond to questions about Florida community association law.  The firm represents community associations throughout Florida and focuses on condominium and homeowner association law, real estate law, civil litigation, estate planning and commercial transactions.

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