Florida HOA's who want to ban sex offenders, read this..

Started by BrianB • 7 replies • 3100 views

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BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

If your Florida HOA is thinking about banning sex offenders, best be prepared to lose a lot of owners:

http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Teens+prosecuted+for+racy+photos/2100-1030_3-6157857.html?tag=newsmap

A 17 year old and 16 year old took pictures of each other with their cell phones while "engaged in sexual conduct", and they are not convicted of child pornography, which is a sexual offense.

Be prepared to tell their parents to move out or face fines.

HaroldS (Arizona)
Posts: 906

Posted:

I am probably naive and live a sheltered life, but are you saying lots of teenagers are doing this which could cause their parents to have to move if the HOAs ban sex offenders?
This happens with laws that are black or white -- there's always some grey out there. Harold

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

Yup...that would be what i am saying.

JanM (Texas)
Posts: 142

Posted:

I think a person would have to be charged and convicted before being called a sex offender and put on a "list".

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

just like these two teenagers were.

they were convicted of child pornography charges. so, if their HOA bans sex offenders, then they must move out, right?

BradP (Kansas)
Posts: 2,640

Posted:

Brian:

You are 100% right on this topic and to me it really is becoming sad. These two kids are obviously immature and don't understand the risks they are taking, but they are not sex offenders. Unfortunately current laws don't differentiate between them. If they lived in a restricted community they would have to be kicked out.

What is interesting to me is that some states that have the toughest residency laws for sex offenders are starting to back off of them. The reason is the laws are so restrictive that offenders are finding it hard to get a place to live so they tend to fail to register and start back on a life of crime that leads them to reoffend.

I am probably in the minority, it doesn't bother me too much if one is living down the street. we have one but at least I know where he is and what he looks like and what he drives.

RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901

Posted:

The question would be, are convicted sex offenders prohibited from owning property or are they prohibited from "living" on the property? And how would the association (or the law) define "living" on the property? If the teenagers in question were prohibited from "living" there, they could move out of the house, establish a legal residence somewhere else and come back to their parent's homes to "visit". There was a post a while back about people "visiting" a property and parking their vehicles in the visitor spaces. They were apparently "visiting" for five days at a time, then leaving for the weekend. Can an association ban overnight visits?

My personal feeling is that this is beyond the responsibility of an HOA. What's next, banning people because of their financial status? race? religion? ethnicity? sexual preference?

And a final thought - Why is it that sexual offenders can be required to register and prohibited from living in certain areas while murderers are not subjected to those same requirements?

Ron
SC

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

I agree Ron: We do ban people of certain ages from living in some communities, and we can ban people with children, i believe. we can also ban people who wish to own certain animal types, breeds or even animals that may look like other animals. We can also ban people in certain job occupations, or who work from home. We can ban people without a financial ownership interest in the property (renters), and we can ban people from expressing their constitutional rights of speech. So, if an HOA banned sex offenders from owning or living on property, then that just adds to the list of exclusions for the HOA to manage.

As to your last question, I have no idea, except the stupidity of politicians and the people who elect them.

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