FredW5 (Florida)
Posts: 177
Posts: 177
Posted:
Hello, everyone.
We seem to be between a rock and a hard place. My board has received an application for lease approval. From our background screening,it was found that his person has a long "Rap Sheet" including a recent offense (July 2015)
for domestic violence, and battery,for which he was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence, and had to do violence counseling for 6 months, and was out on bail.
Furthermore, (Besides his low credit record) his other past offenses for which he was found guilty includes Felonies for forgery, assault,criminal mischief,property damage, and obstruction of justice, ranging from 2009 to 2011.
The entire board is against this approval.
Our HOA attorney in Florida says that according to Fl. law, there is nothing we can do unless an applicant has a record as a sex predator, or child molester.. That in order to refuse, and change our by-laws to include refusal for criminal offenses we need 100% approval by all residents. (The homeowner who wants to rent to this fellow would not approve, and we would not have 100% cooperation.)
As president of the board, I inquired from my own personal attorney ,who mentioned that if we approve, and something occurs in our community caused by this fellow, that we as HOA are responsible. On the other hand, if we don't approve, we are open to a lawsuit by the fellow, as well as the renter.
Any personal thoughts? We have never ran into such a problem before.
F.
We seem to be between a rock and a hard place. My board has received an application for lease approval. From our background screening,it was found that his person has a long "Rap Sheet" including a recent offense (July 2015)
for domestic violence, and battery,for which he was sentenced to a suspended jail sentence, and had to do violence counseling for 6 months, and was out on bail.
Furthermore, (Besides his low credit record) his other past offenses for which he was found guilty includes Felonies for forgery, assault,criminal mischief,property damage, and obstruction of justice, ranging from 2009 to 2011.
The entire board is against this approval.
Our HOA attorney in Florida says that according to Fl. law, there is nothing we can do unless an applicant has a record as a sex predator, or child molester.. That in order to refuse, and change our by-laws to include refusal for criminal offenses we need 100% approval by all residents. (The homeowner who wants to rent to this fellow would not approve, and we would not have 100% cooperation.)
As president of the board, I inquired from my own personal attorney ,who mentioned that if we approve, and something occurs in our community caused by this fellow, that we as HOA are responsible. On the other hand, if we don't approve, we are open to a lawsuit by the fellow, as well as the renter.
Any personal thoughts? We have never ran into such a problem before.
F.