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Posted By SteveD7 on 06/09/2020 4:48 PM
Yes, fines are a possibility and raises the whole new game of actually collecting $ from someone who doesn't respect rules in the first place. Yes, a lien can be placed against the property but the likelihood of recovery is low and in the distant future. What about community involvement and the power of neighbor-pressure? How can we get the "law abiding" neighbors to influence the potential "tree-killers"?
We've had more problems caused here by over-zealous tree lovers who aren't shy about expressing their love for our "beautiful trees" while completely ignoring some of the bad effects that dozens of un-maintained trees can cause.
On the subjcect of fines, we start with the statistic that homeowners own a home for an average of 5 years in Florida. Prospective buyers will often obtain an "Estoppel Certificate" in Florida that spells out any money owed to the association by the owner who is selling, and any outstanding violations or unpaid fines. Since a new owner can be held liable for what the old owner owed, the existence of any unpaid monetary obligations will likely deter anyone from buying a property until the seller gets his house in order. When you combine those 2 things you can figure, on average, a fine will go unpaid for a maximum of 5 years.
If you consider 5 years to be the "distant future", well OK, but eventually the likelihood of recovery is high. And that's without a lien.
My own HOA is hopeless when it comes to this stuff. The board has resisted implementing a fining schedule since forever. They don't want to "offend anybody". This has been the case for 6 years where the makeup of the board changes significantly every year. People just don't want to do the work to make it happen. Good luck if your situation is similar.