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HalA1 (Florida)
Posts: 5
Posted:
State of Florida Does anyone have or familiar with HOA case law on the following:

Units in townhouse development. Single story units 7 in a block. One Unit owner won't allow dry wood termite companies from tenting unit. Other 6 are agreeable. Fumigation to be effective requires tenting the entire row. Documents are silent on termites.
From the HOA documents:

ARTICLE VI
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 1. Maintenance of Units. Every Unit Homeowner must keep and maintain his Unit, its equipment and appurtenances, in good order, condition and repair, and must perform properly all maintenance and repair work within his Unit which, if omitted, would affect the Development in its entirety or shall be responsible for the maintenance of his Unit and Lot and shall keep same in a neat and orderly fashion, and should he fail to do so, then the Association, after demand, may enter upon the premises of the Unit Owner for the purpose of maintaining and/or repairing said Lot and/or Unit and the costs incident to said maintenance and/or repair or replacement shall be the personal obligation of the Unit Owner and become a lien against the subject Unit with the same force and effect of a lien that would be created by said Unit Owner's failure to pay the maintenance assessments when due. Owner must maintain any islands in front of the house and landscaping to asphalt on front and side yards.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550
Posted:
Do FL statutes have anything to say on this topic, Hal?
HalA1 (Florida)
Posts: 5
Posted:
Kerry,

No they don't.
HalA1 (Florida)
Posts: 5
Posted:
Kerry,

No they don't.
HalA1 (Florida)
Posts: 5
Posted:
Ok, Thanks for your input.
SheliaH (Indiana)
Posts: 6,964
Posted:
If the documents and state law are silent, you could Google case law on termites damaging adjoining units or some such and see what comes up.

I always say you can't and shouldn't expect to find every situation in HOA land addressed in the documents or state law, so I'd start by focusing on the problem at hand. Besides, case law may or may not help you - just because a judge rules one way in one case doesn't mean you'll get the same judge or even if the facts of the case are the same.

Start by asking homeowner #1 what's behind the objection. There may be a misunderstanding that can easily be addressed. If he/she/they is concerned about leaving the house for a certain time and wants the association to pay, he may need to check his individual homeowner policy to see if it pays for housing expenses in these situations. If not, he may have to pony up this time and then talk to the agent about adjusting the policy accordingly.

Since termites will go to wherever wood is, ask the exterminator how quickly this might happen if all seven units aren't treated because homeowner #1 is in the way. Your association insurance policy may be able to tell you if homeowner #1 could be held responsible for repairs to ALL the units because he/she/they wouldn't cooperate. Is homeowner #1 willing to take that risk? If so, I'd get it in writing.


If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it. Marcus Aurelius
HalA1 (Florida)
Posts: 5
Posted:
Sheliah

Thank you for your interest.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
Hal

First talk nice to the dissenting owner. If no progress, talk to the BOD lawyer about how you can legally force the owner to agree.

We had a similar issue. Our HOA pays for fertilizer/weed control as part of our landscaping. We had one owner send the BOD an Email about the dangers of pesticides and told us she no longer wanted her lawn done and threatening legal action if we did not stop. We had our lawyer write her a polite letter along the lines of she agreed to the Covenants that say something along the lines Community Standards. She went away.

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