Deo reversed its own decsicion

The deo denied revitilization ,then 22 days after that the lawyer called deo and reversed the decision over the phone.so much for appeals.if the deo has no investigative authority how can it reverse its decision based on new information 82 days after first receiving the revitilization packet..then the hoa records the approved revitilization before the new 21 day appeal is up which puts the recording more then 30 days after the first order.then hoa doesent bother notifying deed holders they have restrictions on their property..so much for law.

DEO = Department of Economic Opportunity

Richard, the site below and FS 720 both indicate that the DEO's job is to see if the "proposed revived declaration and other governing documents comply with" state statutes:

https://floridajobs.org/community-planning-and-development/programs/community-planning-table-of-contents/homeowners-associations-covenants

Notice how the site above says that the DEO will not disapprove a proposed revitalization because of disputes between owners and the HOA.

Where a party has "substantial interests," the right to appeal a DEO decision appears to arise from FS 120.569. See https://www.jimersonfirm.com/blog/2022/03/communitys-mrta-revitalization-denied/ and http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0120/Sections/0120.569.html.

When the denial was issued, Florida statutes say that the HOA has the right to appeal the denial. This is apparently what happened. The DEO has the right to reverse itself.

If the HOA attorney appealed after the deadline occurred, then I agree this may be problematic.

On the other hand, there is nothing to stop a HOA, trying to revitalize, from re-submitting. What does this mean? It means that I think the HOA attorney's being outside the timeline is likely a moot issue.

You first posted about this one month ago, at https://www.hoatalk.com/Forum/tabid/55/forumid/1/postid/351076/view/topic/Default.aspx . If you failed to hire an attorney and pursue this situation promptly, you may be out of luck.

Their was no appeal it was a phone call its listed as new info submitted to deo,that would be 82 days after the file was open ,the deo own regulations stipulate 60 day max for any info
21 days to appeal
30 days to record
No appeal was filled by the hoa.i filled two appeals ,it seems to me that a connection inside the deo is between lawyers and deo personal.when I called the deo I was told I had to file a appeal but the lawyer dident file an appeal and got the original denied revitilization reversed,
The covenants clearly state more restrictive covenants
The deo doesent follow its own regulations

I agree.

In recent years, my observation is that any individual attempting to hire an attorney for just about any type of personal wrong, that does not involve a physical injury, will struggle mightily these days just to get a return call from an attorney.

Worse, the revitalization of covenants is so complicated that I think one should only use an attorney who has worked on revitalization cases in the past and knows the statutes and process well. This limits your options for hiring an attorney even more.

One has to persevere. Offering money up front immediately might help. I think the better attorneys will not take one's money if they think either (1) there is no real case; or (2) there is little to no money in it for them.

I would guestimate that "chump change" to HOA/COA attorneys these days is anything below $5000. Below this, I figure many attorneys will not help. It's not worth their time.

It is a more difficult world than ever today. For Florida, multiply this by ten. I figure Florida attorneys are getting top dollar, since the higher income people are flocking there in droves. These people are your competition. Add this to the aggravating factors.

If there are still mom-n-pop, sole practitioner law firms in Florida, looking to scrape by, these might be your best bet for getting some kind of meaningful advice or at least a return call.

I might start with a google search like this:

"revitalization" "hoa" "attorneys" "florida" "[city or county"