Special Assessment Scandal

All of you know about the storms that hit South Florida last year. As a result, the roofs of 450 out of 461 units had to be replaced, and many units had interior damage to their drywall. 450 people had to pay a $1500 deductible which, we were told, was to cover all repairs (roof and interior). The 11 remaining unit owners were not included because they had repaired their roofs on their own, prior to the storms. NOW, the Board has just announced that, since the cost of insurance has gone up, we all need to pay an extra $200 a month for the next three months. That's understandable, everyone's insurance has gone up in Florida. However, the Board also announced that they overspent what the insurance company gave us. Starting next year, we are going to have to pay $280 a month (our maintenence is now $148). Since there is a by-law stating that the Board can't raise the monthly maintenence fee more than 10% a year without the approval of 2/3 of the association, we will have a 10% increase PLUS a special assessment for the remaining amount (up to $280). It will take 6 years to reach $280 as a maintenence fee without a special assessment attached.

The special assessment is for the overage cost of 4 companies; the roofers, the debris removers, the drywall replacers, and the electrical company that is also supplying NEW lights around the pool area. My townhouse did not suffer any interior damage at all. I understand about the blanket policy, where if one unit is damaged, all the units in that building need to split the price. Is there any exception to this rule? Shouldn't the Board be held responsible for spending so much more than the insurance awarded the community? We already paid $1500, and that was what the Board had told us would be all we would pay. Also, the cost of this special assessment is going to be divided by 450 units, still excluding the 11 homeowners who were previously excluded from the initial assessment. They had debris removed and will enjoy the new lights around the pool as much as all of us. Why are they exempt from paying?

It doesn't seem fair. Is there a way to have the Board audited? Please help!!!

Nichole,

I've been watching the problems in Florida for over a year now, and they've been well documented by the news. It appears that your association has run into the same problem that has occurred at numerous associations:

1) There was a cap on the insurance payout. Even some "Replacement" insurance policies have caps.

2) Because of all the damage from the multiple storms, construction material and labor costs soared, meaning overruns for most rebuilding. This gap between the insurance payout and the actual cost had to be borne by the owners. The same thing happened to thousands in homes not in an association also.

3) The 11 owners shouldn't have been exempted from any of the assessments, no owners can be. The proper procedure would have been to re-imburse them for their expenses (but only up to what the association would have spent.) However, given the conditions, this is splitting hairs.

4) Unless you have reason to believe that the board acted in their own personal self-interest, or kept some of the money for themselves, it sounds like they tried to do what was necessary, but just didn't guess correctly. Given the fact that there are still numerous condos that don't have roofs yet, at least your board moved to get the repairs done.

Joe