Florida-who enforces statutes when HOA board violates them?

Don, based on the irregularities you have posted I would check the By-laws and call a special members meeting to replace those Board members who can not account for their improper activities. I have posted on the procedures to use several times on this board.

Last summer we went through the intensive task of doing a recall. Going door to door to obtain signatures we managed to remove 3 of the offending board. By this spring they had reorganized and overthrew the board that had replaced them. Nothing is written that keeps this from happening, and unless they can be held liable for criminal action, nothing will keep this from happening over and over. Many of the owners are going to sell and get out...if the State will not police these "corporation" HOA's how are we to manage it ourselves? Especially when the board our own money to fight us with in court. Too bad we can't post warning signs on the property for new buyers - Beware of the HOA...save that most of the property selling is becoming section 8 rentals...We need MAJOR legislative renovation to protect resident homeowners.

720 is the State Statutes. However, one must take the Board to court. There is no one at the State level in FL that enforces the 720. Hire a lawyer.
That is what we did in Baywinds in West Palm Beach.
Check out our WEB page for additional information.

www.BaywindsLife.com

Florida is extremely lucky as you have a state agency that oversees condo/homeowner boards and can levy fines as well as provide legal opinions. Check the blue pages in your phone book.

Please understand FL does not have an agency to enforce HOAs to perform.
The statute allows one to take a HOA to court. Statute 720 covers HOAs Not condos
Once again if you are really interested about what one can do about a HOA not following the statutes or their own documents, like in Baywinds, read www.BaywindsLife.com

JoeC1-----http://www.myflorida.com/dbpr/os/hot_topics/hoa_taskforce/hoa_final_report.pdf

Go to this web site and you will have a better understanding of when and why Chapter 720 was formulated.It is the HOA TASK FORCE .....The $200.00 fee that you are paying is an administration cost similar to the courts fee for filing of a lawsuit.....I do believe after you read the report you will be enlightened.All of us here in Florida should be on bended knee THANKING our Legistrators for having the GREAT common sense to realize that a problem existed and enacted a Statute to offer us a form of protection from narrow minded power hungry BOD'S................Use the Statute wisely and correctly and most of rememeber to be polite...As I have learned from this forum you will fair better by adopting a proactive attitude vs stooping to their level of thinking.....It works I promise- Keep us informes as to the progress you make or even the lack of progress...Best of luck in your endeavor..LindaC a fellow member for the cause..............

Linda, you must be reading into that report something that I'm not. First, please tell me just how I can get the State of Florida to enforce it's ststute 720, which has no appointed regulatory powers. Mediation is a joke, in that all the offending party has to do is simply disagree and walk out without any obligation to follow the State Statutes.

If you can show by sworn statement that I violated any other law, like throwing a rock through your window, the stste will prosecute. I can't get the States Attorney's Office to do anything because they say this particular violation, BOD member violation of Florida State Statute 720, is under the authority of the Land And Sales Department. I have a reply from them to that effect.

Florida Statute 720 is worthless to the homeowner.

Same old story. State Statute 720 has very might, because one must go the civil court route.

I even contacted the ACLU regarding that Consitutional rights are being violated by HOAs. They did think much of it.

Paul M. Helfgott
2779 Clipper Circle
West Palm Beach Florida 33411-5181
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Randall C. Marshall, Esq.
Florida Bar No. 181765
American Civil Liberties Union
Foundation of Florida, Inc.
4500 Biscayne Boulevard, Suite 340
Miami, FL 33137

Dear Attorney Marshall:

First let me thank you for taking the time to review my request and forwarding my case to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Florida, Inc. Palm Beach Chapter in Palm Beach, FL.

Enclosed is the letter I received from James K. Green, ACLU Foundation of Florida, Inc.

The letter indicated that the ACLU only takes on those cases that have broad constitutional and civil liberties implications. If I may impose on the ACLU Foundation of Florida, Inc. a little bit longer, maybe you could help me understand why the ACLU felt our case did not meet your criteria.

Citizens throughout this country have had and continue to have their constitutional rights and civil liberties violated simply because they purchased their homes in a Planned Urban Development (PUD) community. Cities and counties promote PUDs because these types of communities relieve these local governments from having to provide expensive infrastructure (i.e., roads, utilities, etc.) but then they turn a deaf ear when the constitutional rights and civil liberties of homeowners that live in these HOAs are violated

Professor Frank Askin, law professor at Rutgers University who is the founder of the Constitutional Litigation Clinic and an ACLU member, was successful at getting the New Jersey Superior Court to rule that homeowner associations are “constitutional actors.” According to an ACLU press release (www.aclu.org/freespeech/gen/24088prs20060207.html) “Professor Askin described the case as a national landmark, and said that homeowners groups across the country have anxiously awaited the outcome, and would now try to convince other states' courts to emulate New Jersey.” It is because Professor Askin believes that Florida as one of the few states that is likely to be the next battleground state that he referred us to you.

To summarize our situation, a very small group of homeowners was successful at taking away our voting rights, ceasing power without an election and have used and are using the association’s resources to deny our constitutional rights and civil liberties. Through clandestine meetings this group ceased power by doing away with elections and ascending to power by appointment.

When a group of homeowners challenged this through the filing of a Petition for Mediation with the State of Florida as required by statute, this group with the support of its attorney a) refused to allow people to speak in a public meeting, b) threatened to sue the petitioners for $3,500,000 causing many petitioners to have their name removed from the petition, c) told the homeowners NOT to read what was being published on the BaywindsLife website (www.BaywindsLife.com), d) incited the homeowners during a Board meeting to physically attack the petitioners and their supporters (an audio recording of the attorney’s insightful comments is available) to the point where a petitioner was threatened with death, etc.

These are only a few of the many examples that can be provided and backed up by written evidence, eyewitness testimony and audio recordings.

We have already spent thousands of our own dollars pursuing these issues while our attorney from a one-attorney law practice has spent tens of thousands of dollars in time to fight this just cause. The fact that our case does have broad implications has led to the apposing counsel stating that they would use any and all resources at their disposal to win. Given that the association has virtually unlimited funding (i.e., it can assess homeowners for any funding that it needs) while we have very limited resources, it is likely that we will be forced to let them get away with violating our constitutional and civil rights.

From my perspective, it would appear that our case does meet your criteria of having broad constitutional and civil liberties implications. Any information you could provide to help me better understand your conclusion to the contrary would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Paul M. Helfgott

With enclosures
Cc James K Green, P.A. Legal Chair
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Florida, Inc. Palm Beach
Chapter

Professor Frank Askin, of the Rutgers Law School in Newark, NJ,

John,

This post is from 2006 so I suppose you won't get an answer from anyone on the thread.

Yes I have done a FL recall and it worked! in our favor

Sheri,

This thread started in 2006.

It's best to start a new thread rather than reactivate an old one.

We are having issues as well. We started a website regarding our board hoping to gain exposure to other homeowners. Any other recommendations?

http://boyntonlakesnorth.tumblr.com

We've gone through three HOA's at our community. Part of the problem was the property management company and then also certain home owner board members who seemed to be more focused on making their own resume than caring for the community and ensuring everything is completed correctly, including dues paid by homeowners.

We've somehow stabilized and I quit going to the meetings as people were all upset about all of the wrong things. What someone has in their backyard, to me, is nobodys business. However, the common shared areas definitely were and to be sure our monies were being spent wisely was also an issue.

We did into getting a reserve study done to better assess our financial needs and forecast spending which helped to adjust our dues. We are in Jacksonville, and the company that got involved and helped was https://www.reservestudyinstitute.org/. I cannot tell you how much better it was to have a 3rd party who actually does this for a living do this as opposed to a group of board members with no skills in this area.

Also, spam is unwelcome here. It seems like you're doing that for the company whose website URL you posted.

I did some further checking and was given the name of two State of Florida government agencies that might be helpful. The first one the Division of Condos, Time Share and Mobile Homes. I was lead to believe that even though HOA's were not included in the title, they are part of their responsibility. The other Florida agency is the Division of Business and Regulation. Don't know about the second one.

This is an eight year old thread.

Typically, it's best not to reactivate threads but to start a new one.
This is because laws change and what may have been good advice in 2006 may be bad advice in 2024.
It can become an unintentional issue for readers.