Hundreds of condo owners marched through the streets of Doral on Saturday, April 16 to demand that authorities take steps to stop a wave of fraud hitting their neighborhoods. You can read the entire story in the link that I have provided below at the end of the blog:

After I read this story I sent it to my fellow board members and one of the directors on my board who has a lot of experience governing the condo replied with an outstanding observation of the condominium concept.  I have edited some names out so that we don’t get sued by the unscrupulous management company that had control of our condominium for ten years but everything else he says here is verbatim:

In my many travels in condo world I have seen some pretty poor practices by boards of directors and management companies but the prize for the most egregious acts I have ever seen has to go to a nice luxury building in Aventura, Florida of which I am very familiar with.

A condo that will remain anonymous has a unique problem that may not at first glance seem like a dilemma but let me assure it is. They have over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the bank. The bad news is that money is in an escrow account from renters in case their tenancy results in damages or fines. That’s a one thousand dollar deposit for each and every renter. It is interesting to note that the building only has three hundred units and let’s say it has 70% renters (210 apartments) as occupants. That means there is at least one hundred and forty thousand dollars that should have been refunded to the renters (minus damages) but never were, and are sitting in the association’s bank account.

In a decision by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Of the State Of Florida Homeowner Associations have been handed another setback regarding HOA collections of past due maintenance fees. On May 27, 2015 the court rendered a decision in the Appeal in Pudlit 2 Joint Venture, LLP v. Westwood Gardens HOA, Inc., Case No. 4D14-1385 that declares that if a delinquent unit is purchased by a subsequent purchaser and the association has this specific language in its governing documents (“the personal obligation for delinquent assessments shall not pass to his successors in title unless expressly assumed by them”),  then the new owner is NOT jointly and severally liable to pay the accrued delinquent fees.