The Florida Condominium Act says that “any unit owner or other eligible person” may be a candidate for the board of directors. An individual is not eligible for board membership if the person has been suspended or removed from the board by the State, is delinquent in the payment of monetary obligations to the condo, or has been convicted of a felony, unless his civil rights have been restored for at least five years as of the date such person seeks election to the board.

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:

Community association Collections or for that matter any debt that is delinquent often deteriorates into a bitter cycle of pain.  The property owner may fall into hard times and cannot afford their payments due to unforeseen consequences and an unfortunate process begins.  First, there is the courtesy notes from the association and then when that fails to result into a payment the matter is sent to either an attorney or debt collector for action.

After much testimony and deliberation the Florida Supreme Court has finally ruled in the Unlicensed Practice of Law issue.  Florida Community Association Managers are not practicing law by doing their jobs according to the Florida Supreme Court. The 27 page advisory opinion, just released May 14, 2015, is summed up on the last page with the last paragraph concisely named “conclusion”: