Work Contracts and Bids Before the condominium Florida Statute revisions entered into law, bids and proposals were to be kept for a period of one year. Effective October 1, 2008, now bids and proposals are mandated to be kept for a period of seven years. The only document shelf-life requirement ensued under the old law are election [...] Read Full Story

Accounting Records: Another elucidation to the statutes includes accounting records. It’s always been government standards to maintain accounting records for a period of seven years, including most state governments. Also commonly known, condominium accounting shall be separate for each association. Effective October 1, 2008, the Florida State legislation added into law that any one person who knowingly [...] Read Full Story

Fiduciary Duty 718.111 (a) of the Florida Statutes avow that directors, officers and managers automatically have fiduciary duties and responsibilities directly or indirectly owed to its owner/s of shared association. Effective October 1, 2008, a new legislative ruling signifies fiduciary duties to be the same as any other non-profit corporation. One reason for this clarification is the [...] Read Full Story

Director Abstaining from Voting: In an attempt to avoid a conflict of interest, Directors & Officers would vote, “abstain, neither, nor, refrain, desist and even present”. Although they may have been savvy, the vote used would officially count as an opposed vote. Likewise, if Directors & Officers vote neither, nor or abstain etc… the vote was presumed to have assented to the action. Effective October 1, 2008; if Directors & Officers vote to abstain on any corporate action taken, h... Read Full Story

Condominium 718.116 amended resolution, Florida Statute Here is a feeble attempt of the Florida legislation to clarify additional administrative fees. Upon adoption or written management agreement, the Board has the authority to charge a fee for a certificate. This means, if not stated in your community documents, a fee for the preparation of an estoppel certificate may be collected. The legislation does not state the minimum amounts. The locale standard for prepared board approval forms are ... Read Full Story

2008 Florida Statute: Now it is mandatory to have an insurance appraisal prepared by an independent appraiser at least once every 36 months. The appraisal must be based upon actual replacement costs. This may be a confirmed law, but has always been a common practice to ensure adequate coverage. Another new statute confirms that the board of directors will establish the insurance deductibles base on local standards. Again, this has been common practice. It’s common to have an Insurance Committ... Read Full Story

Except for the rare occasions of remodeling or repairs, common areas such as clubhouse, pool and recreational facilities should be made available for owners and their guess. Owners also have a right to peacefully assemble. This means, if arranged for in a peaceful manner, residents have an irrevocable right to invite public speakers or candidates for public office to speak in assigned common areas. See, “The Right of Owners to Peacefully Assemble”. Beyond recall by the association, homeowne... Read Full Story

Ok lets get this straight, since Florida is notorious for screwing up presidential elections, and now that Charlie Crist is our elected governor to make a difference (as promised) an attempt was made to go back to a “paper trail” in hopes of verifying true votes, as apposed to electronic, where the governor can simply add or delete votes on command with little or no detection. In order to pass the “paper trail” bill, a number of amendments were added to satisfy the greedy legislators. One of ... Read Full Story

Notices of annual meeting are stipulated in the governing documents. The minimum requirement for the second notice is 14 days prior to the meeting. It’s a good idea to start the first notice two months out. In this way, the association would have time to prepare for an annual election if necessary. The second notice should have an agenda as described in the community documents. Since all agenda items are open for membership discussion, written description or purposes of the meeting would no... Read Full Story

There are only two mandatory meetings the associations are required to hold. The annual members meeting and a budget meeting of the board of directors. The Annual is a meeting for the members while the budget meeting is a board meeting intended to validate a fiscal budget. Annual meetings are held for the purpose of any business that comes before the members and for the election of directors, if necessary. If there were a lack of interest to run for the board, there would be no election at th... Read Full Story