Condominium Associations in Florida are run by Volunteers who for the most part are individuals who have no criminal intent while performing their Association duties.  According to the Final Report of the Miami-Dade County Grand Jury filed February 6, 2017, Condominium Associations and Management Companies have criminal tendencies.  The Grand Jury claims the Department of Business and Professional Regulations are not coming down hard enough or the existing Condo laws and regulations lack “teeth” to keep these rogue Associations and/or Management Companies in check.

The Grand Jury report is recommending to the Florida Legislature that they create criminal charges for Directors and Officers of the Association whom engage in certain willful, reckless or fraudulent acts.  Some of these acts for which these recommendations are for would be tampering with elections or failing to properly maintain Association official records.  The Grand Jury is also recommending Legislation that will empower the Department of Business and Professional Regulations to suspend or revoke licenses of Licensed Community Association Managers or Condo Property Management Companies that engage in inappropriate behavior.  It will be interesting to see how the Legislature responds to these recommendations.  For Associations who already find themselves with the hard task of getting enough people to volunteer for the Board for lack of interest, will likely see an even bigger drop in interest for fear of criminal sanctions.