Are you a frustrated Condo Board Member? Not sure how to handle those pesky issues that keep popping up? Call us! We talk Condo!

There is nothing worse than being elected to a non-paying position and experiencing the frustrations that come up.   ’’As the firm that “Embraces Community,” we can “prescribe” the “meds” to take away those headaches for Board Members, Committee Members, and Managers.  Offering a multitude of flat rates, we find creative and aggressive solutions to your legal and practical issues that your condominium faces.  We offer numerous flat rate services such as Collections, Covenant Enforcement, Lien Foreclosure, Amendments, and other legal packages.  No mandatory retainer to hire us.

We also feature a wide array of complimentary services, including our famous small class “Community Connect Chats” and large group events “Embracing Community Conferences.”    Among the many topics presented, we host quarterly Condominium Board Certification class.  The Florida Legislature passed legislation in 2010 requiring every board member to attend a Board Certification class within 90 days of being elected to the Board or sign an Affidavit “opting’ out of the class with certain sworn statements.  The purpose of the class is to equip Board Members with the knowledge of how to operate their non-profit corporation.  Even though your condominium is your neighborhood – it is also a corporation with all the responsibilities and liabilities of prominent for-profit corporations such as the Walt Disney Co. or Microsoft. 

Would you like someone to take those frustrations away? We will!  Call our Director of Public Relations or Request a Presentation or Legal Services Package.  Want to ask questions about becoming a client after normal business hours?  Call our Director of Public Relations on her cell!  All part of our firm’s commitment to Embracing Community!

About Condominium Associations

What is a condominium?  According to Wikipedia “a condominium, usually shortened to condo, is a type of real estate divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas jointly owned.

Residential condominiums are frequently constructed as apartment buildings, but there has been an increase in the number of "detached condominiums", which look like single-family homes but in which the yards, building exteriors, and streets are jointly owned and jointly maintained by a community association.

Unlike apartments, which are leased by their tenants, condominium units are owned outright. Additionally, the owners of the individual units also collectively own the common areas of the property, such as hallways, walkways, laundry rooms, etc.; as well as common utilities and amenities, such as the HVAC system, elevators, and so on. Many shopping malls are industrial condominiums in which the individual retail and office spaces are owned by the businesses that occupy them while the common areas of the mall are collectively owned by all the business entities that own the individual spaces.

The common areas, amenities and utilities are managed collectively by the owners through their association.”

Governed by Chapter 718 of the Florida Statues, there are several forms of condominiums that exist in Florida:

• Multi-unit condominium - these are your standard multi-unit building(s) condominiums which may be appear, among others, as a townhouse, high-rise, or even a manufactured home community. 
• Land condominiums – where a legal “unit” is actually the surface of land that may otherwise appear to be a single-family “lot.”  These types of communities may look the same as a single-family housing development, but are legally established as condominiums.
• Condo Conversion – “in real estate, a condominium conversion or condo conversion is the process of entitling an income property or other lands currently held under one title to convert from sole ownership of the entire property (which often already is a multi-unit property) into individually sold units as condominiums.”        -Definition provided by Wikipedia.
• Timeshares – units within a property are sold on a divided ownership including time blocks of weeks shared with other purchasers.
• Condotel – condominiums which rent out individual units by the day, week, or month similar to a hotel or motel.  Very common in tourist and beachside communities.

Unlike like a Homeowner Association, a Condominium Association is always a mandatory association governed by a Declaration of Condominium.  If an Association decides to employ a manager, they must hire a licensed Community Association manager if they have 50 or more unite or an annual budget of $100,000.  Need to hire a manager?  We have a Manager Complimentary Referral Service to assist your Association (available to clients and non-clients) in hiring a licensed Manager or Management Company.  Legislation was passed in 2010 requiring management companies to secure a management company license through the Department of Business & Professional Regulations.  If you would like to take advantage of this complimentary service either use the link above or call our Director of Public Relations

A Sampling of our Services for Condominium Associations

We handle every type of issues for Condominiums except criminal and tax issues that can arise  (and then we will refer you to a firm that specializes in those areas). 

Here is a sampling of the myriad issues we handle for Condos:
 

• ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Federal Housing Act – “55 and Older” communities
• Association Meetings (attending, drafting documents related to, etc.)
• Covenant Enforcement Violation
• Covenant Revitalization and Marketable Record Title Act
• Governing Document Drafting, Interpretation, Review
• Contracts including but not limited to Vendor and Employment Contracts.
• Opinion Letters
• Sexual Harassment, Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators
• Short Term Rentals
• Collection of Delinquent Assessments, Lien Foreclosures, and Bankruptcy
• Deficiency and Personal Money Judgments
• Receiverships and Rent Interception
• Fair Debt Collections Practice Act (FDCPA) and the Florida Consumer Collection Practice Act (FCCPA)
• Litigation including Covenant Enforcement, Civil, Administrative Actions, Contract Dispute, Construction Defect, Local and State Government.
• Arbitration and Mediation
• Termination of Condominium 

For expanded information on the above bullets, please click here.  Additionally, for more information on the Litigation Process and Collection and Lien Foreclosure Process, please select these links.