As you may be aware, this year’s Florida legislative session ended with an unprecedented early adjournment of the Florida House. As a result of an early adjournment, the most consequential bill for community associations, Senate Bill 736/ House Bill 611, was not approved.  If this bill had been approved, and signed by the Governor, your community association could have lost all ability to collect delinquent assessments if an estoppel (e.g., request by a purchaser /title company for a statement as to delinquent assessments) was not returned on time, or any portion of the assessments actually owed should the estoppel not reflect the entire amount owed. Moreover, we believed that the increased burden for compliance set forth in this bill would have caused association assessments to increase. We believe that this bill may surface again next year, and as such, your Association should be mindful as to this potential legal issue.

In the end, this legislative session resulted in few substantial changes to association law, especially as compared to previous years.  The following provides some of the highlights.  The most substantial changes were related to operation of Mobile Home Owners Associations (F.S. 723).  These types of associations have been given greater regulation, especially as related to board member actions and education, homeowners’ rights, and the elections process.  Other substantial changes relate to termination of condominium associations.  Now, there should be greater legal protections for owners who have purchased a unit in a condominium that is being terminated by (in most cases) a corporation wishing to turn the condominium into apartments.   Finally, the legislative session resulted numerous “minor” changes to law regulating community associations, including application of payments for delinquent assessments by condominium and cooperative associations; the levying of fines and penalties by homeowners associations, condominium associations, and cooperative associations; creation of a statutory mechanism allowing for electronic/online voting for homeowners associations, condominium associations, and cooperative associations; and creation of a statutory mechanism for electronic notice of certain meetings for homeowners associations, condominium associations, and cooperative associations. 

Clayton & McCulloh plans to provide a more comprehensive legislative update within the next several weeks.  Stay tuned!