Florida’s 2019 60-day Legislative Session will begin on March 5, 2019 and is expected to end on May 3, 2019. The Florida Fire Protection Code, Section 31.3.5.12 of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 requires existing (pre-1992) “high-rise” buildings which are not otherwise exempt to...
Many boards focus on only a few provisions of the contracts they sign. What service or materials are they getting? What are they paying? When will the contract commence? Far too many other crucial provisions are overlooked as boilerplate. Indemnification clauses are often seen as part...
On any given day in any given Florida community association, a manager or director may receive a frantic call from a real estate or title agent about an upcoming closing. These frantic calls typically include an immediate request for information in the form of affidavits,...
Many of my conversations with my association clients involve an evaluation of their rules and regulations and their available enforcement tools. We regularly discuss how previously overlooked rules can be revived through a process known as republication so the Board can once again enforce them...
Over the years, I've met thousands of people living in shared ownership communities and without fail, at least one person in every community questions the mental health of someone in their community. Sometimes the suspect serves on the board, other times it is the person...
It's likely that at some point during your community's lifespan, new construction will occur nearby and the impact on your residents will vary both short and long-term depending on the steps your Board takes early in the process. Sometimes new construction is welcomed enthusiastically by...
If your community is a seasonal one that tends to thin out over the summer months, what rules or policies do you have in place to ensure that your association continues to operate smoothly and transparently over the summer months? The less crowded summer months in...
Whether we call them mistakes, oversights, slip-ups or boo boos, we all make them including volunteer board members who are often hamstrung by both operational and time constraints. The new year provides an optimal opportunity to correct items from 2017 or even earlier. The law allows...
Every year, I attend many of my clients' annual meetings and elections and it is always disappointing when some members' election ballots must be discarded due to avoidable errors. For Florida condominiums and HOAs who have adopted a "condominium style" election process, the election protocol that...
Historians believe that the ancient Babylonians were the first people to make New Year's resolutions approximately 4,000 years ago. During a religious festival known as Akitu which lasted for a lengthy 12 days, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed their loyalty to the...
