The Florida legislature has provided managers and boards of condominium associations, cooperative associations and mandatory homeowners associations with some help in collecting delinquent payments from unit owners and association members.

Senate Bill 1196, which goes into effect on July 1, 2010, provides that if a unit or parcel is occupied by a tenant and the unit owner or parcel owner is delinquent in paying any monetary obligation due to the association, the association may demand that the tenant pay to the association "the future monetary obligations" related to the unit or parcel.  For some reason, condominium and cooperative associations are required to make a written demand on the tenant while the language applying to Chapter 720 homeowners associations does not seem to require a written demand.  I assume that "future monetary obligations" refers to the tenant’s obligations to pay rent to the unit or parcel owner.   In all cases, the demand is continuing in nature and the tenant must pay the monetary obligations (again, I assume this is the amount to be otherwise paid by the tenant to the unit or parcel owner) until:

  • The association releases the tenant from making any further payments to the association
  • The tenant discontinues tenancy in the unit or parcel

Condominium and cooperative associations are required to mail written notice to the unit owner of the association’s demand that the tenant make payments to the association but again no such requirement seems to be included in the provisions for mandatory homeowners associations.  

A tenant who acts in good faith in response to a written demand from an association and pays his or her rent to that association is immune from any claim from the unit or parcel owner.

In addition, the revised statutes now appears to allow ROCs to evict tenants for failure to pay monetary obligations pursuant to the residential landlord-tenant provisions of Florida Statutes. 

There is a good deal more involved in these amendments and I’ll post further entries on them this summer.