Florida ROC : Florida Mobile Home & RV Lawyer & Attorney : Scott Gordon : Lutz Bobo Telfair Eastman Gabel & Lee Law Firm : FL Condo & Homeowners Associations

 I just read an article at the CNN website about the Americans With Disabilities Act, which was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on July 26, 1990.   That article contained a link to a story that personalizes the importance of the ADA and its intent to insure that all citizens have the ability to function to their fullest capacities regardless of their particular physical, mental, or emotional challenges.

In my last entry, I summarized the decision of an Administrative Law Judge that found a landlord liable for more than $50,000 in civil damages and penalties because the landlord was held to have retaliated against a single mother who filed a Fair Housing complaint.

As I've mentioned before, our nation's fair housing laws and the ADA are rooted in the civil rights legislation of the 1960's and all managers, board members and residents in ROCs should remember that any attempts to restrict the rights that have been granted by our federal and state legislatures and courts to persons that fall within any of these "protected classes" may subject the community to consequences that are both severe and damaging.

Just something to consider as we observe the 20th anniversary of the ADA.

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I've been hesitant in posting entries on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as the media's coverage has been both numbing and overwhelming.   However, I read several articles over the July 4th weekend that I wanted to bring to the attention of my readers:

• The Sarasota Herald-Tribune ran a lengthy story this weekend on how the local real estate market has been affected by the oil spill.   Even though no oil from the spill has endangered the beaches in west central Florida and much of Florida's coastline may never see any oil from the spill, potential home purchasers are nonetheless walking away from contracts and forfeiting deposits rather than closing on real estate purchases in our area.
• The New York Times had an article on an inventive marketing campaign aimed at educating potential visitors to Florida that most of our beaches remain untouched by the oil spill. 
• The July 5, 2010 edition of Sports Illustrated featured a story by Gary Smith, one of the magazine's most incisive writers, entitled "7 Days in the Life of a Catastrophe."   It's an eye-opening and powerful report on the devastation caused by the spill.

There is a bit of good news to report:

• The New York Times also reported on changes by the Federal Housing Administration that are expected to widen the range of lenders who can offer loans for purchases of manufactured homes.
• In addition, the National Flood Insurance program has been extended to September 30, 2010 and has been made retroactive.  This will allow real estate sales that had been on hold due to an inability to obtain flood insurance coverage to now close and will permit new policies to be issued through September 30, 2010.

Finally, from Sunday's Sarasota Herald-Tribune, please read Tom Lyons' column on a rather curious response from the activities committee at the  La Casa ROC in North Port to complaints from several residents who apparently did not want to hear "O Canada" played at events in the community.   I'll think about this column the next time I attend a hockey game in Tampa.

We'll get back to Senate Bill 1196 in my next entry.

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It appears that, effective July 1, 2010, members and employees of condominium associations and mandatory homeowners' associations in Florida will be entitled to some additional privacy protections thanks to Senate Bill 1196. 

The Florida legislature, through Senate Bill 1196, has revised Florida Statute Sections 718.111(12) and 720.303(5) to provide that the following records--in addition to those already protected--shall not be accessible to condominium unit owners or subdivision parcel owners:

• Personnel records of association employees, including, but not limited to, disciplinary, payroll, health, and insurance records
• Social security numbers, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers, electronic mailing addresses, telephone numbers, emergency contact information, any addresses of a unit or parcel owner other than as provided to fulfill the association's notice requirements, and other personal identifying information of any person, excluding the person's name, unit or parcel designation, mailing address, and property address
• Any electronic security measure that is used by the association to safeguard data, including passwords
• The software and operating system used by the association which allows manipulation of data, even if the unit or parcel owner owns a copy of the same software used by the association.

However, for some reason, Florida Statute Section 719.104(2), which governs the official records of a cooperative association, was not amended by Senate Bill 1196.  

Members and employees of cooperatives thus will now have less privacy protection than their counterparts in condominiums and subdivisions.

I assume that this was not intended by Florida's legislators and that a "glitch bill" will be introduced at the next session in Tallahassee to ensure members and employees in all categories of resident owned communities are given equal privacy protection. 

In the meantime, members of cooperatives might want to bring this to the attention of their state legislators.

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I'm posting links for my blog readers to two articles from last Sunday's Sarasota Herald -Tribune and a story that was summarized in a recent edition of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association's newsletter.

• The first article from the Herald-Tribune focuses on the tragic consequences of an accident involving a golf cart.  I've covered this topic in the past but I remain very concerned that many residents in the communities we work with still do not understand that golf carts are vehicles and not toys. 
• With one hurricane (and the third named storm) spinning in the Eastern Pacific and several systems having already been investigated in the Atlantic, the second article in Sunday's Herald-Tribune is extremely timely.   It details the devastating effects of storm surge, which causes more deaths than any other feature of a hurricane.
• The battle being fought between neighbors at the Americana Cove manufactured housing community in Pinellas County is the subject of the third article from the St. Petersburg Times.   We've spoken at our seminars on many occasions about the issues facing the residents at Americana and there are no easy answers in this situation.

We'll get back to discussing how Senate Bill 1196 will impact resident-owned communities in my next entry.    In the meantime, I hope you find these articles interesting and informative.

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Governor Crist signed Senate Bill 1196 into law last week and I'll be posting several entries about the amendments to Florida's statutes affecting condominiums, cooperatives, and mandatory homeowners' associations in the coming weeks. 

I'd like to first mention a provision in Senate Bill 1196 that corrects a "glitch" in the statutes governing cooperative associations.

SB 1196 amends Florida Statute Section 719.106(1)(d)6 to provide that, unless a cooperative association's bylaws provide otherwise, a board member appointed or elected to fill a vacancy on the board that occurs before the expiration of the term serves for the full remaining term of the seat being filled.   Although the Florida Administrative Code Section that expanded on F.S. 719.106(1)(d) specifically provides for a vacant seat being filled for the full remaining term, because the statute itself was silent on the issue, there was some uncertainty as to whether the vacancy was filled for the full term or only until the next annual meeting.   This amendment removes any potential inconsistency between condominium associations and cooperative associations on the issue of filling a vacant position on the board that occurs before the expiration of the term.

SB 1196 further amends the statutes governing retrofitting for fire sprinkler systems in both condominiums and cooperatives by prohibiting local authorities from requiring completion of fire sprinkler system retrofitting before the end of 2019.   This is a five year extension from the date provided for prior to this amendment.   The association membership still has the right to "opt out" of retrofitting.

SB 1196 also adds several categories of information that is not to be made available to members or parcel owners in mandatory homeowners associations.

In my next entry, I'll discuss some changes found in SB 1196 that are intended to help ROC boards and managers deal with our foreclosure crisis.

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I'm posting two very different articles for the education and enjoyment of my blog readers:

• A horror story from a recent edition of the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel about a ROC board's disastrous decision to forego insurance coverage.
• A much lighter report from the May 16, 2010 edition of the St.Petersburg Times about the "Airstream Ranch" now featured along I-4 in Hillsborough County.

I hope you'll find these stories interesting and informative.  

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I received an email earlier this week from Jim Ayotte, the Executive Director of the Florida Manufactured Housing Association, about a bill passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill is H.R.5019, the "Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010," and contains an amendment that promotes the purchase of new "energy efficient" manufactured homes by providing a $7500 rebate to homeowners of mobile homes or manufactured homes built before January 1, 1976 who purchase a new "Energy Star-qualified" replacement manufactured home.  The bill also provides an additional $2500 grant for decommissioning the older home.

Jim's email advised that the U.S. Senate could be considering this legislation as early as this week and stressed the importance of contacting our Senators immediately to urge them to vote in favor of the Senate's companion bill, which is S. 1320 and to include the Manufactured Housing Energy Efficiency provision.  

Since the FMHA estimates that there are about 350,000 manufactured or mobile homes in Florida that were built prior to 1976, the passage of this legislation could significantly benefit both homeowners and ROCs.

I am including a link to a sample letter that can be signed and then faxed or mailed to your Senators.   Jim's email noted that this letter must be faxed or mailed because emails with attachments will not be delivered.

If you wish to send this letter to our Florida Senators, their contact information follows:

The Honorable Bill Nelson--716 Hart SOB, Washington, DC  20510 Fax: (202) 228-2183

The Honorable George LeMieux--356 Russell SOB, Washington, DC 20510 Fax (202) 228-5171

Of course, letters sent to Senators in the home states of our "snow birds" would certainly be appropriate. 

This is a great opportunity to make a difference and benefit our communities.

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We've just been advised that House Bill 419 has been withdrawn from consideration for the upcoming legislative session in Tallahassee.   As you may recall, House Bill 419 contained provisions allowing the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to examine and inspect the property, books and records of almost any condominium, cooperative, timeshare, or mobile home park in Florida at any time and for any reason (or for no reason) whatsoever.   The bill also would have prohibited weekday meetings of the Board of Directors of condominium and cooperative associations from being held before 6:00 p.m.   In addition, no association would be permitted to make any contribution to a charitable organization unless that association received a direct benefit from that charitable organization. 

Apparently, proposed amendments to the statutes governing ROCs will be found in substitute Senate Bills 1196 and 1222 that have now been introduced and are making their way through the committee process.

We'll keep you posted.

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It's always exciting to spread the word to my blog readers when a community joins the list of ROCs in Florida.  

Earlier today, the residents of Riverwalk Mobile Home Village closed on the purchase of their community.   Riverwalk is a beautiful manufactured housing community with over 200 sites located in North Port near the Myakka River.   The residents formed their homeowners association a number of years ago and maintained a good relationship with the community owner over those years.   The association made a point to contact the owner at least annually to remind the owner that the residents were interested in purchasing the community if and when the owner was ready to sell.

The community owner contacted the homeowners association in late December of last year and offered to sell Riverwalk to the association.   The terms offered by the owner required that the closing of the sale occur by no later than February 18, 2010.  Fortunately, the homeowners association had prepared for this opportunity and because of that advance planning and a tremendous amount of effort, the association was able to raise the funds and meet the conditions required under the agreement in time.   As a result, the homeowners association now is the proud owner of what will soon be known as Village at Riverwalk, the newest ROC in Florida!

The associatIon's efforts to purchase Riverwalk were ably led by a terrific group of directors and many volunteers.   Bill Gorman and Norman Loiselle from Lifestyle Choice Realty did a fantastic job of coordinating these efforts and helping the residents keep their enthusiasm and optimism at the highest levels while working with lenders, engineers, vendors, insurance agencies, and many other outside parties throughout the process.

Several financial institutions, including Florida Shores Bank, First Community Bank of America, and Calusa National Bank helped residents finance individual membership share purchases and Bank of America's commitment to the association to provide the blanket loan was crucial to the association's ability to purchase the community.

The association had less than two months from the date that the offer to sell was received to raise the funds needed to complete the purchase.  What the residents lacked in time they more than made up in faith and hard work.  As a result,  Village at Riverwalk is now a resident owned community.

Congratulations and welcome to the residents of Village at Riverwalk!

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