House Bill 1195 and Cooperative Associatons (Part I)

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Scott Gordon

On June 21, Florida's Governor approved House Bill 1195.  The provisions contained in this legislation became effective on July 1, 2011.

HB 1195 was considered by many to be a "glitch bill" aimed a correcting oversights in laws passed in recent sessions of Florida's legislature.  However, HB 1195 does not expand the categories of "protected official records" in Florida Statute Section 719.104 to match those that were included in the 2010 amendments to F.S. Section 718.111(12)(c) and F.S. Section 720.303(5).   For whatever the reason, certain documents that are clearly "off limits" to unit owners in condominium associations and mandatory homeowners associations will continue to be accessible to a unit owner in a cooperative association that makes a proper request to inspect and copy them.  I've covered this topic in a previous entry in this blog and it's clear that cooperative associations have another year of uncertainty in dealing with requests to inspect and copy these "sensitive" official records.

However, HB 1195 did amend Florida Statute Section 719.303(3) to provide that::

  • A cooperative association may now levy reasonable fines for the failure of the occupant of a unit (even if that occupant is not the unit owner) to comply with the association's "reasonable"  rules or any provision of the documents governing the cooperative.   The fine may not become a lien on the unit, may be levied on the basis of each day of a "continuing violation," and cannot exceed $100 per violation or $1000 total.
  • In addition, a cooperative association can now suspend, for a reasonable period of time, the right of a unit owner, or unit owner's tenant, guest, or invitee, to use the common elements, common facilities, or any other association property for failure to comply with the association's "reasonable" rules or any provision of the cooperative documents.
  • The cooperative association must give the unit owner (and, if applicable, the unit owner's licensee or invitee) reasonable notice and an opportunity for a hearing before a committee of unit owners and the committee must agree with the fine or suspension in order for the fine or suspension to be imposed. 

We'll discuss some  additional enforcement tools extended to cooperative associations through HB 1195 in my next entry.

 

 

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New Privacy Provisions of Senate Bill 1196 Do Not Extend to Members of Cooperatives

Posted on June 30, 2010 by Scott Gordon

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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