The manager at one of the ROCs we represent recently sent me a "Performance License for RV Parks/Campgrounds" from a company called SESAC. The manager wanted to know whether SESAC had the right to insist that the community obtain a license in order to play live or recorded songs in SESAC’s music catalog
Financial matters
ROCs Must Use Caution When Responding to Fair Housing Complaints
Several of the resident-owned communities we work with have had the great displeasure of dealing with complaints filed by residents under the Fair Housing Act. Most of these complaints are without merit and are eventually resolved in favor of the community. Quite often, the resident filing the complaint is simply trying to delay…
Condos and Co-ops Treated Differently in Determining Obligations for Unpaid Assessments
As many of my readers know, Senate Bill 1196 amended Florida Statute Section 718.116(1)(b) to provide that a first mortgagee or its successor or assignee who acquires title to a condominium unit by foreclosure or by deed in lieu of foreclosure is required to pay the unpaid assessments that became due before the mortgagee’s acquiring…
SB 1196 Gives ROCs a New Tool to Collect Delinquencies
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…
Airstreamers as Art and an ROC nightmare
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"
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Proposed U.S. Energy Bill May Benefit Mobile Home Owners
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…
ROCs and the Foreclosure Crisis
The headline of Sunday’s edition of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reads "Condo Groups in Financial Pain". The story accompanying that headline details the severe economic problems many condominium associations face as a result of the ongoing foreclosure crisis. The article is well worth reading and contains examples of how several associations are attempting to survive a…
ROC Members Have Rights to Employees’ Salary Information
Can unit owners in resident-owned communities discover what the association is paying its employees, including the manager?
We are asked this question frequently each year, especially when the association is in the process of preparing its annual budget. Obviously, the association’s employees would prefer that information about the compensation they are receiving…
Condominium and Cooperative ROC Members Should Understand the Difference Between Ballots and Proxies
We are now well into our "season" in Florida and most resident owned communities will be holding their annual meetings during the next few months. It’s thus a very good time to remind my blog readers that are members of condominium or cooperative associations of some of the important differences between ballots and proxies:
- In general
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How can ROCs minimize delinquencies in rents, assessments, and maintenance fees?
“ROCs and bankruptcy protection” “policies for residents that are delinquent in payments” “secured interest in or mortgage on lot, mobile home or RV”…
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