Knowledge is Power: Navigating Florida Condo and HOA Crimes By Rosa de la Camara, Esq
This year the Florida Legislature was very active in adopting laws impacting condominium associations. BHA held an informational meeting on March 21st where Representative Vicki Lopez, whose District includes the Brickell area was invited to speak as was a panel from the Becker law firm.
House Bill 1021, colloquially called Condo 3.0, was passed by the Florida Legislature, and will significantly impact many areas of condominium governance. This bill has not yet been sent to the Governor for his action but we expect that this bill will become law effective July 1, 2024. Some highlights of HB 1021:
Contains a new DBPR reporting requirement for SIRS completion as the Board is now obligated to notify DBPR by completing a new form on the DBPR website.
Makes board member certification classes mandatory, increases the number of hours of required education each board member must complete and adds a requirement for an annual update course.
DBPR has been given jurisdiction to investigate owner complaints related to SIRS processes and procedures.
Removes 4-unit buildings from the milestone inspection requirements.
Require any Condominium Association with 25 or more units to have an association website by January 1, 2026.
Requires significant changes to both association record retention and records access process.
Allows DBPR to fine or issue other penalties for failure to maintain the required insurance or fidelity bonding.
Requires quarterly meetings for associations with ten (10) or more units, at which meetings owners may ask the board certain questions (ie: construction or repair projects, revenue and expenditures, other matters.
Adds multiple association voting crimes, voting conspiracy, and records inspection crimes to the Condominium Act, and requires that anyone charged with such a crime be removed from office.
Expands DBPR jurisdiction to investigate financial issues, financial reporting, commingling of reserves, budgets, assessments, and fines, use of debit cards, use of reserves, elections, recalls, electronic voting, procedural violations of meeting requirements, budget meetings, disclosure of conflicts, removal of board members, owner written inquiries, association records access structural integrity reserve study processes, and criminal violations under Chapter 718.
This is just an overview and there are other important aspects of the law not covered here. Given the broad reach of the new laws, it is expected that some clarifications will be needed next year in a glitch bill. In the meantime, important new obligations are placed on board members and managers, so everyone will need to familiarize themselves with these. In some cases, noncompliance can result in criminal sanctions.
More information can be found on the Becker law firm website: https://beckerlawyers.com/practices/florida-community-association/
Ms. de la Camara is a veteran community association law practitioner and shareholder with Becker. She is resident in the firm’s Miami office.
To learn more about or contact her: Rosa M. de la Camara | Becker (beckerlawyers.com)
Rosa M. de la Camara
Shareholder