The Office of the Condominium Ombudsman is a government agency established to regulate Florida's residential communities and oversee, among other things, education, complaint resolution, mediation and arbitration, and the disclosure of information to developers. In addition to laws that apply specifically to condominiums and Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Florida associations are affected by several federal and other state laws of general application, depending, in part, on the structure of the association. The Florida Homeowners Association Act, Florida Seq., specifically applies to non-profit organizations that operate residential HOAs in Florida.Florida homeowners associations should be organized as non-profit corporations. According to the Florida Nonprofit Companies Act, these organizations are subject to certain rules and regulations regarding corporate structure and procedure.
Condo associations can also be organized as for-profit or non-profit corporations. The Cooperatives Act provides for the creation of cooperatives, limitations on the management of cooperatives, and the rights of owners. Florida cooperatives can be organized as for-profit or non-profit corporations.The Florida Housing and Condominium Association (FHA) states that an association may incur legal liability for taking an adverse action that affects a person's right to buy, rent, or enjoy the use of real estate depending on that person's membership in a protected class.
Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act
(CCPA) is administered by the state's Financial Services Commission. These companies, along with those listed in our supplier directory, offer outstanding products and services for homeowners associations.HOAs and COAs are governed by federal laws, Florida statutes and local codes, as well as by their own statutes and the CC%26R.This complex combination of laws and regulations can make it difficult to research which laws apply specifically in certain situations where there may be a dispute between a member and their association. A Florida condo association or homeowners association may collect a security deposit from a prospective tenant in addition to the security deposit charged by the landlord if the association's regulatory documents authorize him to do so.
Homeowners Associations
(HOAs) and condo associations (COAs) have been granted extensive legal authority to create and enforce regulations in their communities. The complexities of the Florida Housing and Condominium Association laws make it difficult to analyze the details of those and other rights and obligations of associations and their tenants.For homeowners associations, there is no limit on the amount of the security deposit that an association can collect; however, the amount is subject to the rule of reasonableness. Many community association documents prohibit tenants from damaging the common areas of the association and prohibit landlords and their tenants from participating in harmful or offensive activities.Homeowners
facing potential collection action should understand how the HOA collection process works and the legal rights and compensations available to both homeowners and the association.If the owner of a condominium is more than 90 days behind in paying the fees for a unit, the condo association can suspend the rights of that landlord (and any tenant of that unit) to use the common aspects of the association's property until their dues are paid in full.Navigating through all these regulations can be daunting for homeowners associations in Florida. It is important for HOAs to understand their rights under state law as well as their obligations when it comes to collecting dues from members. It is also important for members to understand their rights when it comes to paying dues or facing potential collection action from their HOA.
