Please Join Us in Our Support of Homeowners Throughout the State

As the 2015 legislative season kicks off here in the state of Florida, we’d like to turn your attention to one Bill in particular with the ability to impact community associations. As community association attorneys in Central Florida, we feel strongly about supporting Leland Management in their quest to lobby against a certain new Bill that would negatively impact homeowners and we encourage you to take action.

Last week House Bill 611 and Senate Bill 736 were introduced to the Florida Legislature. This particular Bill would bring considerable changes to the process, expenses, and effect of estoppels initiated by an association. Below please find a summary of the Bill’s potential impact. You can read the Bill in its entirety by clicking here.

• The Bill would reduce the number of days an association is allotted to respond to an estoppel request from 15 days to 10 days. Complex estoppels often require over 10 days.
• Should the 10-day deadline pass, the association is in “default” and could forfeit its right to collect the balance owed. The amounts of money lost can be thousands of dollars.
• The Bill also requires estoppels to be valid for 30 days from issuance and does not allow the association, managing personnel or attorney to collect additional assessments, fines, costs, or attorney’s fees that accrue within that 30-day time period.
• The Bill would establish a maximum estoppel fee of $100, however the appropriate process required to successfully protect the interest of the association exceeds this proposed max. Additional costs would then be shifted to the association.
• The Bill would take away the ability of the association, managing personnel, or attorney to collect an estoppel fee prior to the closing, while also limiting recourse for collection should the closing fail to take place. In other words, title companies could solicit numerous estoppels and avoid paying for preparation. These costs would then be shifted to the association.

As your local community association attorneys we urge Florida homeowners to contact your Legislator and other Committee members considering the Bill to voice your opposition of House Bill 611 and Senate Bill 736.

To Email your Representatives regarding House Bill 0611 please click here. 

To Email your Senators regarding Senate Bill 736 please click here.

At AriasBosinger we encourage you to join homeowners throughout the state against this Bill that has the ability to negatively impact Florida homeowners. Together we have the ability to stop this Bill from passing, but we need to act swiftly.