July 31, 2025 • 52 mins
New Condo Laws explain Orlando Board members
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Ask The Experts Florida is broadcast live Mondays at 9AM ET and Thursdays at 5PM ET on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Ask The Experts Florida is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, peering, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, good afternoon, Orlando, one of my favorite cities. I
live in the southeast part of Florida, but I love Orlando.
But I actually I really love the show We've got
for you today. It's the last Thursday of the month.
It's actually the last day of the month, and that
(01:17):
means kay Bender Rimbaum. And I'm gonna tell you something.
This guy, this expert, I actually I call him my
butt Now. I love doing the show with him. He
makes it so easy. And by the numbers of people
(01:37):
who ride us, Bro, they love you. You're like the superstar.
Let me introduce you to Board certified attorney Alan Schwartzide.
Good afternoon, Bro, afternoon.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
You know you really don't have to butter me up
every time I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I appably shut up.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You're wrong, and I'll take it every time.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
But it's not matter.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
I'll still tell people.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
People love you, and it's you make it so easy
doing the show. Hey, if you're watching on YouTube, you
can see all the classes that are going to be
next month. But we will be announcing him during the show.
I got to tell you, this is a very busy
(02:26):
man with all the new laws that he's going to
have to explain to everybody, and to still have time
to come on our show and tell people about Kaye
Bender Rimbaum.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Sure well. Our firm has been in place since the
early nineties. We've got twenty three attorneys, eight board certified
and community association representation one Board certified and construction law,
and all we really do is represent community associations. We
don't really do pretty much anything else. We do start
to finish, collect enforcement, day to day, guidance, amendments, whatever
(03:03):
you need, we got you covered for. I'd say ninety
nine point nine percent of anything that's ever come up
during the time I've been with the firm. So you know,
if you're happy with the attorneys that you're working with,
if that's not us, feel free to stick with them.
But if you're not really sure that you're getting the
best level of service available in the state, and you
want to give us a shot, whether that's the secondary
(03:23):
Council or you just want to make the switch, feel
free to reach out. You're going to see my email
if you're watching this on video in the top right
of my picture. It's as at KDR legal dot com.
That's the easiest way to reach me.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I want to share something a lot of people. I've
been doing this show for fifteen going on sixteen years now,
and that's a lot of due diligence when you've got
a law firm that I would say ninety ninety five
percent totally looks at community association law. And the reason
(04:01):
why I say that because you would not believe all
the law firms out there. If you look at what
I call their shingle, it'll say business law, real estate law,
bankruptcy law, tax law, and then they'll say community association law.
I'm telling you you want a firm that basically totally
(04:23):
looks at community association law. And you know, I I'd
love the fact that that's where your concentration is. And
I also love the fact that you really cover most
all of Florida. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I mean, we've got the offices in Pompino, We've got
one in Palm Beach Gardens, Miami by appointment Tampa, and
I manage the one here in Winter Springs. So and
we do go as far north as you need. So
anyone that's listening outside the Orlando area, although I do
focus my practice closer to Orlando, you know, we're not limited.
We do practice statewide. As Steve mentioned, you.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Know, I've got to ask you know, there's a lot
of new laws, and we'll get into that next month,
but I want to ask you it seems like most
of all the new laws down are geared towards condo
and not hoa why is that.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, I've heard through the great find that the legislature
saw what they did two not four Hoa's over the
last two years, and decided to finally give us a
freaking break. That's pretty much. It's it's you know, we've
been beat up in ho A Land for two straight years,
rights being taken away left and right. And it's great
(05:45):
for the individuals who live there on a temporary basis,
but when you take away enforcement rights in communities that
we're supposed to have them for the last I don't know,
potentially sixty seventy years, you're really creating more problems than
you're fixing. But bottom line, the laws are what they are.
There are ways to maybe work around them, and that's
why you hire an attorney.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, speaking of the laws, I've got to ask you this,
So there's all there's a lot of new laws out there, folks.
I got to tell you, you spent what two hours
today talking to community association. Just give us and then
we've got so many questions that have come in. Give
(06:30):
us here of all the new laws out there, maybe
one of your favorite and one of your least favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Oh ouch, okay, you know, for the.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Least or for the favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I'm not sure you know when I when I talk
about my favorite, it's really just fixing problems that were created,
in my opinion, by previous legislation. So, you know, one
of my favorites is the ability to get a loan
or align of credit or levy a special assessment to
pay for these structural integrity reserves studies and the reserves themselves,
(07:08):
or maybe just the reserves themselves, you know, the ability
to fund that when the legislature's been telling us since
twenty twenty two, you got to make sure you have
this money. You're going to have to have it, and
if you don't, then it's a breach of fiduciary duty
and this, and that they finally at least gave a
couple new avenues to get that money for the association
(07:29):
so that people aren't just out of pocket. It was
really a measure that was intended to prevent some of
the foreclosures that a lot of us have predicted since
twenty twenty two, with people that simply can't afford being
on a fixed income to suddenly have an increase of
you know, a couple hundred dollars a month in assessments
(07:51):
people that you know, they budgeted for what they could
barely afford, and now you're increasing their assessments by five
hundred dollars in you know, not necessarily a great community,
but just one where you happen to have a building
that's more than three stories that's a condo, so you know,
bottom line. I do like the fact that that new
(08:12):
funding method is now allowed according to statute. I like
the fact that the legislature put in the statute finally
that pooling of these structural reserves is allowed. You can
have a separate pool for nonstructural We've always as a
firm kind of said, yeah, it's probably okay, but be
careful because it's not directly in the statute. Now it is,
(08:35):
So those are two of the ones that I did like.
I think the legislature is fixing some of the problems,
or at least trying to alleviate the problems that people
are having. Not that the legislation itself was problematic, although
my personal opinion is that some of it was. But
they're trying to make it easier for people to afford
what they're now required to afford. When it comes to
(08:57):
the ones that I really didn't like. Honestly, I think
this email voting thing that came about in this year's
legislative session is a election fraud waiting to happen, because
it doesn't the statute doesn't require any proof that the
person who's submitting this email vote is actually the person
(09:20):
that is allegedly voting. You digitally sign by typing your
name to say that you are the person that voted. Well,
I mean I would never do this, You would never
do this, but there are many people who, in order
to accomplish whatever the vote is, will just send emails
from five different email addresses claiming to be five different people.
(09:41):
And you know that's election fraud. It's a crime, but
that doesn't mean it won't happen, and I don't think
the legislature is supposed to facilitate fraud. So hopefully there
will be a fix. I'm already on an unofficial task
force of the Condo Committee of the Florida Bar to
propose some changes that might be made to clean some
of this stuff up. So I think that the right
(10:03):
to vote via email when there's no electronic voting allowed,
it's a mess. And frankly, I hope that instead of
it becoming a basis for a whole bunch of fraud.
It becomes a basis for a lot of communities that
weren't using electronic voting to now go out and find
a vendor to use it so that they don't have
to accept these emailed ballots. And again that's only in
(10:25):
condo so at least it's not HOA. But we've also
seen that the legislature kind of pushes the hoas into
the condo box. Over the last few years, a lot
of the changes are made in condo land, and then
suddenly three to five years later, hoas are required to
do the same thing. So I really hope that this
is cleaned up with at least some kind of verification
(10:46):
that the person who is allegedly voting is actually who
they say they are. But yeah, I won't go into
all the others because there's a couple other ones that
I really don't like, But there are a couple that
were intended to clean up and make it feasible for
people to practically comply with previous statutes. Those are the
ones that I think they're a little less clear than
(11:08):
I'd like them to be, but the intent was definitely good,
and I think the result overall is definitely beneficial. So
that's a lot of words to say. I didn't like
most of it, but there are other things there.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So I don't want to throw us on the fire.
But is it true that all these lawmakers in Tallahasse
that only one of them actually lives in an association?
Is that true?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So my understanding is that there are only one or
two that are actually involved in promoting this particular legislation
that actually live in a condo. So it's you know,
plenty of them probably live in hoas. And let's be realistic,
that's usually how the laws come about. Someone sees in
their own community that's something bad is happening, and they
(12:01):
decide to fix it through legislation. The problem is, the
legislative fix is almost always going to cause more problems
unless you really rely on the expertise of the attorneys
that practice in this field and are in you know,
on the boots on the ground on a daily basis.
And I don't think there's enough of that going on
when these these statutes are proposed. I know that there
(12:23):
are certain groups that do get to meet with legislators,
but I don't know that they're actually heated and listen
to other than the general concepts that they're pushing forward.
You know, there are a lot of we call them
glitch fixes that are really needed, and I think we
could avoid a lot of those glitches if there was
(12:44):
a little bit more communication and a lot more listening
by the legislature to people that did what my firm does,
who listen to the boots on the ground on all sides,
you know, the developer attorneys, the HOA attorneys, and the
owner's side attorneys. I think the developers have a much
(13:05):
bigger lobby because their hourly rates are usually two to
three times will we charge, and so they have more
money to throw at these issues. You know. I know
my partners, especially Mike Bender, He's always been severely involved,
I guess, is the best way to put it. With
the Florida Legislative Alliance that's part of CI, we really
(13:27):
try and make these laws the best they can. I
participate in, you know, these these task forces every year
for the last four years. But there's only so much
we can do to make the legislators understand the practical
impacts that they're having when they're also faced with the
individuals that are either voting or not voting for them
(13:47):
that they really need to I hate to be blunt,
they need to cater to them to get the vote. So,
you know, it would be really nice to see a
lot more balance being struck between the legislatures desire for
votes and desire to do what is really helpful, which
would be to have clear laws. But I do think
(14:08):
that you know, their hearts are almost always in the
right place, and they really are trying. It's just a
matter of I think the level of communication should be higher.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So Alan, I've got a public service announcement, okay, because
we get so many people complaining about their association, and
I get a lot of letters people saying how hard
it is to get board members. And I'm going to
(14:39):
tell you something, if you have a lot of complaints,
run for your board. Get on the board. Isn't that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I mean, you can't fix it if you're not a
decision maker.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
If you don't like what's happening and your board is
the one doing it, become one of those people and
vote differently. I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, it's so amazing. Learned a lot over fifteen years
doing the show with you all, let's go to and
by the way, if you've got a question that you
would like for us to ask Allan and Boy do
you guys send him in. You can contact us at
nine five four three three six three seven six seven.
(15:25):
You can text it. We get so many of your questions.
Let's see how many we can get on today. This
is from Randy and Orlando once to know. Is it
a good practice to delay putting the only elevator back
in service over a weekend to save on overtime fees?
(15:46):
By people are watching their money, aren't they.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Yeah? I mean, honestly, I wouldn't advocate for it, but
if the overtime is going to be you know, time
and a half at five hundred dollars an hour, I
don't know what the rate is for this particular vendor,
but you know, depending on the amount of people that
are working. I mean, if you can save ten grand
or five grand by not having the elevator work two
(16:10):
days quicker, it depends, frankly, how stingy your board wants
to be. That's the way that I would look at it.
You know, if you're going to be completely fiscally conservative
when it comes to how you spend association money. Yeah,
I can see an association doing that. I would definitely
not advocate for it. But if if you want to
choose between having the elevator work two days later or
(16:33):
have an attorney work on an amendment project for your association,
I'd probably choose to spend that money on the amendment
project or spend it on some kind of beautification to
make the association a better place overall, not just on
those two days. But again, it really from my perspective,
it depends how much money you're saving by waiting, you know,
to pass the weekend first. Now, if you've got people
(16:56):
in the community that you happen to know are disabled
and not really able to get down stairs without that elevator,
that might be an impetus to say, yeah, we really
need to do this sooner.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I got a lot of complaints people saying that they're
elevator is broken and they keep trying to get it fixed.
But I'll save that one for another day. You know, Allen,
with all the electric cars out there, we get so
many people asking what can they do to get more
I guess recharging stations on the property.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I mean, if if you're in an HOA and you
have a home and a garage, you can put one
in your own home. That's a practical solution. But if
you're in a parking condo, yeah, I mean, if you're
in a parking lot, whether it's hoa condo, co op,
there is a statute that specifies what you need to do.
I would just go under and search the Florida statutes
(17:57):
for electric vehicle charging station and you know, take a
look at that statute, get in touch with your association
requesting one. But understand some of that costs might be
passed along to you to install it and maintain it
depending on where it's located. But you know, there there
is a requirement that these be installed if there's a
(18:18):
spot to install them. So again, I would take a look.
If you're sitting there with a Tesla and you don't
have a place to charge it inside your garage, and
you're fighting with all your neighbors in Miami or in
downtown Orlando to try and find that one spot because
there's only one charging station in your you know, two
thousand unit condo, it might be time to take a
(18:40):
look at the statute and reach out to your association,
reach out to the manager of the board and ask them,
in accordance with that statue, to install additional charging station
for you.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You know, we're in hurricane season now, and let's just
knock on wood, we don't have any major hurricanes this season.
But we've got like three or four questions from people
wanting to know if the neighbor's tree and it seemed
(19:13):
like they always say on there, we've asked them to
trimp their tree. But if the neighbor's tree falls on
their house and there's major roof damage, who's responsible for that?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Out ask the insurance company? Is really my answer. I mean,
that's that is the quintessential reason to file an insurance
claim in my opinion. You know, who's responsible might depend
on whether the tree was diseased or dying. It really
comes down to a lot of different facts. But if
that was a healthy tree it gets hit by an
(19:50):
act of God and falls over because it was struck
by lightning, I don't really know that the owner whose
tree it was will be held liable. It's whether there
was any real negligence in having a tree. In general,
if there was nothing wrong with the tree, why would
they have any reason to know that it would get
knocked over in the middle of a storm. So again,
(20:11):
I mean, your insurance carrier is the one that i'd
be talking to about the situation like that. There is
guidance on I call it tree law. You know, when
you've got the branches that are falling over, or a
tree that's dead or diseased, or that are just you know,
hanging over the fence line, so to speak, the boundary line.
(20:34):
The University of Florida put that out I think in
twenty seventeen, and it's still accurate. So I would look
up the UF statement regarding tree liability. I don't remember
exactly what it's called, but that's a really good resource.
There's only two or three cases that are cited, but
it goes through almost everything. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the
issue mentioned in the question, which is why I'm mentioning
(20:55):
it separately.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I'm going to get to last question before we go
to break. I know this is going to be from
your cousin. Your cousin Beth in Orlando Allen. She says,
I hope that people realize that you take a lot
of your time to help educate us. I know you're
busy during the day, but I just wanted to tell
(21:22):
you we can't thank you enough for giving us this
time each month, and we really appreciate what you do.
I know that was your cousin you had, you had
her right that that's okay. Wants to know. Here's her question.
What can a member do to enforce a violation? The
(21:45):
ARC states that will not be They will not be
enforcing certain violations like running a business out of your home,
are not following color book.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
In a lot of instances. If you look at I
think it's seven twenty point three h five for an
HOA is the statute number, it'll say that the declaration
can be enforced by the association or any member or
I think that's four categories of who can enforce. So
(22:21):
you've got that statutory right to enforce the declaration. I mean,
if you want to file a lawsuit against your neighbor
to try and force them to comply with the architectural
standards that you're talking about, you might be able to
find a lawyer that will help you out with that,
or you might be able to do it yourself. But
you know the bottom line is you generally do have
the right to enforce the association covenants and restrictions. You
(22:45):
probably wouldn't be entitled to any damages or anything like that,
you know, but you might be able to get an
injunction to force them to comply. The only hitch there
is you mentioned that the ARC is not going to
force them to comply. The question is whether that includes
the ARC actually approving the conditions that you don't like.
(23:08):
And if they actually approved it, that probably will not
be something you're able to enforce because it was authorized
by the Association. So I would just take a look
at again, I think it's seven twenty point three h five.
Take a look at your declaration as well. That probably
says that this document or this declaration can be enforced
by any member. It usually will be in the enforcement
(23:30):
provision of the declaration itself. But you know, when you
ask what can I do, you can do the same
thing as the Association. It's just that you need to
keep in mind that when you choose to pursue that enforcement,
you need to comply with the same presuit requirements that
the Association would and it's going to be on your dime,
not the Association's dime, that you're pursuing this lawsuit. So
(23:51):
you're going to have to be prepared not only to
spend all of the attorney's fees and costs if you
have any attorney's fees because you're hiring counsel that it
would cost the association to pursue this, but also presuming
the owner wins or the other owner wins, you've got
to be prepared that you're going to have to pay
their attorneys fees and costs that they hire an attorney.
(24:12):
So it can be a lot more costly for one
person to pay for this than the association paying for it.
But if the associations refusing, keep in mind you're you
mentioned that the ARC is refusing to enforce it. You
might talk to the manager or the board to find
out whether they are separately enforcing it, because in most
communities it's not the ARC that enforces this stuff, it's
(24:33):
actually the board.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
We're going to go to a break and tell people
you've got four offices. But if they want to reach
you in Orlando, how do they do that?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Sure, well, it's perfect timing. It's right at the bottom
of the screen. Now N nine two eight zero six
eight zero is the number that will reach anyone in
any one of our four offices again nine five four,
nine two eight zero six eight zero. The easiest way
to reach me given the fact that, as Steve mentioned
and as Beth mentioned, I am not in the office
(25:06):
all the time, but I do have email on my phone.
It's as at KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Okay, we're going to go break, we come back. We're
going to go over. You've got a lot of classes
coming up in August. We're going to go to break.
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Kve bend to Rembaum is a full service community association
law firm dedicated to the representation of community associations throughout Florida.
On KBR legal dot com, you can learn more about
their offices in Pompino Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Orlando, Tampa,
as well as throughout Miami Dade by appointment. Several k
(25:57):
Bender Rembaum attorneys are board certified special lists and condominium
and plan development law and assist clients with all matters
of community association legal issues while keeping them up to
date on new developments that affect their associations. K Beenda
Rembaum is also a well known provider of free legal
education for managers and board members contact Cabenda Rebbaum today
(26:20):
by calling eight hundred nine seven four zero six eight zero.
That's eight hundred nine seven four zero six eight zero
to reach any of their locations. You can also visit
them online at KBR legal dot com or write to
them at info at KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And we are back with the Askdexpert Show on Worcy
Radio and Talk for TV with your hosts Sphedo, Sophia
and their expert guests.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And we are back. This is the Stexpert Show, last
Thursday of the month. That means Kay Bender Rimbaum. We're
here with board certified. That's I love that how that
ring sounds Board certified attorney Alan Swartseed, Alan Gosh. I
love how your firm makes education so important and you
(27:23):
walk the walk. I got to tell you every month
you've got so many classes that you do free classes.
So let's go over what you've got coming up so
far for August.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Sure, So August sixth, we've got a class on guest restrictions,
basically what you can tell people they can and can't
lease or buy into your community. That's going to be
by Kirsten Henza in our Tampa office we've got your
show actually on the seventh with Robert k my partner.
I'm going to be teaching an HOA Board certification class
(27:56):
on August eighth, and that'll be in Ostiola and Kassimi.
That's actually an Empire Management Group's trade show, so I'm
the main event before the trade show, and then the
trade show starts at noon. I think we've got a
August twentieth HOA specific for those of you who've been
(28:16):
waiting over a year for DBPR to approve the classes.
We finally got the authority to teach these HOA education
classes that are specifically for HOA board members. That one
is going to be on the twentieth again HOA Financial
Literacy and Transparency. That's going to be cursed in as well.
We've got another HOA Board certification class by Danielle Brennan
(28:38):
who's in our Palm Beach Gardens office. That one is
online on the twenty first. We've got the ask the
attorneys in Tamarack if you want to take a very
long drive. And then we've got an HOA Board certification
on I'm sorry, condo board certification which I'll be teaching
along with someone on August twenty ninth. We haven't really
(28:59):
decided I who's going to co host that one, but
it's a four hour class, and eventually I do need
to shut up for a couple minutes, so after two hours,
I just I give up and someone else can take over.
So that's as of now what we've got scheduled, but
it's not even August yet. My guess is we'll have
four or five more classes added by the end of
(29:20):
the month. I know I'm not teaching any of these
HOA specific classes yet, and a couple of my clients
have been asking for them for literally a year, and
the DBPR finally did what we need them to do
to authorize us to teach them. We were, I think
one of the first five firms as usual that was
actually authorized. It's not that we had to be held
(29:41):
up for a year, it's that everyone was held up
for a year. So my guess is we'll probably add
one or two of those that I'll be teaching, possibly
along with my associate Chuck Nicks, and we'll go from there.
But we've got I think it's about ten classes that
are scheduled this month so far. I'd be surprised if
we don't hit fifteen by the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, so here's a personal question. You came into Rimbaum
as one of the largest community association law firms in Florida.
How are you working this out with all the new
laws now, with all of your clients?
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Well, I mean the reality.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
How are you doing it?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
I'm not. My partner, Jeff Rembaum is. That is one
of the benefits of working with a firm like this
is that we have the legal morsels that Robert k
and any right. A lot of the time, we have
Jeff Brembaum's Rembombs round up and all these are available
on our website. They're really just articles and blog posts.
But you know, Jeff puts out a fantastic legal update
(30:48):
that's about twenty pages. Last year was forty. It's a
lot shorter this year, but he puts one out every year,
and you know he gets input from a couple of
the different attorneys, including myself, as to how to draft this.
He did a fantastic job again this year, and that's
all available on our website. So when clients ask, what
can you tell me about House Bill nine thirteen, my
(31:08):
response is, here's a free article. Have a nice day.
Call me if you've got any actual questions, but you're
not getting billed for me to send you the article,
because that way it's just honestly easier. And you know,
we're not dying for work. We're happy to work with
the new communities. But the bottom line is, I don't
want to charge a client for something that we've already
(31:29):
done if it's already available on our website for free,
because Jeff has given his time to prepare that. You know,
we've got four or five webinars already that have been recorded.
I think Jeff and Mike Bender did a Castle Group
webinar just the other day, or I think they've got
two or three alone where we're just going through these
(31:51):
new laws. So the bottom line is I refer my
clients to the website. I hope that they take advantage
of it, and if they'd rather pay me to spend
four or five hours writing an email about exactly what's
going to impact them and how, that's fine. But if
they'd rather get the free resources that we're already offering
to everyone, I'm happy to have them do that, and
(32:12):
I can move on to other work and make sure
that all of my clients are happy instead of just
billing as much as possible.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Jerry in Wonder Park, is it okay for a condo
board president to walk through the community answering residents questions
about HOA business?
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Not something I'd recommend, but it's not illegal. There's no
statute that says the president can't be fully transparent. My
concern there is that when you keep all those communications verbal,
someone takes something the wrong way, and all of a sudden,
the association's being sued because someone misunderstood what the president
told them. So my suggestion would be not to do it.
(32:54):
But you know when Jerry's question is, is that problematic?
Is it illegal? No, it's okay. It's just not something
i'd advise any client to do.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Richard didn't leave as a city. He said, many residents
are installing spotlight audio video cameras on their garages. Does
this require a vote of the community.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It depends whether you're in a condo HOA or what.
If you're in an HOA, chances are this is not
something that would require a community vote if it's just
one member installing something on their lot's garage. But if
it is, you know, keeping someone up at night because
of the light, or if it's impacting another lot, that's
(33:43):
something that you might take up with the board, But
generally speaking, if you're in an HOA, this isn't something
that would require a member vote.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Don and Orlandos wants to know if a current Board
of Directors member hits the eight year term and a
year and a half in two stretches it to two
year term, is he or she automatically off the board
or does he or she finish that term before being
termed out?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Good question. I've been trying to get clarification on this
from the legislature for a little while. Unfortunately we don't
have a clear answer. The legislature says you can only
serve for the eight years, keeping in mind that that
eight years won't actually kick in until July one, twenty
twenty six, So this isn't really an issue we need
(34:37):
to deal with yet because the law went into place
in twenty eighteen and it is not retroactive, so we
won't need that answer until July of next year. But
the statute presently only states that you can't serve more
than an eight year term consecutively. What it doesn't say
is that you can't drop off and be appointed back
(34:58):
and start a new eight year term. What it doesn't
also say is that you're automatically off if you've served
those eight years. And keep in mind also that there
are exceptions that are written directly into the statute where
you know, if a certain percentage of the members vote
in favor of it, or no one else tried to
get on the board and nominated themselves, that's all a
(35:20):
basis for that individual to stay on the board even
though they've served the eight years. So there's nothing that's
remotely clear from my perspective that is this is automatic
or that the director serves for the rest of the
term and then at the new election can't be elected again.
Because here's the thing again, that exception states in particular
(35:44):
that they can serve again, but only if certain conditions
are met. So I don't think that this is something
that anyone will be pulled off automatically, but I can't
say with one hundred percent certainty because the statute doesn't
give me one hundred percent certainty.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Edwin and winter Park said, I usually start off with
only about ten or fifteen minutes of listening to your show,
and I always find myself staying for the entire show.
I appreciate your efforts and your knowledge. Thank you so much.
My question is is it true a board can only
(36:24):
enforce the new covenants on the homeowners at Vodenfort or
purchase their house after the covenant was enacted.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
So, and first of all, thank you for those kind
of words. It's always appreciated because it is. I was
gonna says it's fairly rare to get that appreciation and recognition.
But when I'm on this show, Steve always likes to
point these out, so I can't say it's that rare.
Here you're going to realize that has that problem. But anyway,
so the application of an amendment only to the people
(36:57):
that voted in favor of it or bought in afterwards
is only going to pertain to leasing in sales restrictions
that are being added into the declaration in a condo.
That's going to be the case for all leasing in
sales restrictions in an hoa. There are actually statutory methods
that you can use where certain aspects of the leasing
(37:19):
and sales restrictions it's actually just leasing. I think it's
if you restrict to no more than two rentals in
a year, no three rentals in a year, and terms
of no less than six months. I'm pretty sure that's
it under Chapter seven to twenty. But if those two
separate terms are or one or the other are what's
(37:42):
included in that leasing restriction, it'll apply to everyone across
the board. So again, this is only going to be
for leasing in sales restrictions and in a condo, it's
for everything for an HOA. It depends on the content
of the restriction itself.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Ed Win in winter Park, is it true? I'm sorry,
caring in Orlando. Is there any legal recourse that can
be taken against a board of directors if their decision
to cancel a no change color contract for a fifty
year restoration project ultimately turns out to cost the association more?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I mean, whether there's any recourse. I don't think there
would be any financial recourse. Generally speaking, the directors and
the association are protected by what's called the business judgment rule,
and that's basically where if it's a business decision and
it's not completely unreasonable, there's no self dealing or arbitrary
(38:47):
decision making, the directors are generally protected. So what your
recourse might be is to elect new people next year.
I just don't think that there's going to be any
financial recourse that would be available for this particular you know,
according to the question, this particular potential mistake, and the
other question is was it actually a mistake, and is
(39:10):
it a mistake you can prove, you know, if you're
saying that the decision was not to change the color,
that might be because the board didn't think they could
get a material alteration vote and decided to stick with
the color that was already there, even if it costs more,
instead of throw away the time and the effort and
the money as a business decision that it would take
(39:32):
to try and get that material alteration vote.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Stephen Orlando, I know a law was passed about restricting
work vehicles with writing on it? Is that for condos
as well?
Speaker 4 (39:47):
No, that's HOA only. And keep in mind, as we've
discussed in past episodes of the show, you know, that's
really questionable as to how enforceable it is if you
don't have special Kaufman language and your declaration. That's basically
the you know, adopting the HOA Act as a minute
from time to time. So again, those restrictions are only
(40:08):
going to apply to an hoa, not a condo or
a co op, because they're only in chapter seven twenty.
And I would suggest conferring with your attorney as to
whether it actually applies to your particular community, or if
your declaration which contains that covenant actually controls over the statute.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
See greg and Claremont. May any part of a vendor's
contract be in Spanish or a condo?
Speaker 4 (40:41):
I don't know of any law that says no, it
can't be, so I'm gonna say that it can. But
obviously your directors are subject to actually being able to
understand the terms that they're signing. So if you don't
have a director that can accurately translate that, you know,
I would say there shouldn't be anything in there that
(41:03):
is not easily comprehended. The other thing is, hopefully you're
running this by council if you're signing a contract, and
so hopefully you've got an attorney in that instance that
also understands Spanish and you and determine whether those terms
that are in Spanish and in English are actually problematic.
(41:23):
You know, I would not frankly be willing to sign
something that is not in English, or have one of
my boards signed something that's not in English, because the
reality is the cost of getting someone to translate that
for purposes of court if there's ever a dispute regarding
that contract, would be way more than most instances the
(41:44):
value the contract itself. And if you have to hire
a translator, you know they usually will charge fifteen to
twenty dollars per page in my experience, And if you've
got a five page contract, just having a translated and
getting this person to come into court and testify could
cost more than the cost of the services that are
being rendered pursuant to that contract. So I would make sure, frankly,
(42:06):
that it's all in English, but I'm not aware of
anything that says it can't be in another language, as
long as the person that's signing and the people that
are discussing it have it translated to accurately understand what
it says.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Christian Orlando condo. I wanted to thank the people who
let us know that they're a condo or hoa. We
so appreciate that because it makes such a difference. So
here's Trisian Orlando. She's in a condo. Are we allowed
to have a line item on our budget for social events.
(42:44):
Must we have a community vote or can the board
just vote on it?
Speaker 4 (42:51):
Well, I mean it depends whether the declaration is written
in a way that would allow that. There's nothing condo
or hoa about this question. Although I certainly agree with Steve,
thank you very much for clarifying which one you're in.
This would apply across the board all community associations. You
need to look at your governing documents and see what
you can levy an assessment for is it for the
(43:14):
benefit of the members or the benefit of the community,
or is it purely for the health and safety? You know,
a lot of times it'll say health, safety and welfare.
I could probably create a creative argument that says that
these social events are part of the welfare of the community.
You know, it's really a matter of I would get
(43:36):
an opinion from your actual association council to say whether
it's okay or not. I have no problem overall with
these types of events, but one thing that I do recommend,
if you're going to consider putting them on, run that
idea by your general liability carrier to make sure that
(43:57):
that's not an exclusion and that it's actually going to
be covered if something goes wrong and you get sued,
that your insurance carrier will cover that claim, because if not,
if someone you know dies, someone gets hurt, and these
are events that maybe shouldn't be association sanctioned and it's
not covered, as a result, the association could be out
(44:17):
a lot of money. So bottom line, I don't see
a huge problem with it, but I get advice of counsel,
and I get advice from your insurance agent to make
sure that your policy is going to cover this.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Barbara and Winter Park, she's a condo. Also, Okay, doesn't
it committ doesn't Committee meetings had to be posted and
owners are allowed to sit in vias zoom.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Well, there's no automatic right to attend via zoom at
any meeting unless the meeting is being held via zoom,
So that's step one. And then whether or not you're
entitled to attend that committee me meeting depends on what's
being discussed, and what's being discussed should basically be based
on what's on the agenda. If there's nothing on the
(45:07):
agenda that talks about architectural changes and nothing on the
agenda that talks about spending association money recommendations to the
board to spend association money. Generally, those committee meetings are
not going to be open to the members. So I
would like to say, yes, there's the transparency, and you know,
(45:28):
everyone thinks of the Sunshine laws even though they don't
actually apply to Hoy's or condos. But the reality is
the statutes don't actually make those meetings open to the
members unless there's certain subject matter being discussed. So that's
another one. I would check with your attorney if you
(45:48):
are on the board side, and if not, you might
check with an attorney's that doesn't represent community associations to
find out what the statute says about the specific type
of meeting we're.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Talking about here, Steven and Orlando. Can a seven to
eighteen condo association change their budget midyear without notice to
owners and a board vote.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
Not without notice to owners, not without a board vote,
But it could be that they do it via what
we call a written resolution, and if that written resolution
is unanimous among the directors, then it takes the place
of a board meeting. So that might be one other
way to do it, but not without any kind of notification.
(46:35):
You can't just change the assessment amount, which is really
what you're doing when you change the budget. There should
be notice to the members. Now that could be the
unanimous resolution, followed by notice that the next assessment will
be more. So I just don't know offhand what notice,
if any, was provided, or if it was just that
the board decided we're going to change the assessment amount,
(46:56):
which they can't really do.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Chris and Orlando want so, is it legal to assess
unit owners before a contract repair is approved and signed?
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Yes, because keep in mind, when you levy that assessment,
it means that you're telling someone that they have to
pay it on a certain date. You want to have
the money before it comes due under that contract. And
if you're telling people we need to have the money
in advance, that's actually just a logical move because most
(47:29):
contractors are going to say you got to pay a
certain percentage up front. If there's no assessment towards that
dollar figure before you sign the contract, where's that money
supposed to come from? So logically speaking and legally speaking,
I don't see a problem with requiring payment before the
contract is signed if you know you're going to do
the work.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
Katy and Claremont another condo. What if a board calls
for a workshop to avoid commit meetings, they still have
to give us notice.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
So same answer regarding committees, there's no really, there's really
no such thing as a workshop. It's not created under statute,
it probably doesn't exist in your governing documents. So again,
that is still a committee hearing or a committee meeting
if that committee is meeting to do what it would
normally do during a meeting. Now, I am one of
(48:24):
a couple attorneys in the state that has the opinion
that if there are no decisions being made, no business
can be conducted, and that is really not a meeting.
But there are plenty of attorneys out there that'll say,
as long as a quorum of that committee is meeting,
and if it's one of the statutory committees that requires notice,
that notice is required, even if you call it a workshop.
(48:47):
So it really comes down again to what's on the
agenda for that meeting, what's being decided or discussed.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
I'm going to get our final question in Okay, this
is from our YouTube Debra. If the statue states material
changes are voted by owners, but the condo docs say board,
we have Kaufman language, which rule is followed by condo.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
If you have Kaufman language, most likely you will be
following what's in the statute because the legs the statute. Actually,
let me restate that I'm actually very wrong on that one,
because the statute specifically says unless the governing documents say otherwise.
In this particular instance, some of those statutes don't. But
(49:35):
the statute talking about material alterations, and a condo specifically
says unless the declaration says otherwise. The percentage is seventy
five percent of the members. I think is this percentage
if your declaration says the board gets to decide. My
opinion is the board gets to decide. Now, keep in
mind there's also a case law that talks about if
you're doing material alteration that's for the benefit and protection
(49:57):
of the association, or that it's mandatory maintenance that you're performing,
you might not need that member vote even if the
statute applied, or if your declaration said you need a
member vote. So I wouldn't presume that a member vote's required,
But in that specific instance, I would suggest that you
probably would stick with the board being able to vote
(50:19):
on the alteration.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
Well, believe it or not. Allan, we did it, you
did it. We do it for today. You've had a
long day to day. Tell people how they can reach
your office and your website.
Speaker 4 (50:38):
Any office of the firm again nine five four nine
two eight zero six eight zero. Reaching me, the easiest
way is going to be email or going on LinkedIn
and hopefully not you know, overrunning me with direct messages,
but you have the spelling of my name here. The
easiest is again email as at KBR legal dot com.
(51:00):
And if you want to see all those upcoming classes
that Steve mentioned are the ones that we've recorded previously,
just go to KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Well, bro, listen, I'm first of all. Great news is
you'll be back with us next month. I really enjoyed
doing the show with you, La, Thank you for everything.
The listeners love you. I love you, and we'll see
you next month.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Thanks my man, appreciate you having me. Thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
That's board certified and short side. Hey, that's going to
do it for us today. Thank you one another great job.
We'll be back again with you next week with more
SC experts.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Thanks for tuningating today to the Ask the Experts Show
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Ask the Experts Show on W four
CY Radio and Talk for TV, where we bring you
educational information from top local experts in the fields of legal, health,
financial and home improvement. Now sit back and listen to
experts in family law, association, law, peering, laws, business brokers,
(00:47):
home care, along with many other topics. Now Here are
your hosts, Stevo and Sophia.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Hey, good afternoon, Orlando, one of my favorite cities. I
live in the southeast part of Florida, but I love Orlando.
But I actually I really love the show We've got
for you today. It's the last Thursday of the month.
It's actually the last day of the month, and that
(01:17):
means kay Bender Rimbaum. And I'm gonna tell you something.
This guy, this expert, I actually I call him my
butt Now. I love doing the show with him. He
makes it so easy. And by the numbers of people
(01:37):
who ride us, Bro, they love you. You're like the superstar.
Let me introduce you to Board certified attorney Alan Schwartzide.
Good afternoon, Bro, afternoon.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
You know you really don't have to butter me up
every time I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I appably shut up.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
You're wrong, and I'll take it every time.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
But it's not matter.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
I'll still tell people.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
People love you, and it's you make it so easy
doing the show. Hey, if you're watching on YouTube, you
can see all the classes that are going to be
next month. But we will be announcing him during the show.
I got to tell you, this is a very busy
(02:26):
man with all the new laws that he's going to
have to explain to everybody, and to still have time
to come on our show and tell people about Kaye
Bender Rimbaum.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
Sure well. Our firm has been in place since the
early nineties. We've got twenty three attorneys, eight board certified
and community association representation one Board certified and construction law,
and all we really do is represent community associations. We
don't really do pretty much anything else. We do start
to finish, collect enforcement, day to day, guidance, amendments, whatever
(03:03):
you need, we got you covered for. I'd say ninety
nine point nine percent of anything that's ever come up
during the time I've been with the firm. So you know,
if you're happy with the attorneys that you're working with,
if that's not us, feel free to stick with them.
But if you're not really sure that you're getting the
best level of service available in the state, and you
want to give us a shot, whether that's the secondary
(03:23):
Council or you just want to make the switch, feel
free to reach out. You're going to see my email
if you're watching this on video in the top right
of my picture. It's as at KDR legal dot com.
That's the easiest way to reach me.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
I want to share something a lot of people. I've
been doing this show for fifteen going on sixteen years now,
and that's a lot of due diligence when you've got
a law firm that I would say ninety ninety five
percent totally looks at community association law. And the reason
(04:01):
why I say that because you would not believe all
the law firms out there. If you look at what
I call their shingle, it'll say business law, real estate law,
bankruptcy law, tax law, and then they'll say community association law.
I'm telling you you want a firm that basically totally
(04:23):
looks at community association law. And you know, I I'd
love the fact that that's where your concentration is. And
I also love the fact that you really cover most
all of Florida. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I mean, we've got the offices in Pompino, We've got
one in Palm Beach Gardens, Miami by appointment Tampa, and
I manage the one here in Winter Springs. So and
we do go as far north as you need. So
anyone that's listening outside the Orlando area, although I do
focus my practice closer to Orlando, you know, we're not limited.
We do practice statewide. As Steve mentioned, you.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Know, I've got to ask you know, there's a lot
of new laws, and we'll get into that next month,
but I want to ask you it seems like most
of all the new laws down are geared towards condo
and not hoa why is that.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well, I've heard through the great find that the legislature
saw what they did two not four Hoa's over the
last two years, and decided to finally give us a
freaking break. That's pretty much. It's it's you know, we've
been beat up in ho A Land for two straight years,
rights being taken away left and right. And it's great
(05:45):
for the individuals who live there on a temporary basis,
but when you take away enforcement rights in communities that
we're supposed to have them for the last I don't know,
potentially sixty seventy years, you're really creating more problems than
you're fixing. But bottom line, the laws are what they are.
There are ways to maybe work around them, and that's
why you hire an attorney.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, speaking of the laws, I've got to ask you this,
So there's all there's a lot of new laws out there, folks.
I got to tell you, you spent what two hours
today talking to community association. Just give us and then
we've got so many questions that have come in. Give
(06:30):
us here of all the new laws out there, maybe
one of your favorite and one of your least favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
Oh ouch, okay, you know, for the.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Least or for the favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
I'm not sure you know when I when I talk
about my favorite, it's really just fixing problems that were created,
in my opinion, by previous legislation. So, you know, one
of my favorites is the ability to get a loan
or align of credit or levy a special assessment to
pay for these structural integrity reserves studies and the reserves themselves,
(07:08):
or maybe just the reserves themselves, you know, the ability
to fund that when the legislature's been telling us since
twenty twenty two, you got to make sure you have
this money. You're going to have to have it, and
if you don't, then it's a breach of fiduciary duty
and this, and that they finally at least gave a
couple new avenues to get that money for the association
(07:29):
so that people aren't just out of pocket. It was
really a measure that was intended to prevent some of
the foreclosures that a lot of us have predicted since
twenty twenty two, with people that simply can't afford being
on a fixed income to suddenly have an increase of
you know, a couple hundred dollars a month in assessments
(07:51):
people that you know, they budgeted for what they could
barely afford, and now you're increasing their assessments by five
hundred dollars in you know, not necessarily a great community,
but just one where you happen to have a building
that's more than three stories that's a condo, so you know,
bottom line. I do like the fact that that new
(08:12):
funding method is now allowed according to statute. I like
the fact that the legislature put in the statute finally
that pooling of these structural reserves is allowed. You can
have a separate pool for nonstructural We've always as a
firm kind of said, yeah, it's probably okay, but be
careful because it's not directly in the statute. Now it is,
(08:35):
So those are two of the ones that I did like.
I think the legislature is fixing some of the problems,
or at least trying to alleviate the problems that people
are having. Not that the legislation itself was problematic, although
my personal opinion is that some of it was. But
they're trying to make it easier for people to afford
what they're now required to afford. When it comes to
(08:57):
the ones that I really didn't like. Honestly, I think
this email voting thing that came about in this year's
legislative session is a election fraud waiting to happen, because
it doesn't the statute doesn't require any proof that the
person who's submitting this email vote is actually the person
(09:20):
that is allegedly voting. You digitally sign by typing your
name to say that you are the person that voted. Well,
I mean I would never do this, You would never
do this, but there are many people who, in order
to accomplish whatever the vote is, will just send emails
from five different email addresses claiming to be five different people.
(09:41):
And you know that's election fraud. It's a crime, but
that doesn't mean it won't happen, and I don't think
the legislature is supposed to facilitate fraud. So hopefully there
will be a fix. I'm already on an unofficial task
force of the Condo Committee of the Florida Bar to
propose some changes that might be made to clean some
of this stuff up. So I think that the right
(10:03):
to vote via email when there's no electronic voting allowed,
it's a mess. And frankly, I hope that instead of
it becoming a basis for a whole bunch of fraud.
It becomes a basis for a lot of communities that
weren't using electronic voting to now go out and find
a vendor to use it so that they don't have
to accept these emailed ballots. And again that's only in
(10:25):
condo so at least it's not HOA. But we've also
seen that the legislature kind of pushes the hoas into
the condo box. Over the last few years, a lot
of the changes are made in condo land, and then
suddenly three to five years later, hoas are required to
do the same thing. So I really hope that this
is cleaned up with at least some kind of verification
(10:46):
that the person who is allegedly voting is actually who
they say they are. But yeah, I won't go into
all the others because there's a couple other ones that
I really don't like, But there are a couple that
were intended to clean up and make it feasible for
people to practically comply with previous statutes. Those are the
ones that I think they're a little less clear than
(11:08):
I'd like them to be, but the intent was definitely good,
and I think the result overall is definitely beneficial. So
that's a lot of words to say. I didn't like
most of it, but there are other things there.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So I don't want to throw us on the fire.
But is it true that all these lawmakers in Tallahasse
that only one of them actually lives in an association?
Is that true?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So my understanding is that there are only one or
two that are actually involved in promoting this particular legislation
that actually live in a condo. So it's you know,
plenty of them probably live in hoas. And let's be realistic,
that's usually how the laws come about. Someone sees in
their own community that's something bad is happening, and they
(12:01):
decide to fix it through legislation. The problem is, the
legislative fix is almost always going to cause more problems
unless you really rely on the expertise of the attorneys
that practice in this field and are in you know,
on the boots on the ground on a daily basis.
And I don't think there's enough of that going on
when these these statutes are proposed. I know that there
(12:23):
are certain groups that do get to meet with legislators,
but I don't know that they're actually heated and listen
to other than the general concepts that they're pushing forward.
You know, there are a lot of we call them
glitch fixes that are really needed, and I think we
could avoid a lot of those glitches if there was
(12:44):
a little bit more communication and a lot more listening
by the legislature to people that did what my firm does,
who listen to the boots on the ground on all sides,
you know, the developer attorneys, the HOA attorneys, and the
owner's side attorneys. I think the developers have a much
(13:05):
bigger lobby because their hourly rates are usually two to
three times will we charge, and so they have more
money to throw at these issues. You know. I know
my partners, especially Mike Bender, He's always been severely involved,
I guess, is the best way to put it. With
the Florida Legislative Alliance that's part of CI, we really
(13:27):
try and make these laws the best they can. I
participate in, you know, these these task forces every year
for the last four years. But there's only so much
we can do to make the legislators understand the practical
impacts that they're having when they're also faced with the
individuals that are either voting or not voting for them
(13:47):
that they really need to I hate to be blunt,
they need to cater to them to get the vote. So,
you know, it would be really nice to see a
lot more balance being struck between the legislatures desire for
votes and desire to do what is really helpful, which
would be to have clear laws. But I do think
(14:08):
that you know, their hearts are almost always in the
right place, and they really are trying. It's just a
matter of I think the level of communication should be higher.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
So Alan, I've got a public service announcement, okay, because
we get so many people complaining about their association, and
I get a lot of letters people saying how hard
it is to get board members. And I'm going to
(14:39):
tell you something, if you have a lot of complaints,
run for your board. Get on the board. Isn't that right? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I mean, you can't fix it if you're not a
decision maker.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Exactly.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
If you don't like what's happening and your board is
the one doing it, become one of those people and
vote differently. I totally agree.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yeah, it's so amazing. Learned a lot over fifteen years
doing the show with you all, let's go to and
by the way, if you've got a question that you
would like for us to ask Allan and Boy do
you guys send him in. You can contact us at
nine five four three three six three seven six seven.
(15:25):
You can text it. We get so many of your questions.
Let's see how many we can get on today. This
is from Randy and Orlando once to know. Is it
a good practice to delay putting the only elevator back
in service over a weekend to save on overtime fees?
(15:46):
By people are watching their money, aren't they.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Yeah? I mean, honestly, I wouldn't advocate for it, but
if the overtime is going to be you know, time
and a half at five hundred dollars an hour, I
don't know what the rate is for this particular vendor,
but you know, depending on the amount of people that
are working. I mean, if you can save ten grand
or five grand by not having the elevator work two
(16:10):
days quicker, it depends, frankly, how stingy your board wants
to be. That's the way that I would look at it.
You know, if you're going to be completely fiscally conservative
when it comes to how you spend association money. Yeah,
I can see an association doing that. I would definitely
not advocate for it. But if if you want to
choose between having the elevator work two days later or
(16:33):
have an attorney work on an amendment project for your association,
I'd probably choose to spend that money on the amendment
project or spend it on some kind of beautification to
make the association a better place overall, not just on
those two days. But again, it really from my perspective,
it depends how much money you're saving by waiting, you know,
to pass the weekend first. Now, if you've got people
(16:56):
in the community that you happen to know are disabled
and not really able to get down stairs without that elevator,
that might be an impetus to say, yeah, we really
need to do this sooner.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I got a lot of complaints people saying that they're
elevator is broken and they keep trying to get it fixed.
But I'll save that one for another day. You know, Allen,
with all the electric cars out there, we get so
many people asking what can they do to get more
I guess recharging stations on the property.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
I mean, if if you're in an HOA and you
have a home and a garage, you can put one
in your own home. That's a practical solution. But if
you're in a parking condo, yeah, I mean, if you're
in a parking lot, whether it's hoa condo, co op,
there is a statute that specifies what you need to do.
I would just go under and search the Florida statutes
(17:57):
for electric vehicle charging station and you know, take a
look at that statute, get in touch with your association
requesting one. But understand some of that costs might be
passed along to you to install it and maintain it
depending on where it's located. But you know, there there
is a requirement that these be installed if there's a
(18:18):
spot to install them. So again, I would take a look.
If you're sitting there with a Tesla and you don't
have a place to charge it inside your garage, and
you're fighting with all your neighbors in Miami or in
downtown Orlando to try and find that one spot because
there's only one charging station in your you know, two
thousand unit condo, it might be time to take a
(18:40):
look at the statute and reach out to your association,
reach out to the manager of the board and ask them,
in accordance with that statue, to install additional charging station
for you.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
You know, we're in hurricane season now, and let's just
knock on wood, we don't have any major hurricanes this season.
But we've got like three or four questions from people
wanting to know if the neighbor's tree and it seemed
(19:13):
like they always say on there, we've asked them to
trimp their tree. But if the neighbor's tree falls on
their house and there's major roof damage, who's responsible for that?
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Out ask the insurance company? Is really my answer. I mean,
that's that is the quintessential reason to file an insurance
claim in my opinion. You know, who's responsible might depend
on whether the tree was diseased or dying. It really
comes down to a lot of different facts. But if
that was a healthy tree it gets hit by an
(19:50):
act of God and falls over because it was struck
by lightning, I don't really know that the owner whose
tree it was will be held liable. It's whether there
was any real negligence in having a tree. In general,
if there was nothing wrong with the tree, why would
they have any reason to know that it would get
knocked over in the middle of a storm. So again,
(20:11):
I mean, your insurance carrier is the one that i'd
be talking to about the situation like that. There is
guidance on I call it tree law. You know, when
you've got the branches that are falling over, or a
tree that's dead or diseased, or that are just you know,
hanging over the fence line, so to speak, the boundary line.
(20:34):
The University of Florida put that out I think in
twenty seventeen, and it's still accurate. So I would look
up the UF statement regarding tree liability. I don't remember
exactly what it's called, but that's a really good resource.
There's only two or three cases that are cited, but
it goes through almost everything. Unfortunately, it doesn't address the
issue mentioned in the question, which is why I'm mentioning
(20:55):
it separately.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
I'm going to get to last question before we go
to break. I know this is going to be from
your cousin. Your cousin Beth in Orlando Allen. She says,
I hope that people realize that you take a lot
of your time to help educate us. I know you're
busy during the day, but I just wanted to tell
(21:22):
you we can't thank you enough for giving us this
time each month, and we really appreciate what you do.
I know that was your cousin you had, you had
her right that that's okay. Wants to know. Here's her question.
What can a member do to enforce a violation? The
(21:45):
ARC states that will not be They will not be
enforcing certain violations like running a business out of your home,
are not following color book.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
In a lot of instances. If you look at I
think it's seven twenty point three h five for an
HOA is the statute number, it'll say that the declaration
can be enforced by the association or any member or
I think that's four categories of who can enforce. So
(22:21):
you've got that statutory right to enforce the declaration. I mean,
if you want to file a lawsuit against your neighbor
to try and force them to comply with the architectural
standards that you're talking about, you might be able to
find a lawyer that will help you out with that,
or you might be able to do it yourself. But
you know the bottom line is you generally do have
the right to enforce the association covenants and restrictions. You
(22:45):
probably wouldn't be entitled to any damages or anything like that,
you know, but you might be able to get an
injunction to force them to comply. The only hitch there
is you mentioned that the ARC is not going to
force them to comply. The question is whether that includes
the ARC actually approving the conditions that you don't like.
(23:08):
And if they actually approved it, that probably will not
be something you're able to enforce because it was authorized
by the Association. So I would just take a look
at again, I think it's seven twenty point three h five.
Take a look at your declaration as well. That probably
says that this document or this declaration can be enforced
by any member. It usually will be in the enforcement
(23:30):
provision of the declaration itself. But you know, when you
ask what can I do, you can do the same
thing as the Association. It's just that you need to
keep in mind that when you choose to pursue that enforcement,
you need to comply with the same presuit requirements that
the Association would and it's going to be on your dime,
not the Association's dime, that you're pursuing this lawsuit. So
(23:51):
you're going to have to be prepared not only to
spend all of the attorney's fees and costs if you
have any attorney's fees because you're hiring counsel that it
would cost the association to pursue this, but also presuming
the owner wins or the other owner wins, you've got
to be prepared that you're going to have to pay
their attorneys fees and costs that they hire an attorney.
(24:12):
So it can be a lot more costly for one
person to pay for this than the association paying for it.
But if the associations refusing, keep in mind you're you
mentioned that the ARC is refusing to enforce it. You
might talk to the manager or the board to find
out whether they are separately enforcing it, because in most
communities it's not the ARC that enforces this stuff, it's
(24:33):
actually the board.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
We're going to go to a break and tell people
you've got four offices. But if they want to reach
you in Orlando, how do they do that?
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Sure, well, it's perfect timing. It's right at the bottom
of the screen. Now N nine two eight zero six
eight zero is the number that will reach anyone in
any one of our four offices again nine five four,
nine two eight zero six eight zero. The easiest way
to reach me given the fact that, as Steve mentioned
and as Beth mentioned, I am not in the office
(25:06):
all the time, but I do have email on my phone.
It's as at KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Okay, we're going to go break, we come back. We're
going to go over. You've got a lot of classes
coming up in August. We're going to go to break.
We'll be right back.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Kve bend to Rembaum is a full service community association
law firm dedicated to the representation of community associations throughout Florida.
On KBR legal dot com, you can learn more about
their offices in Pompino Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Orlando, Tampa,
as well as throughout Miami Dade by appointment. Several k
(25:57):
Bender Rembaum attorneys are board certified special lists and condominium
and plan development law and assist clients with all matters
of community association legal issues while keeping them up to
date on new developments that affect their associations. K Beenda
Rembaum is also a well known provider of free legal
education for managers and board members contact Cabenda Rebbaum today
(26:20):
by calling eight hundred nine seven four zero six eight zero.
That's eight hundred nine seven four zero six eight zero
to reach any of their locations. You can also visit
them online at KBR legal dot com or write to
them at info at KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And we are back with the Askdexpert Show on Worcy
Radio and Talk for TV with your hosts Sphedo, Sophia
and their expert guests.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And we are back. This is the Stexpert Show, last
Thursday of the month. That means Kay Bender Rimbaum. We're
here with board certified. That's I love that how that
ring sounds Board certified attorney Alan Swartseed, Alan Gosh. I
love how your firm makes education so important and you
(27:23):
walk the walk. I got to tell you every month
you've got so many classes that you do free classes.
So let's go over what you've got coming up so
far for August.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Sure, So August sixth, we've got a class on guest restrictions,
basically what you can tell people they can and can't
lease or buy into your community. That's going to be
by Kirsten Henza in our Tampa office we've got your
show actually on the seventh with Robert k my partner.
I'm going to be teaching an HOA Board certification class
(27:56):
on August eighth, and that'll be in Ostiola and Kassimi.
That's actually an Empire Management Group's trade show, so I'm
the main event before the trade show, and then the
trade show starts at noon. I think we've got a
August twentieth HOA specific for those of you who've been
(28:16):
waiting over a year for DBPR to approve the classes.
We finally got the authority to teach these HOA education
classes that are specifically for HOA board members. That one
is going to be on the twentieth again HOA Financial
Literacy and Transparency. That's going to be cursed in as well.
We've got another HOA Board certification class by Danielle Brennan
(28:38):
who's in our Palm Beach Gardens office. That one is
online on the twenty first. We've got the ask the
attorneys in Tamarack if you want to take a very
long drive. And then we've got an HOA Board certification
on I'm sorry, condo board certification which I'll be teaching
along with someone on August twenty ninth. We haven't really
(28:59):
decided I who's going to co host that one, but
it's a four hour class, and eventually I do need
to shut up for a couple minutes, so after two hours,
I just I give up and someone else can take over.
So that's as of now what we've got scheduled, but
it's not even August yet. My guess is we'll have
four or five more classes added by the end of
(29:20):
the month. I know I'm not teaching any of these
HOA specific classes yet, and a couple of my clients
have been asking for them for literally a year, and
the DBPR finally did what we need them to do
to authorize us to teach them. We were, I think
one of the first five firms as usual that was
actually authorized. It's not that we had to be held
(29:41):
up for a year, it's that everyone was held up
for a year. So my guess is we'll probably add
one or two of those that I'll be teaching, possibly
along with my associate Chuck Nicks, and we'll go from there.
But we've got I think it's about ten classes that
are scheduled this month so far. I'd be surprised if
we don't hit fifteen by the end of the month.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Well, so here's a personal question. You came into Rimbaum
as one of the largest community association law firms in Florida.
How are you working this out with all the new
laws now, with all of your clients?
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Well, I mean the reality.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
How are you doing it?
Speaker 4 (30:24):
I'm not. My partner, Jeff Rembaum is. That is one
of the benefits of working with a firm like this
is that we have the legal morsels that Robert k
and any right. A lot of the time, we have
Jeff Brembaum's Rembombs round up and all these are available
on our website. They're really just articles and blog posts.
But you know, Jeff puts out a fantastic legal update
(30:48):
that's about twenty pages. Last year was forty. It's a
lot shorter this year, but he puts one out every year,
and you know he gets input from a couple of
the different attorneys, including myself, as to how to draft this.
He did a fantastic job again this year, and that's
all available on our website. So when clients ask, what
can you tell me about House Bill nine thirteen, my
(31:08):
response is, here's a free article. Have a nice day.
Call me if you've got any actual questions, but you're
not getting billed for me to send you the article,
because that way it's just honestly easier. And you know,
we're not dying for work. We're happy to work with
the new communities. But the bottom line is, I don't
want to charge a client for something that we've already
(31:29):
done if it's already available on our website for free,
because Jeff has given his time to prepare that. You know,
we've got four or five webinars already that have been recorded.
I think Jeff and Mike Bender did a Castle Group
webinar just the other day, or I think they've got
two or three alone where we're just going through these
(31:51):
new laws. So the bottom line is I refer my
clients to the website. I hope that they take advantage
of it, and if they'd rather pay me to spend
four or five hours writing an email about exactly what's
going to impact them and how, that's fine. But if
they'd rather get the free resources that we're already offering
to everyone, I'm happy to have them do that, and
(32:12):
I can move on to other work and make sure
that all of my clients are happy instead of just
billing as much as possible.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
Jerry in Wonder Park, is it okay for a condo
board president to walk through the community answering residents questions
about HOA business?
Speaker 4 (32:33):
Not something I'd recommend, but it's not illegal. There's no
statute that says the president can't be fully transparent. My
concern there is that when you keep all those communications verbal,
someone takes something the wrong way, and all of a sudden,
the association's being sued because someone misunderstood what the president
told them. So my suggestion would be not to do it.
(32:54):
But you know when Jerry's question is, is that problematic?
Is it illegal? No, it's okay. It's just not something
i'd advise any client to do.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
Richard didn't leave as a city. He said, many residents
are installing spotlight audio video cameras on their garages. Does
this require a vote of the community.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It depends whether you're in a condo HOA or what.
If you're in an HOA, chances are this is not
something that would require a community vote if it's just
one member installing something on their lot's garage. But if
it is, you know, keeping someone up at night because
of the light, or if it's impacting another lot, that's
(33:43):
something that you might take up with the board, But
generally speaking, if you're in an HOA, this isn't something
that would require a member vote.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Don and Orlandos wants to know if a current Board
of Directors member hits the eight year term and a
year and a half in two stretches it to two
year term, is he or she automatically off the board
or does he or she finish that term before being
termed out?
Speaker 4 (34:15):
Good question. I've been trying to get clarification on this
from the legislature for a little while. Unfortunately we don't
have a clear answer. The legislature says you can only
serve for the eight years, keeping in mind that that
eight years won't actually kick in until July one, twenty
twenty six, So this isn't really an issue we need
(34:37):
to deal with yet because the law went into place
in twenty eighteen and it is not retroactive, so we
won't need that answer until July of next year. But
the statute presently only states that you can't serve more
than an eight year term consecutively. What it doesn't say
is that you can't drop off and be appointed back
(34:58):
and start a new eight year term. What it doesn't
also say is that you're automatically off if you've served
those eight years. And keep in mind also that there
are exceptions that are written directly into the statute where
you know, if a certain percentage of the members vote
in favor of it, or no one else tried to
get on the board and nominated themselves, that's all a
(35:20):
basis for that individual to stay on the board even
though they've served the eight years. So there's nothing that's
remotely clear from my perspective that is this is automatic
or that the director serves for the rest of the
term and then at the new election can't be elected again.
Because here's the thing again, that exception states in particular
(35:44):
that they can serve again, but only if certain conditions
are met. So I don't think that this is something
that anyone will be pulled off automatically, but I can't
say with one hundred percent certainty because the statute doesn't
give me one hundred percent certainty.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Edwin and winter Park said, I usually start off with
only about ten or fifteen minutes of listening to your show,
and I always find myself staying for the entire show.
I appreciate your efforts and your knowledge. Thank you so much.
My question is is it true a board can only
(36:24):
enforce the new covenants on the homeowners at Vodenfort or
purchase their house after the covenant was enacted.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
So, and first of all, thank you for those kind
of words. It's always appreciated because it is. I was
gonna says it's fairly rare to get that appreciation and recognition.
But when I'm on this show, Steve always likes to
point these out, so I can't say it's that rare.
Here you're going to realize that has that problem. But anyway,
so the application of an amendment only to the people
(36:57):
that voted in favor of it or bought in afterwards
is only going to pertain to leasing in sales restrictions
that are being added into the declaration in a condo.
That's going to be the case for all leasing in
sales restrictions in an hoa. There are actually statutory methods
that you can use where certain aspects of the leasing
(37:19):
and sales restrictions it's actually just leasing. I think it's
if you restrict to no more than two rentals in
a year, no three rentals in a year, and terms
of no less than six months. I'm pretty sure that's
it under Chapter seven to twenty. But if those two
separate terms are or one or the other are what's
(37:42):
included in that leasing restriction, it'll apply to everyone across
the board. So again, this is only going to be
for leasing in sales restrictions and in a condo, it's
for everything for an HOA. It depends on the content
of the restriction itself.
Speaker 3 (37:58):
Ed Win in winter Park, is it true? I'm sorry,
caring in Orlando. Is there any legal recourse that can
be taken against a board of directors if their decision
to cancel a no change color contract for a fifty
year restoration project ultimately turns out to cost the association more?
Speaker 4 (38:25):
I mean, whether there's any recourse. I don't think there
would be any financial recourse. Generally speaking, the directors and
the association are protected by what's called the business judgment rule,
and that's basically where if it's a business decision and
it's not completely unreasonable, there's no self dealing or arbitrary
(38:47):
decision making, the directors are generally protected. So what your
recourse might be is to elect new people next year.
I just don't think that there's going to be any
financial recourse that would be available for this particular you know,
according to the question, this particular potential mistake, and the
other question is was it actually a mistake, and is
(39:10):
it a mistake you can prove, you know, if you're
saying that the decision was not to change the color,
that might be because the board didn't think they could
get a material alteration vote and decided to stick with
the color that was already there, even if it costs more,
instead of throw away the time and the effort and
the money as a business decision that it would take
(39:32):
to try and get that material alteration vote.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
Stephen Orlando, I know a law was passed about restricting
work vehicles with writing on it? Is that for condos
as well?
Speaker 4 (39:47):
No, that's HOA only. And keep in mind, as we've
discussed in past episodes of the show, you know, that's
really questionable as to how enforceable it is if you
don't have special Kaufman language and your declaration. That's basically
the you know, adopting the HOA Act as a minute
from time to time. So again, those restrictions are only
(40:08):
going to apply to an hoa, not a condo or
a co op, because they're only in chapter seven twenty.
And I would suggest conferring with your attorney as to
whether it actually applies to your particular community, or if
your declaration which contains that covenant actually controls over the statute.
Speaker 3 (40:30):
See greg and Claremont. May any part of a vendor's
contract be in Spanish or a condo?
Speaker 4 (40:41):
I don't know of any law that says no, it
can't be, so I'm gonna say that it can. But
obviously your directors are subject to actually being able to
understand the terms that they're signing. So if you don't
have a director that can accurately translate that, you know,
I would say there shouldn't be anything in there that
(41:03):
is not easily comprehended. The other thing is, hopefully you're
running this by council if you're signing a contract, and
so hopefully you've got an attorney in that instance that
also understands Spanish and you and determine whether those terms
that are in Spanish and in English are actually problematic.
(41:23):
You know, I would not frankly be willing to sign
something that is not in English, or have one of
my boards signed something that's not in English, because the
reality is the cost of getting someone to translate that
for purposes of court if there's ever a dispute regarding
that contract, would be way more than most instances the
(41:44):
value the contract itself. And if you have to hire
a translator, you know they usually will charge fifteen to
twenty dollars per page in my experience, And if you've
got a five page contract, just having a translated and
getting this person to come into court and testify could
cost more than the cost of the services that are
being rendered pursuant to that contract. So I would make sure, frankly,
(42:06):
that it's all in English, but I'm not aware of
anything that says it can't be in another language, as
long as the person that's signing and the people that
are discussing it have it translated to accurately understand what
it says.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Christian Orlando condo. I wanted to thank the people who
let us know that they're a condo or hoa. We
so appreciate that because it makes such a difference. So
here's Trisian Orlando. She's in a condo. Are we allowed
to have a line item on our budget for social events.
(42:44):
Must we have a community vote or can the board
just vote on it?
Speaker 4 (42:51):
Well, I mean it depends whether the declaration is written
in a way that would allow that. There's nothing condo
or hoa about this question. Although I certainly agree with Steve,
thank you very much for clarifying which one you're in.
This would apply across the board all community associations. You
need to look at your governing documents and see what
you can levy an assessment for is it for the
(43:14):
benefit of the members or the benefit of the community,
or is it purely for the health and safety? You know,
a lot of times it'll say health, safety and welfare.
I could probably create a creative argument that says that
these social events are part of the welfare of the community.
You know, it's really a matter of I would get
(43:36):
an opinion from your actual association council to say whether
it's okay or not. I have no problem overall with
these types of events, but one thing that I do recommend,
if you're going to consider putting them on, run that
idea by your general liability carrier to make sure that
(43:57):
that's not an exclusion and that it's actually going to
be covered if something goes wrong and you get sued,
that your insurance carrier will cover that claim, because if not,
if someone you know dies, someone gets hurt, and these
are events that maybe shouldn't be association sanctioned and it's
not covered, as a result, the association could be out
(44:17):
a lot of money. So bottom line, I don't see
a huge problem with it, but I get advice of counsel,
and I get advice from your insurance agent to make
sure that your policy is going to cover this.
Speaker 3 (44:33):
Barbara and Winter Park, she's a condo. Also, Okay, doesn't
it committ doesn't Committee meetings had to be posted and
owners are allowed to sit in vias zoom.
Speaker 4 (44:47):
Well, there's no automatic right to attend via zoom at
any meeting unless the meeting is being held via zoom,
So that's step one. And then whether or not you're
entitled to attend that committee me meeting depends on what's
being discussed, and what's being discussed should basically be based
on what's on the agenda. If there's nothing on the
(45:07):
agenda that talks about architectural changes and nothing on the
agenda that talks about spending association money recommendations to the
board to spend association money. Generally, those committee meetings are
not going to be open to the members. So I
would like to say, yes, there's the transparency, and you know,
(45:28):
everyone thinks of the Sunshine laws even though they don't
actually apply to Hoy's or condos. But the reality is
the statutes don't actually make those meetings open to the
members unless there's certain subject matter being discussed. So that's
another one. I would check with your attorney if you
(45:48):
are on the board side, and if not, you might
check with an attorney's that doesn't represent community associations to
find out what the statute says about the specific type
of meeting we're.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Talking about here, Steven and Orlando. Can a seven to
eighteen condo association change their budget midyear without notice to
owners and a board vote.
Speaker 4 (46:14):
Not without notice to owners, not without a board vote,
But it could be that they do it via what
we call a written resolution, and if that written resolution
is unanimous among the directors, then it takes the place
of a board meeting. So that might be one other
way to do it, but not without any kind of notification.
(46:35):
You can't just change the assessment amount, which is really
what you're doing when you change the budget. There should
be notice to the members. Now that could be the
unanimous resolution, followed by notice that the next assessment will
be more. So I just don't know offhand what notice,
if any, was provided, or if it was just that
the board decided we're going to change the assessment amount,
(46:56):
which they can't really do.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
Chris and Orlando want so, is it legal to assess
unit owners before a contract repair is approved and signed?
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Yes, because keep in mind, when you levy that assessment,
it means that you're telling someone that they have to
pay it on a certain date. You want to have
the money before it comes due under that contract. And
if you're telling people we need to have the money
in advance, that's actually just a logical move because most
(47:29):
contractors are going to say you got to pay a
certain percentage up front. If there's no assessment towards that
dollar figure before you sign the contract, where's that money
supposed to come from? So logically speaking and legally speaking,
I don't see a problem with requiring payment before the
contract is signed if you know you're going to do
the work.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
Katy and Claremont another condo. What if a board calls
for a workshop to avoid commit meetings, they still have
to give us notice.
Speaker 4 (48:04):
So same answer regarding committees, there's no really, there's really
no such thing as a workshop. It's not created under statute,
it probably doesn't exist in your governing documents. So again,
that is still a committee hearing or a committee meeting
if that committee is meeting to do what it would
normally do during a meeting. Now, I am one of
(48:24):
a couple attorneys in the state that has the opinion
that if there are no decisions being made, no business
can be conducted, and that is really not a meeting.
But there are plenty of attorneys out there that'll say,
as long as a quorum of that committee is meeting,
and if it's one of the statutory committees that requires notice,
that notice is required, even if you call it a workshop.
(48:47):
So it really comes down again to what's on the
agenda for that meeting, what's being decided or discussed.
Speaker 3 (48:55):
I'm going to get our final question in Okay, this
is from our YouTube Debra. If the statue states material
changes are voted by owners, but the condo docs say board,
we have Kaufman language, which rule is followed by condo.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
If you have Kaufman language, most likely you will be
following what's in the statute because the legs the statute. Actually,
let me restate that I'm actually very wrong on that one,
because the statute specifically says unless the governing documents say otherwise.
In this particular instance, some of those statutes don't. But
(49:35):
the statute talking about material alterations, and a condo specifically
says unless the declaration says otherwise. The percentage is seventy
five percent of the members. I think is this percentage
if your declaration says the board gets to decide. My
opinion is the board gets to decide. Now, keep in
mind there's also a case law that talks about if
you're doing material alteration that's for the benefit and protection
(49:57):
of the association, or that it's mandatory maintenance that you're performing,
you might not need that member vote even if the
statute applied, or if your declaration said you need a
member vote. So I wouldn't presume that a member vote's required,
But in that specific instance, I would suggest that you
probably would stick with the board being able to vote
(50:19):
on the alteration.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
Well, believe it or not. Allan, we did it, you
did it. We do it for today. You've had a
long day to day. Tell people how they can reach
your office and your website.
Speaker 4 (50:38):
Any office of the firm again nine five four nine
two eight zero six eight zero. Reaching me, the easiest
way is going to be email or going on LinkedIn
and hopefully not you know, overrunning me with direct messages,
but you have the spelling of my name here. The
easiest is again email as at KBR legal dot com.
(51:00):
And if you want to see all those upcoming classes
that Steve mentioned are the ones that we've recorded previously,
just go to KBR legal dot com.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Well, bro, listen, I'm first of all. Great news is
you'll be back with us next month. I really enjoyed
doing the show with you, La, Thank you for everything.
The listeners love you. I love you, and we'll see
you next month.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Thanks my man, appreciate you having me. Thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
That's board certified and short side. Hey, that's going to
do it for us today. Thank you one another great job.
We'll be back again with you next week with more
SC experts.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
Thanks for tuningating today to the Ask the Experts Show
on the W four C y Radio and talk for TV.
Tune in next week and every week to hear more
from our experts on personal injury, insurance, air condition repairs,
stay planning, medicare, and many other topics in the areas
of legal, health, financial and home improvement. See you next week.
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