Post by Admin on Oct 15, 2013 0:13:13 GMT -5
This doesn't really fit here but it is a law change that is refreshingly pro-consumer. CAM's such as IT, are no longer solely under the jurisdiction of the Dept of Bus Reg which does almost nothing to discipline CAM's bad behavior. Now, the state has established disciplinary oversight under the HOA statute 720:
HB 7119 includes a number of significant changes to the HOA statute including, but not limited to: (1) community association managers (CAMs) can be disciplined for failing to comply with chapters 718, 719 and 720; (2) personnel costs can be charged for official records requests if retrieving the records exceeds one-half hour and if the personnel costs do not exceed $20 per hour; (3) every CAM, or the association when there is no CAM, must report to DBPR one time the name of the association, the FEIN number, the mailing and physical address, the number of parcels, and the total amount of revenues and expenses from the annual budget of the association; (4) HOA board members must certify that they have read the governing documents or take an education class.
Note that Directors actually have to attest that they have read the Redbook or take a class (that'll be the day!) and as usual, there is yet another provision on Official Records which is the Number 1 complaint of abuse. MANBOD buttoned up the records last year with a hostile rule making costs of record retrieval exhorbitant, all but shutting down requests. The State has rewritten this to try to limit this kind of thing.
Boards will probably find yet another way to hide records from owners and the chase will continue.
____________________________________________________________________
June 9, 2013
This new law came from an attack on CAM's from lawyers about UPL (Unlicensed Practice of Law). CAM's, including IT, routinely fill out forms for a notice of commencement of property repair/improvement or similar public notices. The forms are boilerplate and simple, yet lawyers object to this for obvious reasons.
The new law is both a new provision in FS720 and an amendment to FS 468--the CAM licensing statute administered by the Department of Business Regulation:
CAM (FS 468.436): Adding Disciplinary proceedings for violations of Florida statutes Chapter 718, 719 and 720 during the course of performing community association management services.
FS720 addition: Violating any provision of chapter 718, chapter 719, or chapter 720 during the course of performing community association management services pursuant to a contract with a community association as defined in s. 468.431(1).
As the regulatory climate exists presently, a real estate agent, representing the sale of a $10K asset to the public, can be professionally decimated by a mistake or error violating the Florida Real Estate Law. But, CAM's, representing million dollar budgets and properties, can "execute reserves" and ignore HOA statutes with impunity! Further, the public must submit a public records request to discover any complaints/discipline against a CAM licensee, since Florida watered down the online Search function to protect licensees.
This new law requires CAM's to obey the HOA law and places implementation of discipline with the DPBR, which agency historically has been slow to discipline licensees. The DBPR CAM Licensing Division gets flooded with complaints, but doesn’t take serious action, or they find “ways” to protect the CAM. The new law, to be signed by Sct effective July 1, 2013, will now task DBPR with taking disciplinary action against CAM's who licenses receive complaints about violations of FS720. Given the complexity of FS720, as well as the original motive ie to stop UPL, I would be surprised if DBPR were able to implement this with any credibility.
Note there is no new enforcement agency--only the same tired agency that has never enforced squat against incompetent CAMs. DPBR has always been a licensing, dues-collecting and educational agency. It is my opinion that this new provision will have little effect on CAM's behavior, with the possible exception of UPL (which was the original focus of the debate).
Other new laws adopted during this legislative session, namely registration of the HOA with Florida (yes, there is NO current database identifying FL HOA's!) represent a foot in the door toward setting up an effective oversight and regulatory vehicle to give rights and relief to owners who are abused by their HOA's.
______________________________________________-
Speaking of failing, I have a few questions in regard to the post from anonymous on 4/27/13 @ 11:08:19 in which the writer speaks of residents of HOA's now being able to complain about bad CAM's due to the new significant changes of HB7119 w/respect to chapters 718-720--my question: How does one go about reporting the management company, itself, namely xxxxx Inc. who has been known to have either bankrupted or nearly bankrupted the following communities: Winterset, Greenleaf, Carefree and River Ranch? Since I have this info on good authority, then, shouldn't these communities have filed complaint against this egregious ineptitude of this particular management company that now manages SLohA? And, shouldn't this management company have been put out of business because of their gross mishandling of these communities' finances which lead to their eventually having to file bankruptcy? Or, did xxxxx Inc. had to have been involved in some type of cover-up and/or paid hush money to certain officials of these communities in order to keep this quiet? This is a mystery as to how a management company with this piss-poor track record is still allowed to be in business and to send a CAM to us that says they are here to "execute our reserves." This is really a scary scenario playing out and I for one believe that SLohA could be next on the list of those aforementioned communities.
____________________________________________________________
July 12, 2013
Go Here>
CAM Complaint Package
Note you MUST provide a load of supporting documentation. Do this with the initial complaint form because if you do NOT, the Council will return the complaint and ask a second time for specific written documentation to support the complaint and will only give you 30 days to pull it together.
Read the section of supporting documentation carefully. Almost all documentation is easily available on the computer--including the Redbook. There is a digital copy of the Redbook available in PDF format; you do not have to submit paper.
Many are aware of the "professional" history of this . Does anyone know for a fact that any of these associations did NOT file some kind of legal complaint that was settled internally and never litigated?
___________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
to add to anon. post of 7/11/13 @ 10:25:55, it needs to also be noted that the "CAM" that was sent to us after Kn xxxxxxx's passing was NOT in fact licensed until 14 months after she "worked" here, also remember that 's response to that was that she was working under his "umbrella" CAM license #; which we found out to be something he cannot do w/his license; coincidentally, after all, his initials are B.S
__________________________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
So, how does one go about finding out if in fact a complaint was filed by any of these communities against xxxxx Inc., and if never litigated, would that complaint even actually be on file anywhere? would it be the same website address to complain about CAM's bad behavior?
______________________________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
Under Freedom of Information Act, you could request any records related to the CAM FIRM license of and find out if any complaints had been lodged and what the disposition was.
The Public Records of Polk County for County and Circuit Court logs all legal complaints filed; look up variations of 's business licenses/names.
You could ask someone living in the victim communities or hire a PI.
RE: Unlicensed Manager for 14 mos: another scamball that was fumbled by BOD. They apparently bought 's umbrella lie. The first of many...
___________________________________________________
July 15, 2013
@ Above : I just wanted to say that I doubt you will have to pay the steep $100+ for this information like you do in SLR . Our BoD member xxx had everything to do with making Record requests from Owners in SLR nearly impossible .
I felt that needed to be said as folks tend to forget the manipulation some of us have had to endure from this band of hooligans .
___________________________________________-
July 16, 2013
Being a long time SLR resident I can honestly say that this management company and its present manager have been the worst thing that has darkened our once friendly community .
___________________________________________________
HB 7119 includes a number of significant changes to the HOA statute including, but not limited to: (1) community association managers (CAMs) can be disciplined for failing to comply with chapters 718, 719 and 720; (2) personnel costs can be charged for official records requests if retrieving the records exceeds one-half hour and if the personnel costs do not exceed $20 per hour; (3) every CAM, or the association when there is no CAM, must report to DBPR one time the name of the association, the FEIN number, the mailing and physical address, the number of parcels, and the total amount of revenues and expenses from the annual budget of the association; (4) HOA board members must certify that they have read the governing documents or take an education class.
Note that Directors actually have to attest that they have read the Redbook or take a class (that'll be the day!) and as usual, there is yet another provision on Official Records which is the Number 1 complaint of abuse. MANBOD buttoned up the records last year with a hostile rule making costs of record retrieval exhorbitant, all but shutting down requests. The State has rewritten this to try to limit this kind of thing.
Boards will probably find yet another way to hide records from owners and the chase will continue.
____________________________________________________________________
June 9, 2013
This new law came from an attack on CAM's from lawyers about UPL (Unlicensed Practice of Law). CAM's, including IT, routinely fill out forms for a notice of commencement of property repair/improvement or similar public notices. The forms are boilerplate and simple, yet lawyers object to this for obvious reasons.
The new law is both a new provision in FS720 and an amendment to FS 468--the CAM licensing statute administered by the Department of Business Regulation:
CAM (FS 468.436): Adding Disciplinary proceedings for violations of Florida statutes Chapter 718, 719 and 720 during the course of performing community association management services.
FS720 addition: Violating any provision of chapter 718, chapter 719, or chapter 720 during the course of performing community association management services pursuant to a contract with a community association as defined in s. 468.431(1).
As the regulatory climate exists presently, a real estate agent, representing the sale of a $10K asset to the public, can be professionally decimated by a mistake or error violating the Florida Real Estate Law. But, CAM's, representing million dollar budgets and properties, can "execute reserves" and ignore HOA statutes with impunity! Further, the public must submit a public records request to discover any complaints/discipline against a CAM licensee, since Florida watered down the online Search function to protect licensees.
This new law requires CAM's to obey the HOA law and places implementation of discipline with the DPBR, which agency historically has been slow to discipline licensees. The DBPR CAM Licensing Division gets flooded with complaints, but doesn’t take serious action, or they find “ways” to protect the CAM. The new law, to be signed by Sct effective July 1, 2013, will now task DBPR with taking disciplinary action against CAM's who licenses receive complaints about violations of FS720. Given the complexity of FS720, as well as the original motive ie to stop UPL, I would be surprised if DBPR were able to implement this with any credibility.
Note there is no new enforcement agency--only the same tired agency that has never enforced squat against incompetent CAMs. DPBR has always been a licensing, dues-collecting and educational agency. It is my opinion that this new provision will have little effect on CAM's behavior, with the possible exception of UPL (which was the original focus of the debate).
Other new laws adopted during this legislative session, namely registration of the HOA with Florida (yes, there is NO current database identifying FL HOA's!) represent a foot in the door toward setting up an effective oversight and regulatory vehicle to give rights and relief to owners who are abused by their HOA's.
______________________________________________-
Speaking of failing, I have a few questions in regard to the post from anonymous on 4/27/13 @ 11:08:19 in which the writer speaks of residents of HOA's now being able to complain about bad CAM's due to the new significant changes of HB7119 w/respect to chapters 718-720--my question: How does one go about reporting the management company, itself, namely xxxxx Inc. who has been known to have either bankrupted or nearly bankrupted the following communities: Winterset, Greenleaf, Carefree and River Ranch? Since I have this info on good authority, then, shouldn't these communities have filed complaint against this egregious ineptitude of this particular management company that now manages SLohA? And, shouldn't this management company have been put out of business because of their gross mishandling of these communities' finances which lead to their eventually having to file bankruptcy? Or, did xxxxx Inc. had to have been involved in some type of cover-up and/or paid hush money to certain officials of these communities in order to keep this quiet? This is a mystery as to how a management company with this piss-poor track record is still allowed to be in business and to send a CAM to us that says they are here to "execute our reserves." This is really a scary scenario playing out and I for one believe that SLohA could be next on the list of those aforementioned communities.
____________________________________________________________
July 12, 2013
Go Here>
CAM Complaint Package
Note you MUST provide a load of supporting documentation. Do this with the initial complaint form because if you do NOT, the Council will return the complaint and ask a second time for specific written documentation to support the complaint and will only give you 30 days to pull it together.
Read the section of supporting documentation carefully. Almost all documentation is easily available on the computer--including the Redbook. There is a digital copy of the Redbook available in PDF format; you do not have to submit paper.
Many are aware of the "professional" history of this . Does anyone know for a fact that any of these associations did NOT file some kind of legal complaint that was settled internally and never litigated?
___________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
to add to anon. post of 7/11/13 @ 10:25:55, it needs to also be noted that the "CAM" that was sent to us after Kn xxxxxxx's passing was NOT in fact licensed until 14 months after she "worked" here, also remember that 's response to that was that she was working under his "umbrella" CAM license #; which we found out to be something he cannot do w/his license; coincidentally, after all, his initials are B.S
__________________________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
So, how does one go about finding out if in fact a complaint was filed by any of these communities against xxxxx Inc., and if never litigated, would that complaint even actually be on file anywhere? would it be the same website address to complain about CAM's bad behavior?
______________________________________________________________________
July 14, 2013
Under Freedom of Information Act, you could request any records related to the CAM FIRM license of and find out if any complaints had been lodged and what the disposition was.
The Public Records of Polk County for County and Circuit Court logs all legal complaints filed; look up variations of 's business licenses/names.
You could ask someone living in the victim communities or hire a PI.
RE: Unlicensed Manager for 14 mos: another scamball that was fumbled by BOD. They apparently bought 's umbrella lie. The first of many...
___________________________________________________
July 15, 2013
@ Above : I just wanted to say that I doubt you will have to pay the steep $100+ for this information like you do in SLR . Our BoD member xxx had everything to do with making Record requests from Owners in SLR nearly impossible .
I felt that needed to be said as folks tend to forget the manipulation some of us have had to endure from this band of hooligans .
___________________________________________-
July 16, 2013
Being a long time SLR resident I can honestly say that this management company and its present manager have been the worst thing that has darkened our once friendly community .
___________________________________________________