More Proposed Amendments | Please Support Additional Amendments

The purpose of these proposed regulations is to add additional layers of protection for the homeowners as it relates to their community HOA Board record keeping and election requirements. The aim is to provide a balance between homeowner rights and HOA board rights. In an effort to help increase the stability of record keeping amongst HOA boards across the State of Florida.

It is no surprise that HOA board election fraud and other unethical behavior and offenses, such as falsifying board meeting minutes, are being committed all across the state of Florida. This, in the presence of regulations that only aim to hinder the possibility of an investigation, due to arbitrary numbers and policies that block the possibility of a robust investigation by State authorities such as the DBPR.

The Homeowners Against HOA Predatory Practices Act (HAHPPA) focuses on closing all the possible loopholes that aid in unethical behavior, financial and white-collar criminal activities via homeowner’s community HOA boards. Some of these loopholes are basic in nature and a simple solution exists. These new solutions must be adhered to, respected, and enforced. Other recommendations are to increase penalties for specific unethical behaviors that can be undertaken by a board member and especially, the board Secretary.

The following additions and amendments are recommended as part of the Homeowners Against HOA Predatory Practices Act. (HAHPPA)

Disclosures:

1. History of the HOA including officers
2. Property Management Companies of the last 10 years
3. Financial Condition and Status clarity and disclosures
4. Legal Status – pending court issues disclosures
5. Copy of Articles, Regulations and Bylaws be provided
6. Contact information for the Board and Property Management Company
7. Dues and Special Assessments clarity and disclosures
8. Services and responsibilities clarity and disclosures
9. HOA Quality Survey results to be done annually (assessing 7 key quality points) clarity, honesty and integrity to provide quantifiable metrics for assessment
10. Insurance clarity, fairness, honesty and disclosures both on the part of the HOAs as well as the Insurance companies
11. Provide recommended standards for HOA/COAs based on size, (the number of units in the development) clarity, fairness, integrity
12. Appropriate penalties and assessments be established for HOA Board Members, Property Management Companies, Insurance Companies, Realtors, Legal entities, Agencies and others found to be in violation of the relevant statutes and laws
13. Address the infrastructure requirements and standards for HOA/COAs, honesty, clarity, integrity
14. A state overseer to ensure compliance with the above and resolve member and community claims and issues, clarity, fairness, honesty
15. HOA rules must not infringe or violate residents/members Human Rights and Constitutional Rights and protections, including freedoms of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly
16. Developers and builders must be limited to an exact number of units, with no succession, and majority rule of 50% applied in all cases for units held only!

Regulations:

1. The adoption of the new disclosure, mandatory and should be provided to all homebuyers 10 days before closing.
2. No board member shall be compensated by any vendors, companies, sub-contractors that receive benefits from HOA dues.
3. Enforce the timeframe for public publishing and notice of board meeting minutes within one week of the board meeting.
4. Enforce a mandatory minimum of $1,000 fee for first offense for board meeting minutes that are not published within that one-week (or 7 days) timeframe. If homeowners have to file civil court action in order to enforce the penalty, elected board member must pay the penalty, plus cost associate with the civil court filing and attorneys.
5. Enforce a mandatory minimum of $2,000 fee for second offense for board meeting minutes that are not published within that one-week (or 7 days) timeframe. If homeowners have to file civil court action in order to enforce the penalty, elected board member must pay the penalty, plus cost associate with the civil court filing and attorneys.
6. Board members are not allowed to become intermediaries between expenses, invoices, receipts, and deposits. They may not be reimbursed for covering community expenses. No board member shall cover cost on behalf of the community in exchange for reimbursement, it is done at their will and at their own expense. All expenses shall be paid by the CAM licensed property management company with community bank/financial accounts. No HOA board member, executive or property management company shall be reimbursed for any cost associated with expenses. The HOA board shall pay for all community expenses from association accounts, without a board member or another party acting as a middleman or intermediary.
7. A board member who currently has a civil case complaint with a count of fraud or conversion, that is pending in litigation, will step down until the civil or criminal case has been completed. In their absence, a special election shall be held to bring in a new board member that will serve out the remainder of the term, or until the pending case with a count of “fraud or conversion” has been closed.
8. Make video recording via Zoom or some other similarly applicable video and audio technology, a mandatory practice and shall be mandatory to provide all homeowners with a copy.
9. A board member shall not conceal their start and end term dates. A Board member must be transparent in the manner which they provide their start and end term dates. The start and end term dates should be posted in a prominent location like the HOA Community website or social media platforms, if one has been established by the board.
10. If a community member or a family member living in the community is officially disabled, an HOA board cannot prohibit the homeowner from parking on the street in-front of their home if it is essential to their mobility, so long as they are not blocking another community member’s driveway.
11. In some cases, parking on the street provides the disabled homeowner with some added benefits that is required in their daily lives for proper mobility, board members should also stay consistent with the disabilities act.
12. Property management companies may not provide insurance through a provider in which they have a vested interest in, such as kickbacks, or holds a stake in the company. Primarily for the purpose of covering against criminal acts by HOA board members or employees or contractors of the property management company, considered criminal under any state, local or federal governing body.
13. Property management companies shall not go into agreements with residential HOA board members or their community association, in which the contract stipulates that all control of finances and bank accounts will be taken over completely by the departments, partners or subsidiaries of the property management company. Property management companies are not allowed to take full control of community association accounts. At least two board members shall have access to maintain their own personal audits of the finances and transactions in association bank accounts whether held directly by the association or by its property management company.
14. At any given moment where expenditures are concerned, both the President and the Treasurer of the residential community association’s corporation, as well as the property manager, shall provide signatures required for budget approvals, payouts for work performed and related financial documents. At no point shall the signatures of these representatives be omitted prior to final submission or recording of such records.
15. At any given moment dual verification shall reign supreme between the President, Treasurer and property manager of the community. However, at any given moment, the Treasurer’s signature of the corporation shall be present with either the President of the board or the property manager only if all three parties are not able to provide signature at that moment, with a reason why.

Penalties:

1. Increase the penalty for falsifying board meeting minutes to a 3rd degree felony as they are corporate records and should be protected.
2. Enforce a mandatory expulsion of the community’s HOA Board Secretary for not adhering to the new board meeting minutes after the third offense, or any board member in charge of minutes.
3. Enforce and increase penalties for mandatory record keeping for board member’s start and end term dates to $500 per offense paid by the property management company. If a community member/homeowner ask for start and end term dates, all HOA board members are required to provide that information.
4. Make it a 3rd degree felony for board members to maintain their seat and conceal their start and end term date, in order to help them grasp on to power and skip the next election without being dully elected, by deceiving community members on the board member’s legitimate start and end term dates.
5. Alternatively, the board member can choose to step down instead of accepting, or being charged with a third degree felony.
6. Add a personal financial penalty of $500 to board of directors and for board members who attempt to conceal their start and end term dates in an effort to hold on to their seats past the next or upcoming election.
7. In the event that a board member is considered guilty of a fraud count, that board member shall never again serve as part of an HOA board committee.
8. If a property management company is caught providing insurance under the terms not allowed in section 10 of (Regulations) stated above, the property management company shall cease all actions, relationships and agreements associated with this transaction or representation. A suspension of 60 days shall be implemented immediately and a fine of $20,000.
9. If a property management company goes into agreement where they take full control of the associations finances and bank accounts, or if they willfully and knowingly took control of the finances, or if they transferred all of the communities finances to their own personal accounts in a manner where checks and balances cannot be implemented as stated in section 11, 12 and 13 of (Regulations) stated above, the property management company shall pay up to $150,000 in fines for each offense.

Statutes of Limitations:

1. Increase the statutes of limitations for an investigation/probe to 5 years on the state level.
2. Increase the statutes of limitations for an investigation/probe to 5 years for administrative agencies like the DBPR.
3. Make the bill retroactive, for up to 7 years, which is consistent with corporate record keeping.
4. If the State’s regulatory body takes up a probe/investigation on an HOA board, another agency with authority shall not be allowed to do the same, so as to open multiple probes on the same investigation. The investigative powers will be given to the superior body that chooses to take up the investigation in order to conserve judicial resources. Example: If both the DBPR and the State open probes, then the superior governing body (the State) shall have the right to proceed. The State can choose to hand the case down to the DBPR to pursue in an investigative manner. If the State does choose to hand it down to the DBPR, the defendant can appeal to the State, in case checks and balances are needed.
5. The statues of limitations for all sections of (Regulations) stated above shall survive for 7 years from the date of discovery. If the 7 years from the date of discovery date, plus the time between the discovery and when the illegal act was taken is less than 12 years, the matter shall be pursued by the proper authorities or administrative agencies. If the same discovery, plus illegal actions taken (whether civil or criminal) are more than 12 years, then the matter has reached its statutes of limitation and the case may be dropped by the authorities or administrative agencies leading the case.
6. The statues of limitations for section 11, 12 and 13 of (Regulations) stated above shall survive for up to 8 years from the date of discovery. If the 8 years from the date of discovery date, plus the time between the discovery and when the illegal act was taken is less than 12 years, the matter shall be pursued by the proper authorities or administrative agencies. If the same discovery, plus illegal act taken are more than 13 years, then the matter has reached its statutes of limitation and the case may be dropped by the authorities or administrative agencies leading the case.