During the early Covid times many Associations moved their board and members meetings to Zoom or to Telephone Conference under emergency powers granted by the Governor and the Legislature to Condominium and Homeowners Associations.

For Condominium Associations, Section 718.1265(1)(a), Florida Statues and for Homeowner’s Associations, Section 720.316(1)(a), Florida Statutes state that if a State of Emergency has been called in the area encompassed by the association, the board of directors may “Conduct board meetings, committee meetings, elections, or membership meeting, in whole or in part by telephone, real-time videoconferencing, or similar real-time electronic or video communication . . .” (emphasis added)

During the Covid State of Emergency, many Florida Condominium and Homeowners’ Associations got used to having their meetings purely on Zoom or Teleconference with no physical location stated our used for the meetings.

A lot of Associations liked these totally electronic meetings, especially in the off Season when many owners were out of town, and want to continue to do have them this way.

Now that the Covid State of Emergency rules and regulations have been lifted, we recommend that in addition to notice of the Zoom meeting sign-in or Teleconference call in number, a physical location of all Association meetings should also be stated and used to conform with the spirit of the law and to accommodate those who may not be computer savvy or have a handicap.

Section 617.0820(1), Florida Statutes provides that “the board of directors may hold regular or special meetings in or out of this state” wherever the board finds it prudent.  The place may include the offices of the association’s attorney, accountant, manage or other location deemed appropriate by the board.

It does not appear that a Zoom meeting or Teleconference meeting is being held at any “place”.  Place is described in the dictionary as “a physical environment”.  Physical is defined as “having material existence.” So, an “electronic environment” of Zoom or Teleconference does not appear to be the same as a physical environment or place.

Once you have named a physical location for a meeting, Section 617.0820(4), Florida Statutes provides that unless prohibited by the articles of incorporation or bylaws, the board of directors may permit any or all directors to participate in a meeting by means of telecommunication, such as by conference call so long as all directors may simultaneously hear each other during the meeting. Those participating in a board meeting in this manner is considered to be present at the meeting.”

Now the physical location of the meeting does not need to be onsite or even in the County or Country where the property is located.  However, it probably should be near the community to accommodate in house owners.

For the annual meeting of members in Condominiums, Section 718.11292)(d)1., Florida Statutes provides that: “Annual meeting of the unit owners must be held at a location provided for in the association bylaws and, if the bylaws are silent as to the location, the meeting must be held within 45 miles of the condominium property.”

Although it is fine to still have your Zoom or Teleconference Association meetings, remember to also designate a physical place for the meeting such as the board room, social room, pool house, club house, or manager’s office for most meetings of the members and the board.

Last month we looked at the requirements for Mandatory Milestone Structural Inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings that are three (3) stories or more in height before 12/31/24 under Florida Senate Bill 4-D approved in a special session of the Florida Legislature this year in response to the Surfside hi-rise collapse in Miami last year.

Today, we will look at three other major requirements of Senate Bill 4-D.  Requirements for Structural Integrity Reserve Studies, removal of membership’s ability to waiver reserves and the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes’ jurisdiction to hear complaints about these building inspections and reserve studies.

For condominium and cooperative buildings three (3) stories or more high, for associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 and before a developer can turnover an association to its members, a Structural Integrity Reserve Study must be completed before December 31, 2024.

The Structural Integrity Reserve Study shall include a study, at a minimum, of the roof, load-bearing walls, floor, foundation, fire protection systems, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing, exterior painting, windows and any other items that have a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost exceed $10,000.

The Study must be performed by a qualified person and the visual inspection portion must be performed by a licensed architect or engineer.  The Study must identify common areas inspected, the estimated remaining useful life, and the estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense of the area inspected, and provide a recommended annual reserve amount that achieves the estimated replacement cost or deferred maintenance expense by the end of the estimated useful life of the area inspected.

If an association fails to complete a Structural Integrity, as required, such failure will be considered a breach of an officers’ or directors’ fiduciary duty to unit owners.

Effective 12/31/24, the members of a unit owner controlled association may not determine to provide no reserves or less reserves than required by the Structural Integrity Reserve Study.

In addition, an association may not vote to use reserve funds identified in the Structural Integrity Reserve Study, or any interest accruing thereon, for any other purposes other than for the reserves’ intended purposes as identified in the Study.

On or before 1/1/23, a condominium or cooperative must provide the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes (Division), on a form provided for on the Division’s website, the number of buildings on the property that are three (3) stories or higher, the total number of units in all such buildings, the addresses of all such buildings and the counties in which such buildings are located. The Division has jurisdiction to receive complaints related to the Mandatory Milestone Structural Inspections and the Structural Integrity Reserve Studies.

Many believe these new laws of Bill 4-D will be heavily tweaked in the 2023 regular legislative session to lessen the heavy burdens these laws place on Florida Condominium owners who cannot afford such large reserve requirements in order to prevent large numbers of foreclosures and condominium terminations that could result if these laws are left as is.

Many older, or Developer drafted, community governing documents have weak or lack any nuisance provisions.  This prevents many Condominium and Homeowners’ Associations from being able to legally go after obnoxious residents for their bad behavior.

 We are seeing many more people escaping from lock downs up north this Season to enjoy our Florida sunshine and Florida freedom. Many of these coming are not owners of condominium units or homes here but are rather renters or guests of owners.

Many of these short term visitors do not have the same respect for their neighbors and the property that most owners do as they are not invested in the community.  As a result, some display bad behavior such as yelling and cursing at other residents, playing music loudly, or leaving personal property such as beach chairs or bikes all over the common areas.

Without good nuisance language in your Declaration of Condominium or Declaration of Covenants, it can be difficult or not impossible to legally get these offenders in line.

Here is an example of what we consider good “enforceable” nuisance language:  No owner shall use his unit or the common elements or permit his unit or the common elements to be used, in any manner which constitutes or causes an unreasonable amount of annoyance or nuisance to the occupant of another unit, or which would not be consistent with the maintenance of the highest standards for a first class residential condominium, nor permit the premises to be used in a disorderly or unlawful way.  The use of each unit and the common elements shall be consistent with existing laws and the condominium documents, and occupants shall at all times conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner.  No, owner, tenant or guest may disturb any other owner or resident with the use of profane, obscene, threatening or abusive comments either orally or in writing or by their conduct on the property that is abusive or threatening.

With this type language, an Association can send violation letters to the nuisance offender and if they don’t start acting civil and quit annoying other residents after notice, the Association can then bring legal action against them.  It can first request pre-suit mediation or arbitration and if that does not work, then sue the offender in local court requesting the court order an injunction against the offender requiring them to quit being a nuisance in the community. The Association can also request that the court award prevailing party attorney’s fees to it.  That means if the Association prevails, the offender may have to pay the Association’s attorney’s fees in addition to any of his or hers own attorney’s fees.

If the offender continues to create a nuisance or starts new nuisances after the injunction order, then the court could find the person in contempt of court.  In that case, the court would usually order the offender to pay a fine.  If that does not stop the violations, the court could ultimately send the offender to jail as a penalty.

  The bad acting visitors need to understand that such bad behavior will not be tolerated in your community.  Sometimes an example needs to be made to prevent such behavior in other visitors from happening.  The bad actors behavior can get very costly for them.

You should check you governing documents sometime to make sure you have nuisance provisions that can be enforced.  If not, you should seriously consider amending the documents so that you can stop bad resident behaviors.  Otherwise, these types may yell freedom of speech, thumb their nose at you, and continue to wreak havoc around your community.