Top 10 Things to Consider When Hiring a Property Management Company for Your Community.

1) Licensing: Is the property management company licensed in the State of Florida? Unfortunately, many management companies do not have the necessary licensing required by the State and say they do.

2) References: Has the property management company you are thinking of hiring provided you with references? Call current clients and ask – “do they have a good response time, do they provide timely reports, do they provide the service they promised?”

3) Experience: What types of properties do they manage? Are they specialized in any aspect of the industry, or do they do it all (sales, rentals, mortgages, etc.)? They may not be focused or attentive to the services you need.

4) Services: What property management services do they provide? 24 hour emergency service? Collections? Monthly reports? Financial Management? Attendance at all meetings?

5) Response time: What kind of response time can they guarantee, during business hours and emergencies? Do they answer their phones 24 hours a day? Are their emails answered throughout the day?

6) Fees: What kind of fee structure do they have in place? Are fees all inclusive? Do they charge for office supplies? What tracking system is in place for additional fees? Do they nickel and dime you? Sometimes the lower priced companies have add-ons or kickbacks. Ask.

7) Certifications: What organizations are they a part of? Is the property manager an active member of any of the national property management associations, such as CAI (Community Association Institute) or any local chambers of commerce or business organizations?

8) Delinquent Owners: How will delinquent owners’ accounts be handled? Will they charge late fees? Will they send out monthly late notices and demand letters? Do they have a separate Accounts Receivables Department? Will they maintain an open line of communication with the Associations attorney if needed?

9) Violations: How will violations be handled? Will they send violation notices? Will they impose fines? Will digital pictures be taken as evidence? Will they maintain an open line of communication with the Associations attorney if needed?

10) Property Inspections: How often will they personally inspect your property? Weekly? Quarterly? Do they have trained and licensed managers visiting their properties? This can be very important and if not attended to frequently can lead to many disgruntled residents.

The information above was prepared by Marc Rodriguez, a Licensed Community Association Manager and President of Four Points Property Management, Inc., a property management firm specializing in community association management and consulting services throughout South Florida.

This publication was created as a guide to assist members of the Board of Directors when choosing a management company for their community. Mr. Rodriguez can be contacted at mrodriguez@fourpointsproperty.com or you can visit www.FourPointsProperty.com for more information about the company.

2010 Legislative Update

We have some exciting news to share with you and your community members. This years Legislative Session turned out to be a very productive session that we believe has produced many positive changes to the Florida Statutes that govern Community Associations.

Earlier this year we provided a brief summary of the many changes being considered by Legislators in Tallahassee. Below we are happy to provide you with a summary of the Legislative changes that have fortunately (and finally) been signed into Law which will take effect July 1st, 2010. Please note that we have only summarized the changes we feel will be most valuable to our clients, not all changes or amendments have been included below.

For over a month we have been reviewing the 103 page Bill (SB 1196), as well as held meetings with Association Attorneys to familiarize ourselves as best as possible with the new Laws in order to best assist our client communities to take advantage of the new resources available to them.

Common Elements:
1. Common elements that serve only one (1) unit may be reclassified as Limited Common Elements by a vote of the membership to amend the Declaration.

Official Records:
1. An Association is clearly not responsible for the misuse of information provided to an owner or representative of an owner in compliance for their request for a records inspection.

2. Any person who intentionally harms, destroys, or who fails to create or maintain the Associations accounting records with the intent to cause harm to the Association, will be subject to a Civil Penalty.

3. The following records are not accessible to owners: personnel records of association employees (including payroll), e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, website passwords or property access codes, accounting software or backups.

Elections and Director Eligibility:
1. Co-owners are now permitted to serve on the Board where such co-owners own more then one (1) unit, or where there are not enough eligible candidates to fill the Board vacancies.

2. The director delinquency restriction has been expanded to include any director delinquent more than ninety (90) days in the payment of ANY monetary obligation. This includes fines, fees, regular and special assessments. Such owner will not be permitted to serve on the Board.

3. Each newly elected or appointed director must certify in writing within ninety (90) days of being elected/appointed that he or she has read the governing documents and that they will work to uphold those documents to the best of his or her ability. In lieu of providing such written certification, a director may submit a certificate of satisfactory completion of the educational curriculum provided by the Division. A Director not completing this certification will be suspended from service.

Collection of Assessments:
1. The liability of a Lender (First Mortgagee) that acquires title to a unit through foreclosure has increased from six (6) months to twelve (12) months of unpaid assessments. However, it remains constant that a Lender is only responsible for the lesser of twelve (12) months or one (1%) percent of the mortgage debt. We are of the opinion that most, if not all mortgage foreclosure cases will now receive the one (1%) percent value as opposed to the new twelve (12) month amendment.

2. This change will take effect on all foreclosed units in which a lender acquires title after July 1st, 2010.

Collection of Rents:
1. If a unit is occupied by a tenant and the unit owner is delinquent in paying any monetary obligation to the Association, the Association may make a written demand that the tenant pay the future monetary obligations related to the unit to the Association, and the tenant must make such payment until the Association releases the tenant.

2. A tenant who acts in good faith in response to the Association's request will be immune from any legal claim from the unit owner (i.e. eviction, etc).

3. The tenant, like a unit owner, must be notified of any increases in monetary obligations.

4. The unit owner shall provide his or her tenant a credit for any rents or amounts paid directly to the Association.

5. Should the tenant fail to act in response to the Associations demand for payment, the Association may file for eviction under the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (FRLTA). However, the Association is in no way considered a Landlord under the FRLTA and has no obligations there under.

6. The tenant does not have any rights of a unit owner in any election or vote, and does not have any right to examine the books or records of the Association.

7. This new law does not supersede the appointment by any court of a Receiver.

Budgets and Financial Reporting:
1. The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes shall adopt a set of revised rules outlining the uniform accounting principles and the standards to be used by all Associations.

2. The revised rules must include standards for presenting a summary of Association reserves, including an estimate on the amount of reserves necessary to fully fund annual reserves per each reserve item.

3. A Condominium Association operating fewer than seventy five (75) units shall prepare a report of cash receipts and expenditures, as opposed to financial statements.

Fining:
1. Previously Associations were only able to issue fines if their declarations or by-laws granted the Association such right. The new statutory amendment now grants all Associations the right to issue fines pursuant to statute, regardless of what the declaration may state.

2. An Association may only levy a fine for failure to comply with provisions in the governing documents.

3. Previously the Condominium Act stated that fines should be levied "against a unit". The new changes expand the Associations fining ability by permitting fines to be levied against any individual that is authorized to be on the property and who fails to comply with the provisions of the governing documents, this shall include owners, invitees, licensees, and occupants.

4. Fines still may not exceed $100.00 per violation for a maximum of 10 days. Additionally, fines can only be properly levied at a properly noticed hearing of a non-board member committee of unit owners.

5. Unfortunately, non-payment of fines may not be collected through lien or foreclosure. Therefore, because collecting on a delinquent fine is somewhat difficult, this enforcement ability is not always practical.

Suspension of Use Rights:
1. Condominium Associations may now, in limited cases, suspend the use rights of unit owners, their invitees, licensees, and occupants, who are more than ninety (90) days in the payment of ANY monetary obligation.

2. The use rights that can be suspended include the right to use common areas, facilities, and other Association property. Use rights shall not be suspended for Limited Common Elements, common elements needed for unit access, parking spaces, elevators, or utility services provided to the unit. The statute is not clear as to whether cable and other bulk services are defined as "utilities", however, we believe that they may be, but this is yet to be determined.

3. A unit owners' voting rights may also be suspended, however, their unit shall still count towards the necessary quorum requirements for any meeting or amendment.

4. A use right suspension ends upon payment in full of all monetary obligations.

Property Insurance Requirements:
1. Unit owners are still responsible for insuring their personal property within the boundaries of their unit, including their limited common elements, and their floors, walls, ceiling coverings, electrical fixtures, appliances, water heaters, cabinets, window treatments, and all other items which are located within the boundaries of their unit and serve only such unit.

2. Condominium Associations are no longer required to obtain evidence of a unit owner’s insurance coverage for their personal property located within the unit.

3. Condominium Associations are no longer authorized to force place coverage on behalf of a unit owner for failure to provide proper proof of insurance.

4. Unit owners’ insurance policies are no longer required to name the Association as an additional insured and a loss payee. As such, unit owners are no longer required to obtain the Associations endorsement for payment they receive on an insurance claim on their policy.

Fire Prevention Code:
1. A condominium that is less than four (4) stories in height and has an exterior corridor providing a means of egress is exempt from the requirement to install a manual fire alarm system under the Life Safety Code adopted under the Florida Fire Prevention Code.

2. A Condominium Association may now vote to waive the requirement of retrofitting the common areas in a high rise building with a fire sprinkler system by recording such vote in the public records of the county. A high rise building is defined as a building greater than seventy five (75) feet in height.

3. Shall an Association not be able to obtain the necessary votes to waive the fire sprinkler retrofitting requirement; the deadline for retrofitting completion was extended to 2019.

Elevator Safety Code:
1. The Legislature has created a moratorium on the enforcement of amendments to the Safety Code for Existing Elevators and Escalators (ASME A17.1 and A17.3) requiring modifications to elevators in condominiums. Such retrofitting requirements cannot be enforce for five (5) years. However, shall a building require an elevator replacement or major modifications before the expiration of the five (5) year moratorium the building must meet the Elevator Modification requirements.

2. A Condominium Association may waive the requirement for installing alternate power sources for elevators upon an affirmative vote of a majority of the membership.

Distressed Condominium Relief Act:
1. In response to the downturn in the condominium market affecting the economy, developers, lenders, unit owners, and associations, the Legislature created the Distressed Condominium Relief Act (DCRA).

2. The DCRA establishes that a bulk buyer purchasing seven (7) units or more within a condominium association shall receive an assignment of some or all of the developers rights except those related to warranties, obligations to fund reserves, auditing requirements, and liability to issues or claims made prior to their assignment.

3. The DCRA creates a detailed process for the assignment of units within a condominium to a bulk buyer and the management of such association thereof.

New Report Details Mortgage Foreclosure Frusturations For Community Associations

In August 2009, the newly appointed Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Task Force, created by the Florida Supreme Court released it's final report on Mortgage Foreclosure Cases. The Task Force is Chaired by Judge Jennifer Bailey. Having listened to Judge Bailey speak recently on the issue of Mortgage Foreclosures and their effect on Community Associations, as well as having met with her briefly, I can say that Judge Bailey is very informed and aware of the burden the current Mortgage Foreclosure Crisis is having specifically on Community Associations (Condo's and HOA's).

You can find the complete report at

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/documents/Filed_08-17-2009_Foreclosure_Final_Report.pdf

Judge Bailey uses an excellent example to describe the situation we are facing today.

Picture this: the biggest road out of town. Now imagine it is rush hour. In
a thunderstorm. Add that it also a hurricane evacuation. A lane is closed due to
construction delayed by budget impacts. Imagine the traffic jam.

The clearest description of the impact of the foreclosure crisis and the
following recession on Florida's courts can be summarized by that picture.
Imagine every car a case. The General Jurisdiction Courts of our State have a
certain amount of judicial infrastructure, just like there is a certain amount
of room on the road. There is a certain capacity of judges, of court staff, of
clerks, of filing space, of hearing time, or courtrooms, even of hours in the
day. Year in, year out, that capacity flexes with the caseload traffic to afford
reasonable, prompt, efficient and fair justice.

The enormous increase in foreclosure filings has overwhelmed those
resources in many circuits and represents a traffic jam that the infrastructure
cannot meet in a timely and efficient manner without support and traffic
management.

Our client Board Members come to us often wondering why the long delay in many Mortgage Foreclosures. Although, we have been able to develop valuable tools to move rather rapidly with most collection cases, even Mortgage Foreclosures, sometimes the Association may have no choice but to monitor the Mortgage Foreclosure. This report provides details as to why those delays are occurring (for example, the rescheduling of final judgements) and even provides options that can be used to speed up the process and recommendations that will eventually, if approved, benefit Community Associations.

Contact us with any questions about this report, or about Community Association collections. We can help!