HOA fees, renters, law.....

[bell]

this was just slipped through and personally can simply not believe how this is even becoming a law......any thoughts other than the normal feelings towards hoa's?
my father told me it was already overturned by the supreme court, but i can't find ANY info on that online.....

New law can make renters pay homeowner-association fees - OrlandoSentinel.com


Donna Collins, who pays rent on the Kissimmee home she shares with her elderly mom, faces a new threat of eviction starting next week when Florida law allows homeowner associations to pursue renters, not just landlords, for overdue fees.

If the owner falls behind and the renter doesn't cover the deficit, the renter faces eviction under the new statute, which takes effect July 1.

"What it boils down to is that we've got the homeowner association on one side saying, 'If you don't pay us for the fees, we're going to evict you,' " said Collins, whose landlord owes thousands in back fees. "And on the other side you've got a landlord saying, 'If you don't pay me the rent, then I'm going to evict you.' What's a tenant to do?"

The issue of delinquent homeowner fees has become pervasive in Metro Orlando, which led the nation in rental and homeowner vacancies during the first quarter, according to U.S. census figures. The census reported that 8.9 percent of all homes and condos were unoccupied and 20.6 percent of all rentals were empty — the highest vacancy rates among the nation's 75 largest metro areas.

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In the past, tenants paid only rent to their landlords, who were supposed to pay any community fees associated with the house or condo unit. If a landlord failed to pay the fees, a homeowner or condo association could file a lien or ask a judge for title to the property. But both options took time and came with legal fees that were tough for cash-starved associations to pay.

The new law allows associations to collect fees directly from renters if the owner-landlords don't pay up.

"I feel bad for the tenants. They're being put in the middle of the situation," said Frayda Morris, owner Central Association Management of Kissimmee, which has sent notices to Collins and other renters. "But the big picture is that they are in the home paying rent, and the investor, he's collecting rent but he's not paying assessments, not paying the mortgage."

Collins said her adult son, who also lives with her, was renting in Tampa but was booted from his home when the bank foreclosed on it. So before renting the Kissimmee house, she said, they checked with the property-management company that was showing the rental to make sure the owner wasn't late on association payments.

But after signing the lease, they discovered that the property was headed to foreclosure. And now Collins has learned that her landlord wasn't paying the association fees either.

Investor-owners whose reaction to the housing slump has been a "strategic default" — walking away from the mortgage on a devalued home or condo even though they can afford to pay — also stop paying their association fees. That trend, combined with an increase in the number of unemployed residents who can't afford fees, have made it difficult for homeowner and condo associations to maintain pools, roofs and sidewalks. And the resident-owners who continue to pay resent covering for absentee owners who don't.

"What we get is: 'Why do we have to pay for people who don't pay?' " said Morris, who has worked in property management for 29 years.

The new law may ease financial problems for homeowner and condo associations, but questions remain about how it will be put into effect.

For starters, it's not entirely clear how much of a rental's delinquent-fee bill a tenant will be expected to pay, said David Muller, a Sarasota lawyer who specializes in association law.

And many associations may have trouble assessing tenants, Muller said, because no one necessarily tracks which properties in a community or complex are rentals, who is renting them and how much they are paying.

"There are some questions about exactly how this is going to work," he said. "The good news about this is that it's going to give associations another mechanism to get paid on these unpaid assessments. But it does provide a host of questions, with issues not addressed in the statutes, and it will invariably be challenged in the courts."

One of legislation's co-authors, state Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, said the law was intended to ensure that everyone pays a fair share. He noted that renters have always faced eviction when their landlords fail to pay fees or mortgages; this measure just makes the system more efficient by giving associations an option other than filing a lien or going to court.

"If a renter isn't paying their maintenance fees, they should be offered no protections because they're harming every unit owner," Ring said Thursday.

In terms of actually putting the law to work, Ring said the measure was "admittedly gray" in determining how much renters should owe of the back fees that accrue while they are living in a particular house or condo. He said that "loophole" may need to be addressed by the courts.

Collins said she likes the layout of the four-bedroom house she's renting and has even tried to buy it from the owner. So far, that hasn't happened.

And now, she said, the owner has made it clear that he'll move to evict her if she pays the association fee instead of his rent.





and a couple comments below this article....

Piggly at 9:56 PM June 25, 2010

To cheryl.moore47 at 8:49 PM June 25, 2010... Its obvious you aren't on the Board. I don't care if the Tenant uses the facilities or not, if the tenant is upholding his/her contract of paying their dues in the rent payment, its the OWNER who is responsible. IF you are an HOA worth its salt, tighten the lien/foreclosure time. Ours sends a letter after 15 days of being late. at 30 you get another letter, and at 45 days, you are now 2 months behind (the initial and the payment for the next month 30 days after the 1st) and you get a notice to lien. at 60 days, we start. We've been very aggressive and there hasn't been an increase yet other than measly 5%.


I'm not going to penalize a tenant if the owner is in the wrong.


I'm glad Mike HArt clarified it better. If the renter can pay the late dues in lue of the rent, without penalty of being evicted by the owner, then I'm for it. However the reporter wasn't clear and make it sound like the HOA could go after the tenant even if the tenant paid.


I'd rather pay the HOA if its behind as I wouldn't want my access to the pools, etc cut off.
mike hart at 9:03 PM June 25, 2010

After speaking with a local state representative he better explained to me the new law. The Sentinel left me and many others confused and angered by the new law as explained by the reporter.

As explained to me by our local Orlando rep.

If the landlord owes $1000 to the HOA the tenant now has the option to pay the $1000 to the HOA. The payment to the HOA can be a substitute for rent payment. In other words. If your rent payment is $1000 and the landlord owes $1000 to the HOA and then you pay the $1000 to the HOA you have paid that month's rent and the landlord cannot ask for payment nor evict you for non- payment.

After speaking to the reporter who wrote the article she seemed aloof to the idea that her article created a false impression that the HOA had the ability to evict a tenant for a landlord's non-paymet to the HOA. The new law allows the tenant to pay the HOA fees and have those fees deducted from the agreement between the landlord and the leasee.

I hope this helps clarify some of the confusion and angst created by this misleading article.

[bell]

Ok it seems the writer of the article only covered half of the story........meaning if it went so far as the owner tried to evict the tenant for "nonpayment" then the court would side with the renter due to the payment of the fee instead of rent

[Joeaksa]

You have no idea how much I hate HOA's. Mine is absolutely worthless...

[bell]

My situation is that we moved into our townhouse and after the fact found out that the owner stopped paying his fees because the hoa (who is required to mainatain the property) has not fixed our leaking garage roof in 6+ months.......
I have not spoken to the lanlord about this (and won't until it's absolutely necassarry) as the fees are included in our rent......
However if we get a notice from the hoa for some reason about this it's going to be a headache I'm sure.
I was reading ovr the statute (sb 1196 iirc) and can't believe how they slipped it in with all the other things atatched to it......almst like some higher up has a vested intrest in it......
Imo it's extremely unconstitutional how its worded.....and I need to keep track of what's going on with it......
If our neighbors and everyone I talk to around here all agree the hoa is slacking with mantainance then it seems like they are going to take advantage of this.....
Who should I talk to about this should it go that far? Congressman? Lawyer? Lanlord?

[Joeaksa]

Bell,

We talk with our local city rep and they have been pretty helpful so far.

Just emailed mine on Friday at 15:00 and got a reply before close of business.