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Community Living: Assessment is due despite fence repairs

By RICHARD WHITE
Published March 11, 2006

After Hurricane Wilma I waited to see what the association would do to repair our fence, which adjoins the common area. Only one person is making repairs, which may take years, so, since it is a matter of safety, I repaired the fence myself. Now all unit owners are being charged a special assessment to repair hurricane damage, including the fence. I have already spent $800 and given the association one less property to fix. Can I deduct that money from my assessment?

You must pay the special assessment. Your letter leaves several questions unanswered: Did you communicate with the board about your fence repairs? How did the board respond? Did the board give you written permission to make your own repairs? If you had written authorization to act, you should file a claim with the board to recover your costs, and you should file a claim with your insurance company.

Change insurance due date

Our association's annual insurance premium of $46,200 is due in a lump sum in July. Since we don't have enough money to cover this in our operating accounts, the board borrows half from a bank and pays normal interest. Meanwhile, we have huge sums in reserve funds for painting, roofing and paving all held in certificates of deposit and money-market accounts. We won't replace the roof for 15 years or do painting and paving for 10 years. My suggestion that we borrow the money we need to pay the insurance premium from our reserve funds, then repay it over the next six months, was rejected by our management company. They say state law prohibits borrowing from reserves. I'm just trying to save us from paying interest to the bank. Your thoughts?

The management company is correct: The board may not use reserve funds for any purpose except that for which they are collected unless members vote to approve that transfer. Apparently the board did budget for insurance, but your budget is coming up short because the insurance is due halfway through the year, before all the funds have been collected.

Next time you renew your insurance, ask for either a six-month or 18-month policy that aligns the payment date with the budget.

Normally I don't like to see an association borrow funds, but a loan for insurance would be an exception.

No quorum permitted

Is it legal to discuss association business in executive session no residents in attendance? Our lawyer says yes, it's legal, but some residents say we can go into executive session only to meet with our lawyer or discuss contracts. We would not vote in this executive session. Your advice?

The key is quorum. Directors can meet in private at any time as long as no quorum is present. If you have a seven-member board, three can meet, conduct business, make inspections, sign checks and meet with vendors or owners. If a fourth director is present, the meeting must end immediately, or one of the directors must leave. If a quorum of directors is present, it is considered a board meeting; members must be notified and the meeting must be open. Your reference for condominiums is FS 718.112, and for homeowners associations, FS 720.303.

Richard White is a licensed community associations manager. Write to him c/o Community Living, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Sorry, he can't take phone calls or provide personal replies by mail, but you can e-mail him at http://www.state.fl.us/dbpr/lsc/index.shtml or write to Bureau of Customer Service, 1940 N Monroe St., Northwood Centre, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1032.

Please note that this office provides no information about homeowners' associations. The state has no bureau or department covering those associations.

[Last modified March 11, 2006, 09:12:22]