Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Condos: Be careful and consistent with background checks
By Richard White, Special to the Times
Published November 3, 2007
Q: Our association has been urged to conduct background checks on all renters and buyers before we approve them. Can we do this, and if we find an applicant is less than desirable, what can we do? A: Proceed with caution, with your lawyer's guidance, so you don't open yourself up to a state or federal discrimination lawsuit. Have your lawyer draft a form with specific questions and do not vary the questions from one interview to the next. If you conduct criminal background checks, decide in advance which violations are acceptable and which are not. If you do credit checks, you will have to keep information in confidential files. There are companies that will provide civil, criminal and credit checks for a fee. Your lawyer can help you contact them. Board's management may be a violation Q: A couple of months ago the board terminated our manager. They are supposed to be looking for a new management company but they're dragging their feet. In the meantime the board decided to pay the president to manage the property and the vice president to do the accounting. Is this legal? Neither is licensed as a community associations manager. A: If your association is larger than 50 units in size or has a budget exceeding $100,000 and if these individuals are receiving compensation, they are in violation of FS 468.431. If the association or the unlicensed manager is reported to the state, they can both be fined. Send a letter to the board asking that the association's attorney be contacted about the violation. For a copy of my four-page article about management, send a business-sized, stamped 41 cents, self-addressed envelope to the address at the end of this column. Mark your outer envelope "Management." There's no state cap on fee increases Q: When I signed the contract to buy my condo, the monthly maintenance was $1,300. Just before I closed I received a notice that the maintenance was going to $1,800. At closing it was raised again to $2,400 and three months later to $2,700! Does the state cap how much a developer can raise maintenance fee while he controls the board? Oh, and the developer isn't paying the maintenance on the units he owns! A: No, there are no caps. I suggest you write a letter to the developer asking for an explanation of the fee increases. It sounds as if the developer underestimated the operating costs of the project and is raising the fees to cover his expenses. 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 CAMquestions@cfl.rr.com. Please include your name and city.
[Last modified November 1, 2007, 16:51:12]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Letter to the editor
