The State of Florida is slowly but surely opening back up after closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. Governor DeSantis’s Stay at Home Order expired on April 30th, and Executive Order 20-112, effective May 4th, was enacted as Phase I in the reopening process. Both State and local governments have been […]
For community associations, when an owner goes into foreclosure, the best-case scenario is that the bank or mortgagee moves the property swiftly through the foreclosure process, and a new owner then takes possession and begins paying the assessments as they come due. In the absolute best cases, the foreclosure process […]
It is a scenario familiar to every association: an owner falls behind on his or her assessments and doesn’t get current, and the association initiates the lien recordation and foreclosure process. However, before the association can foreclose its lien and move the property to foreclosure sale, the mortgagee of the […]
Both the Florida Homeowners’ Association Act and the Condo Act contain prohibitions against so-called “SLAPP” suits; SLAPP stands for “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation”. The condominium anti-SLAPP suit statute is found at §718.1224 and the homeowners’ anti-SLAPP suit statute is codified at §720.304(4). While these statutes are important for associations […]
Many new home purchases in Florida include some sort of home warranty agreement. Home warranties in Florida are governed by Chapter 634 of the Florida Statutes. As is usually the case, the “devil is in the details” in terms of what that home warranty does and does not cover. Indeed, […]
The fairly recent case of Agrelov v. Affinity Management Services, LLC, Case No. 15-14136, (11th Cir., November 9, 2016), is instructive for associations and their managers with respect to debt collections, and the trouble that associations and managers can get themselves into when trying to collect on outstanding assessments. In […]
The Florida Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bartram v. U.S. National Bank Association is instructive for condominium associations and community managers dealing with a unit in foreclosure, including those trying to determine whether or not to appear and defend a foreclosure by the lender, even though it does not deal directly with a condominium or the Florida Condominium Act.
A condominium association’s governing documents in conjunction with Section 718.116, Florida Statutes, are the genesis of the condominium association’s authority to impose and perfect assessment liens against individually owned units within the community. This four-part blog will discuss the condominium association’s right to lien, perfecting the condominium association lien, and collection practices for condominium associations. Part IV of this blog will discuss overcoming Unit Owner defenses to the foreclosure and the ultimate sale of the condominium unit.
Just like all other lawsuits, the unit owner is entitled to assert defenses. Below is a discussion on the most common.
The recent case of Bank of America, N.A. v. Kipps Colony II Condominium Association, Inc., — So. 3d —-, 2016 WL 3766582 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016), is instructive for attorneys representing condominium and homeowners’ associations and emphasizes the need for such attorneys to have a firm grasp of Florida’s lien law with respect to prior mortgagors.
A condominium association may bring an action in its name to foreclose a lien for assessments in the manner a mortgage of real property is foreclosed, and it may also bring an action to recover a money judgment for the unpaid assessments. The association is entitled to recover its reasonable attorney’s fees incurred in either a lien foreclosure action or an action to recover a money judgment for unpaid assessments. See 718.116(6)(a). Condominium lien foreclosure is not subject to the alternative dispute resolution proceedings found under Section 718.1255, Florida Statutes, which means that the parties do not have to engage in mediation or arbitration.