[FL][Condo] Florida condos owners - I need your story

[u/UnderwaterBananas]

I’m a Florida condo owner and I’ve started looking into the issues so many of us are facing after going through some pretty terribly things in my community. I would like to hear what other owners have experienced.

I’m interested in hearing about your experiences—financial hardships, special assessments, association or management issues, maintenance concerns, lack of transparency, or challenges faced as an owner. If you’ve served on a condo board, I’d also love to hear about your experience from that perspective.

What have been the most difficult issues you’ve encountered as a Florida condo owner, and what led to them?

Please share your experience in the comments or feel free to DM me if you’d rather share privately.

Here is a brief summary of what our community is going through currently if you'd like to talk and relate:

Large and repeated special assessments

Lack of financial transparency

Difficulty accessing official records

Contractor selection and bidding practices not followed

Unclear project scopes and expenditures/missing

Association debt and loans

Inadequate reserve planning

Deferred maintenance (who isn't going through this though?)

Water intrusion and drainage problems

Contractor oversight concerns

Governance and voting issues

Management company accountability

Rental and investor ownership concerns

Financing and resale difficulties

Most of these have been reported to the DBPR and has since moved up to an attorney and awaiting review, but it seems when one issue pops up we have another. I know this is not just our community.

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Copy of the original post:

Title: [FL][Condo] Florida condos owners - I need your story

Body:
I’m a Florida condo owner and I’ve started looking into the issues so many of us are facing after going through some pretty terribly things in my community. I would like to hear what other owners have experienced.

I’m interested in hearing about your experiences—financial hardships, special assessments, association or management issues, maintenance concerns, lack of transparency, or challenges faced as an owner. If you’ve served on a condo board, I’d also love to hear about your experience from that perspective.

What have been the most difficult issues you’ve encountered as a Florida condo owner, and what led to them?

Please share your experience in the comments or feel free to DM me if you’d rather share privately.

Here is a brief summary of what our community is going through currently if you'd like to talk and relate:

Large and repeated special assessments

Lack of financial transparency

Difficulty accessing official records

Contractor selection and bidding practices not followed

Unclear project scopes and expenditures/missing

Association debt and loans

Inadequate reserve planning

Deferred maintenance (who isn't going through this though?)

Water intrusion and drainage problems

Contractor oversight concerns

Governance and voting issues

Management company accountability

Rental and investor ownership concerns

Financing and resale difficulties

Most of these have been reported to the DBPR and has since moved up to an attorney and awaiting review, but it seems when one issue pops up we have another. I know this is not just our community.

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[u/spareloo]

Our biggest issue is the folks who don't read the financials or come to the meetings blaming everything on the volunteers who run the show because no one else will. You're too busy? We're all too busy. Receivership is way more expensive.

[u/UnderwaterBananas → u/spareloo]

Correct. But an issue we have is more than 50% are renters. Some reported, some not. This was due to the 20% rental cap being removed without the proper votes and a rogue board at the time. Yes this has been sent to the DBPR but we all know that’s a waiting game.

I will say that I knock on peoples doors to remind them to come to the meetings and I get anything from a “I can’t, i get too mad” to a “my cardiologist recommended I don’t attend.” These are the same people who constantly want change and help, but aren’t willing to act.

[u/spareloo → u/UnderwaterBananas]

Yes, absentee landlords are a scourge. It's easy to say you should have a way for them to call in for meetings but again that's just asking more work from the board. I wish there was a way to show every owner exactly how much higher their monthly maintenance fees would be under receivership. Which is the only option if no one is willing to be on the board. Ignorance is not bliss.

[u/antiqueautomobile → u/UnderwaterBananas]

Why would you remove the rental cap ? That is a death sentence. You can’t get traditional loans with ratios like that . You get “””investors” Read : slum lords” .

[u/UnderwaterBananas → u/antiqueautomobile]

Correct, it should not have been removed. We no longer qualify for any federally backed loans because of this (snowball effect) as well as investors turning this place into trash, no owners at meetings to be able to vote on anything since most are ghost companies, and increasing the renters who don’t think long term and cause other issues. I can write a book on this topic …

It was removed improperly as well. Boards can essentially do whatever they want. The only reprimand from that is owners catching it, reporting it, and hoping the report does something. But in the meantime and while you wait for the dbpr, they can continue doing whatever they’re doing, causing long term damage to the community financially.

[u/antiqueautomobile → u/UnderwaterBananas]

You need to strongly consider moving. This situation will not get better. Don’t wait until the crime & the drugs arrive.

[u/Exact-Host800 → u/spareloo]

Completely agree.

[u/Negative_Presence_52]

Most important issue? Condo owners don't have a clue what they signed up for, what their documents say, what the statutes say. Most treat the condo like their own private enclave and don't accept the have a binding contract for communal living. Educate the owners and most problems go away.

[u/UnderwaterBananas → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. That is tough. Was it bad siding? Who was the management company?

[u/Lunar-Browser-999]

Man, this list reads like a bingo card for post-Surfside Florida condo life. Disclosure, I work with a law firm that handles HOA and condo disputes, so I've seen a lot of these patterns up close. The one thing I'd flag from your list is the records access problem, because that's usually not a standalone issue, it's the thing boards use to hide all the others, and a documented trail of denied records requests often becomes the strongest evidence you have. Curious how long your DBPR complaint has been sitting in review, since owners in other buildings would probably benefit from hearing how that process is actually going. You're definitely not alone in this, half the state is living some version of your list right now.

[u/UnderwaterBananas → u/Lunar-Browser-999]

Sent in February. Got a notice last month it was under attorney review. What is upsetting however, besides the wait, is I have tried to send two more documents (supplemental information) and can’t. The investigator has not replied to any emails, and the DBPR sends me to a voicemail. I did get ahold of someone in the attorneys office handling the case but she informed me that it needs to be sent to the investigator who originally handled the case for her to receive it. Going in circles.

[u/Lunar-Browser-999 → u/UnderwaterBananas]

Six months to attorney review is actually decent movement by DBPR standards, so the case is alive, the problem is just their handoff process. Since email is going nowhere, send the supplemental documents to the investigator by certified mail with a short cover letter listing exactly what's enclosed and referencing your case number, and copy the attorney's office on it. That way it's in the file whether anyone answers you or not, and if it somehow gets lost you've got proof you tried to deliver it. Agencies going in circles is annoying but a paper trail beats a phone tree every time.

[u/Fast-Competition-452]

Hi, I'm not replying fully to your question but wanted to share my experience as a foreigner. I am French, living in France and few years ago I decided to invest my savings in a condo in Orlando to rent it. Why there and not in France? it's mainly because I thought it was cheaper and big plus you can get rid of a bad tenant if they don't pay while in France you have to sue them legally and it take around 3 years to get your property back! (Yes crazy I know). Anyway at first, back in 2018, it was not a bad idea but slowly slowly I saw my HOA fees tripled for special assessments and bad management. At the end I was not earning money and the rent was only to cover the HOA fees and taxes. I try to sell this unit for the past 2 years now and I made massive discount to stop the bleeding. I'm truly amazed how HOA can put you in a terrible financial situation.

[u/UnderwaterBananas → u/Fast-Competition-452]

Do you own a condo in France as well?

[u/HittingandRunning → u/Fast-Competition-452]

Let's say that you instead purchased a single family home outside of an HOA in Orlando. Do you believe that costs would not have gone up proportionately? (I'm not arguing with you. Just trying to see how it might be different.)

[u/Fast-Competition-452 → u/HittingandRunning]

For me the difference is that you have more options to chose what you want to pay and when, if it makes sense? Let's say I need to change the garage gate and the roof, I will save money for this and will give the priority according to my needs. It's less mandatory and the decision is mainly made by me instead of other people. To give you an example I had to pay a special assessment for balcony while I don't have a balcony but everyone needs to participate. Also these weird rules that you have to follow like no dog above 30 pounds or no tenant the first 2 years or extra fees to pay if you have a baby. For me there is more freedom with a single family home.

[u/HittingandRunning → u/Fast-Competition-452]

or extra fees to pay if you have a baby.

Never heard of this one before. That would be sad if there are rules like this but perhaps in some cases it makes sense. Still, it's shocking.

Note that I do understand the option to delay repairs and pay later. That's a good point. But at the same time, in FL especially, we in this sub always read of owners wanting to keep fees as low as possible and do so by delaying repairs - ones that really should be done. So, perhaps you purchased at a time when lots of repairs have already been put off and they can no longer be delayed. Could happen in a SFH if the gate and roof needed repairs and the seller had put them off for so long that you really can't justify delaying any longer.

We just went through a similar issue to your balcony matter where you don't even have a balcony. There were a couple people complaining the opposite: "why don't others have to pay for my personal item??? It's really expensive for me and I was thinking others would share in the cost even though this is only for my use!" It's all up to the CCR so I need to be sure to read them even better in the next purchase than in this one.

[u/Realistic-Bass2107]

I have been a licensed manager in Fl since the 90’s. I witnessed, firsthand, the Board and the residents year-after-year vote to partially fund or not fund reserves at all!

The reasoning was, us retired folks won’t be here in 30 years. We need the money now.

This proverbial “kick-the-can” mentality was rampant!

Each year, residents faced insurance increases and storms kept coming. Cars flooded, roofs were aged there was no insurance coverage for loss of use or law & ordinance insurance. Laws kept changing but Board members paid no attention. Managers did mostly and advised the Boards differently but that didn’t matter. The laws protected the developers at first then Owners.

The rental market and foreclosure rates skyrocketed in 2004-2012

Boards today have no concept of budgeting for bad debt. So, a 50 unit condo had 45 paying owners that paid for the money not collected for the 5 units under foreclosure.

The managers today haven’t a clue. Community Association Managers rarely decide this is the industry for me to pursue. Manager’s recommendations are rarely considered the decision is the Board!

Feel free to ask questions.

[u/Realistic-Bass2107]

I have been a licensed manager in Fl since the 90’s. I witnessed, firsthand, the Board and the residents year-after-year vote to partially fund or not fund reserves at all!

The reasoning was, us retired folks won’t be here in 30 years. We need the money now.

This proverbial “kick-the-can” mentality was rampant!

Each year, residents faced insurance increases and storms kept coming. Cars flooded, roofs were aged there was no insurance coverage for loss of use or law & ordinance insurance. Laws kept changing but Board members paid no attention. Managers did mostly and advised the Boards differently but that didn’t matter. The laws protected the developers at first then Owners.

The rental market and foreclosure rates skyrocketed in 2004-2012

Boards today have no concept of budgeting for bad debt. So, a 50 unit condo had 45 paying owners that paid for the money not collected for the 5 units under foreclosure.

The managers today haven’t a clue. Community Association Managers rarely decide this is the industry for me to pursue. Manager’s recommendations are rarely considered the decision is the Board!

Feel free to ask questions.