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Norminn Norminn is offline
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Default OT cutting off water for landlord/tenant

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I also have to agree with those that wonder why your lawyer doesn't go
after them legally, instead of resorting to what should be a last
resort. Most HOA legal documents make it easy to file claims. For
example, if they miss their monthly payments, usually you can then
accelerate them and demand payment of a full year's assessment and go
after that amount. And filing a lien and ultimately foreclosing is
an option as well. Again, most HOA agreements also state that the
owner is responsible for not only the payment, but legal fees incurred
as well. One would think any competent lawyer would prefer that
route, as it makes him more money.

In Fl., HOA's and condo assns are governed by different sets of laws.
One clear aspect that I have read about is the "fiduciary duty" of board
members and the principle that they can be sued personally for not doing
their fiduciary duty. The law may have since changed, but it would be
interesting to file small claims against the board members who neglected
to collect the unpaid fees )

Fl. HOA's and condo assns. can have fines for late payments or rules
violations, but fines for rules violations are generally considered a
bad idea. I was told by a cert. assn. manager that a board member
cannot vote on a fine against a member of his/her own family. Makes
sense. But in the original issue of this thread, it might be legal but
certainly not the best choice to implicate the renter in the dispute.
By shutting off the water, the board is really punishing the renter for
their own negligence. If my assn. was doing that, I would send a
letter, cert. mail, to disagree with the decision...it isn't worth the
potential difficulty to collect relatively small amounts of money. When
other owners see the unpaid fees on their statements, they might want to
change how things are run, or even serve on the board. With 110 units
in the assn, there should be a couple of owners with some decent
business sense.