Question: What is the legal standard for the state to intervene and take over an HOA? What is the procedure to initiate the state to investigate an HOA? — P.K.

Answer: The state does not take over any association, whether it is an HOA, condominium or cooperative. While the Division of Florida Condominiums does have some jurisdiction with respect to condominium and cooperative disputes, the only jurisdiction the division has with respect to HOAs is over elections and recalls. And, even if you were to bring a complaint regarding an election or a recall effort, the state would not “take over” the association under any circumstances.

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There is a procedure whereby an owner can petition a court to appoint a receiver to operate the association, but this only happens when there is either no person willing to serve on the board and operate the association, or when there is some significant theft or fraud involved. And, the cost of a receiver is significant and must be covered by the owners as a common expense.

If you think there may be some fraud going on in your association and would like to petition a court to appoint a receiver, you are going to have to do the legwork to build a case against the association by inspecting records and putting together the evidence proving that such fraud exists.

Q: I own a condominium in a two-story building. I am on the top floor. I have had awful smells coming from the downstairs unit smelling like a dead animal, and I finally went to the condo president to complain. At the same time, the condominium was inspecting the units to check water heaters, and the president went into the downstairs unit with two plumbers to check his heater and valves. I was told that the downstairs unit, owned by an older single man, was filthy. There was human feces on the floors, and the carpets were full of rotted food. The plumber refused to touch anything and the other plumber ran out of there. Again, I live above this condo. Since then, the association called the sheriff, who came out with social workers, but I do not know what happened. Also, this man said he was replacing the carpets, but nobody saw a carpet company come.

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I am stressed out from living above a dump. I spoke to the plumber who went in there and he said he never saw anything like that, and that he would never go back in. This is a 55-plus community. Can I take any legal action against this man or the condo board? The condo board has known this has been going on, and I was never told about it — and they only called the sheriff because I was furious. This is my second home that I have owned for two years and I come down every few months to relax. Any advice? — J.D.

A: What you are describing is unfortunately fairly common in communities that have extremely elderly residents, some of whom may have issues caring for themselves or may be suffering from cognitive impairment. And, even in a community with younger people, you sometimes encounter hoarders whose units are as badly kept as if they were unable to care for themselves. Your association did the right thing by calling the police to see if this person poses a danger to himself, but the power to involuntarily commit a person is limited. And, it may be that this person is fully able to care for himself — he just choses to live in squalor. That, of course, is small comfort to you as his neighbor.

Your better option may be to work through the court system to get a judgment against this man for creating a nuisance —using his unit in a way that interferes with your peaceful enjoyment of your own unit. Perhaps filing a lawsuit against him will stimulate him, or any relatives he may have, to intervene and take some corrective action. But, unfortunately, in many situations there either may be no family available, or the family may be uninterested in helping their relative. If it turns out that this is, in fact, an older person with cognitive issues and no family, you should research whether there are any family services associations that can help find a more appropriate place for him to live.

Source: https://t-tees.com
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