Florida condos get new tool for collecting fees [South Florida]
A new law offers a stark choice for South Florida condo renters living in units owned by people who are behind on their maintenance fees: Fork over the rent money to the association, or face eviction.
The “Distressed Condominium Relief Act,” signed by Gov. Charlie Crist on June 1 and active as of Thursday, gives condo associations the right to demand renters in delinquent units to pay rent directly to the association rather than to unit owners. While the law offers protections for renters who comply, those who don’t could face eviction.
It’s the latest development in an ongoing saga between cash-starved condo associations, and investor-owners who have stopped paying condo maintenance fees since the market crashed.
Omar Ibrahem, who moved out of a rental last year because its owner went into foreclosure, said he hadn’t received any notices about the new law at the unit he rents on Miami’s Brickell Avenue.