New state law might help reclaim fees [South Florida]
Many community associations throughout Broward have been struggling during the recession after foreclosed homes were left vacant and some financially strapped property owners quit paying their maintenance fees.
Now the state has stepped in to try to help; a new law allows both homeowner’s and condominium associations to deny nonpayers access to clubhouses, pools, fitness rooms and other shared community property. It also stipulates that foreclosing banks now will have to pay a year’s worth of unpaid maintenance bills or 1 percent of the original mortgage debt.
Even more controversial, the state allows associations to demand renters pay the community fees that their landlords aren’t paying, an attorney told a packed Pembroke Pines town hall meeting on Aug. 11.
Homeowner’s and condo associations now can directly bill renters for maintenance fees, with the property owner getting any rent money left over, said Lisa Magill, a partner in the law firm Becker & Poliakoff, which represents many community associations throughout South Florida.