How are you advising your clients? Should they pay the double assessments?
Should they put the money in escrow?
What are our rights as homeowners?
Liens have been threatened, is it possible for the board to foreclose on our property?
How can we use the Florida system that is supposed to monitor condominium rules to our
advantage?
Is it true that your clients are getting free windows?
Posted by Maggie McLoughlin
These are excellent questions. Thank you, Ms. McLaughlin! The Blog Team would like to add the following questions to your post:
When is the lawsuit scheduled to go before the judge?
Would other owners benefit by joining the lawsuit?
Assuming it is possible how would one proceed to join?
What is the cost to join?
How can the owners force a new election for Board of Directors?
Thank you, Mr Garrity and Ms Weiss, in advance for your response and any advice that you can provide to the membership!
The OM Owner's Blog Team
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Ms. Weiss and Mr. Garrity's Comments:
ReplyDeleteFirst, we wouls like to start by expressing our thanks to the monitors of this blog and all of the Ocean Manor Owners who have started to see how little information this Board has chosen to dole out.
How are you advising your clients? Should they pay the double assessments?
We have advised against our clients giving any money if the Board refuses to account for its use, explain how checks were written to individual Board members, how the Board feels justified in making improvements to their own property like the balconies with what appears to be asscoiation funds, and how the Board can continue to allow common area to be taken away from the common unit owners and given to the commerical entity.
Just like the last meeting requesting yet more special assessments; there was no specific amount ever defined by the Board as being needed. It was like most of the assessments levied by this Board a vague number that may address the General Bronze lien but there was nothing to substantiate the amount of the assessment.
Should they put the money in escrow?
My clients have chosen to stop the bleeding of funds until this Board can tell them how these funds are being used and how certain improvements benefiting only Board members have been paid for.
If you choose not to pay the assessment the Board can direct their counsel to place a lien on your unit and attempt foreclosure. Several of my clients are facing that fate at this point. We of course are defending these foreclosures and if we are successful the Association will owe my clients their legal fees.
This Board is is using your Association's money to bring these actions. There was two sets of attorneys in this case and recently a third law firm has made an appearance. There seems to be no problem paying lawyers to fight in court but a big problem to pay $8,000 to accountants to provide the Associatin with audited financials. Seems like there is something to hide in my opinion.
Our clients never wanted to receive free windows. Our clients want the Board to act in the manner proscribed by Florida law and your Condominium documents. They chose not to. Should you escrow the money? Only if you are committed to making this Board play by the rules and are aware that there are consequences for your action that you are willing to fight over. If you join us soon the numbers will speak for themselves.
What are our rights as homeowners?
You have the right to see everything that your Board sees when it made its decision to levy the assessments. You should be able to see financials, quotes, balance sheets, agreements and anything else that would allow you to come to the same conclusion as the Board. Has anyone been provided the type of information to know that your money is being watched over in a fair and just manner? If not you should try to get the information necessary to be a part of the decision and not someone lead down a primrose path.
Liens have been threatened, is it possible for the board to foreclose on our property?
Yes, if you challenge the Boards authority then they will try to foreclose on you. It is their hammer. However, the alternative is to allow the behavior to continue and go unchecked. When will it be too much for you to take? That is a personal question that each of you must answer.
How can we use the Florida system that is supposed to monitor condominium rules to our
advantage?
Our clients have already started the process and if you support their efforts to get some accountability from the Board then you should join them or start your own efforts to get information you are entitled to in order to determine if your money is being used wisely, wasted or worse than that.
Is it true that your clients are getting free windows?
No. Our clients are only interested in getting the Board to act appropriately with full disclosure. They are not in this suit for free windows.
When is the lawsuit scheduled to go before the judge?
We are not currently set for trial on the main suit. We are however moving forward on as many fronts as possible to make this Board comply with basic requirements. We have recently filed a complaint with the State of Florida detailing the lack of financial accountability. The Board continues to paint my clients as rouge clients who are only interested in not paying for their windows but nothing is further from the truth. You all have seen firsthand hoe OM is being governed. There is no accountability for funds received or spent. No one has answered basic questions about money paid directly to Board members.
Would other owners benefit by joining the lawsuit?
Yes. There is strength in numbers. If members of this association stand up united against this Board there will be a change. You will start to understand what money is coming in and what money is going out. We will get the attention of the State and of the Court if more members of the Association join in questioning the Boards activities. All we are looking for is the ability to understand what is happening with the Association's money. We would like to make sure that it is not being spent to the benefit of Board members while unit owners keep digging deeper and deeper into their pockets. At the meeting it was disclosed that OM pays the highest per square foot assessments on the Galt. That does not even include special assessments. Obviously a building like OM needs up keep. But does it need a monstrosity of a balcony added to the top of it without anyone knowing how it was done or who paid for it? Many questions remain unanswered. Hopefully, more members can force answers out of the Board that everyone is entitled to at OM.
Assuming it is possible how would one proceed to join?
It is always possible to join and you simply need to contact Joe Garrity at jgarrity@qbc-law.com or Suzanne Weiss at Suzanne123@aol.com and we would be happy to meet with any of you.
What is the cost to join?
Please call to discuss issues of cost. However, we am not charging an hourly fee for representation of our clients in the main case. We are requesting cost deposits of $2,500.00 per client and money will be held in trust and used for cost only. We expect to win this case and for the Board to be responsible for damages and attorney's fees which we will take our fee from on a contingency fee arrangement.
WE BELIEVE IN THIS CASE.
How can the owners force a new election for Board of Directors?
There are specific procedures for the removal of a current Board and demanding the election of a new Board. We would be happy to discuss these procedures with anyone who contacts us.
Joseph D. Garrity, Esq.
Susan Weiss, Esq.