Source: http://www.thefloridacurrent.com
Gray Rohrer, 04/29/2014 – 02:19 PM
Mangers of homeowners associations, fearing a pending court decision that could restrict their duties, are cheering the passage of HB 7037, which expands and the activities they can engage in as community association managers.
Legislation expanding the duties of community association managers, or CAMs, that help operate homeowners’ associations is heading to the desk of Gov. Rick Scott after passing the Senate by a 36-3 vote Tuesday.
The bill, HB 7037, sparked a fight between CAM trade groups and the Real, Property and Probate Trust Section of the Florida Bar, which petitioned the courts in 2012 to define many CAM activities as the unlicensed practice of law. A decision from the Florida Supreme Court is still pending.
CAM groups said if lawyers were required to conduct HOA duties, which range from filing foreclosure liens to determining a quorum for a meeting, their higher fees would trickle down to HOA costs.
“Passage of this legislation today by the Florida Legislature represents a hard fought victory for Florida’s more than four million homeowners who live in associations, and the tens of thousands of community association managers who work for them, because it will keep their cost of living from going up at a time when they can least afford it,” said Mark Anderson, lobbyist for the Chief Executive Officers of Management Companies, a CAM trade group.
Reporter Gray Rohrer can be reached at grohrer@thefloridacurrent.com.