Posted on 06/05/2024 12:09:23 PM PDT by chickenlips
Florida residents with oppressive and obsessive HOAs, your day of freedom may be at hand.
Homeowner associations (HOAs) were created to maintain standards, uniformity and a sense of community while collecting dues to pay for common areas, services and general neighborhood improvements. But they also tend to attract people with strong opinions about what their neighbors can do.
It seems that everyone who has lived in an HOA has a horror story about petty or arbitrary fines that keep increasing, harassment, inflexible and overly restrictive rules regarding the appearance of homes and lawns, the lack of budget transparency, or just the ongoing grind of living under the watchful eyes of HOA busybodies with tape measures and a lot of free time who care deeply about where you park.
A new bill, signed Friday by Gov, Ron DeSantis, may change all that when it takes effect July 1. Or at least make life a little more manageable.
HB 1203, Homeowners' Association, was just one of several HOA bills introduced in this year's legislative session but it may be the most sweeping one, amounting to essentially a Homeowner's Bill of Rights. Under state law, HOAs will be restricted from some of the most complained-about rules and fines and required to be more transparent. This law comes just after another one forcing HOAs to allow homeowners to harden their homes against hurricanes.
Here's what changed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news-journalonline.com ...
If the restri tions and requirements were not put in the original deed, they can yell all they want.
Our HA tried to vote mandatory membership and that’s when I left.
After many thousands of $$$ in attorney’s fees, they explained that they could only enforce their rules against members who voluntarily joined.
Thus, I quit. So did my neighbor and he was their inspector/enforcer.
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