Transcript : Miami Condo Associations and Special Assessments
Josh Migdal | 00:00:00:01 – 00:00:33:02
I don’t think, you know, your typical inspection within the four walls of the condominium you’re buying will uncover the hidden pitfalls of the structural components. Buying a condo in Florida is different than buying a house. And the people who come down here from the Northeast or from the West or wherever they might be coming now, really need to look into these areas so they don’t end up in litigation with the association or whoever may have made some misrepresentation related to the property they were buying.
Darci Cohen | 00:00:33:17 – 00:01:00:08
Something else I wanted to talk about, though, is something that would be prudent for a lot of people who are making this move to Florida is even if the law does not require that you’re allowed to see certain financial documents of the association as a prospective buyer, etc., if you’re dealing with a building that’s on the up and up and has qualified board members, you should be able to have a conversation to try to request these records.
Darci Cohen | 00:01:00:17 – 00:01:26:07
Ask, “Have there been any studies that have been done on this building? How are the buildings components? When was the last time there was a special assessment of this building? What’s the reserve funding?” You need to make sure that the reserves are well funded. Otherwise you can be subject to a big special assessment down the road, or unfortunately possibly even find yourself in the middle of a lawsuit if you find out after you buy that the building wasn’t well funded or well-run.
Josh Migdal | 00:01:26:07 – 00:01:53:22
What’s interesting is Darci touched on two things. You could file a lawsuit against the association because pursuant to the governing documents, the condominium declaration and bylaws, they’re required to do certain things which which among other things, is to repair and maintain the common elements. So if they’re not doing that and they’re not complying with reserve requirements or the financial documents, you would be able to file suit against the association.
Josh Migdal | 00:01:53:23 – 00:02:25:04
It might be difficult to file suit against the board members because of certain protection. In addition, to the extent you think someone who’s providing services to the association has done something wrong and the association for whatever reason, is in filing suit, you do have the option to do what’s called a derivative lawsuit. In the derivative lawsuit, what you get to do is to step into the shoes of the association and bring claims against third parties who should have done things.
Josh Migdal | 00:02:25:14 – 00:02:58:08
These third parties could be the accountants who were supposed to provide appropriate, audited financials, the property management company who was supposed to steward the governance/ governing of the association, the attorneys who were also supposed to help with the governance… So there are a whole host of options that someone who has been wronged by improper improper management or an investment has gone awry can use. There’s a lot of things you can do to recover for the damage you’ve suffered.
#law #litigation #LawRealigned #condoassociations #financials #specialassessments #recovery