Gosh I hope this bill passes. I've already written to my legislators about it. Among other things, the bill would limit terms of board members and ban associations from filing liens and foreclosures for amounts under $2500. But after reading this Sun Sentinel article about it, I think it'll be a tough battle:
Representing boards again this year is the Community Association Leadership Lobby, or CALL, an arm of the Fort Lauderdale-based Becker & Poliakoff law firm.
On the other side is Cyber Citizens for Justice, or CCFJ, a grassroots organization for unit owners.
Generally, I think professional lobby groups with dedicted lawyers tend to fare better in the legislative arena than grassroots organizations. But since that newspaper article was written, an identical bill was introduced in the state senate. Maybe there is hope.
It would be a bit tougher to manage a hoa without being able to sue people for assessments (our community assessment is less than $265 a year, so it would take nine years of delinquency before the hoa could collect). However, most people pay their assessments because most people recognize the services they get in return (e.g., common area maintenance). And when boards must mind their pennies, they are less likely to embark on expensive legal actions against homeowners for trivial reasons--and attorneys have much less to gain by encouraging them.
Homeowners associations with less power to make people miserable? Sounds good to me.
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