Real Reform Needed In Wake of Champlain Towers.

Here's my letter to the Bar concerning the release of the task force report on the Champlain Towers collapse: I note the tremendous amount of work that went into the suggestions made by the task force on responding to the terrible yet foreseeable tragedy in Surfside. Now in my fifth decade of community association law practice, I have a little more insight than many peers. I have some modest proposals, probably none of which would ever be agreed to by the “stakeholders.”

?Make official records readily available. With a 10 day period to provide access, many buyers currently have no time to get a copy of financials budgets, reserves, etc. For the most part, I represent associations, but when I’ve represented individuals the process is slow and cumbersome. When I ask for access to official records, I often feel like I am being led to the entrance of the warehouse where the Ark Of The Covenant was stored and am told, "Here ya go!" ALL official records should be online and available by all owners via password at no charge immediately, all the time. The current due diligence process is ridiculously opaque. Smaller associations might be accounted for, but this is not high level programming.

?Stop making delinquent owners a protected class of people. Why did the legislature, in its infinite wisdom put yet another roadblock in front of associations trying to collect delinquent assessments effective July1, with the 30 day/First Class letter requirement??Owners who pay bear the cost of those, and the affidavits and I’m not sure the costs can be recovered. Ironic, no? It’s assessments that pay the bills. Make it harder and more expensive to collect and less will be collected. The legislature has been hostile to associations for years, adding time frames that no for profit business is subject to. Two 45 day notices, and other roadblocks like "Qualifying Offers." In balance, this hurts owners who timely pay and rewards delinquents. What exactly is the common good of all that?

As an aside it’s all well and good that a new law effective July 2021 says that an owner’s address can’t be changed without their consent. How about making a rebuttable presumption of what an owner's address is? For example state that it is the one used by the Property Appraiser, or the face of the recorded deed? No current guidance exists on that issue. Legislators?

?Revoke sovereign immunity for the negligence of building departments for issuing Certificates of Occupancy on buildings that might be riddled with construction defects from day one. The case which revoked liability for building departments was riddled with inconsistencies and lets cities and counties off with a free pass for their negligence. Consumers should feel confident that the largest investment of their lives, for the vast majority f them, at a minimum, has been properly inspected, not just with a drive by and check off. No offense to hard working, diligent inspectors, but how about revoking liability for legal or medical malpractice? We pay taxes too!

?Finally, how about prevailing party legal fees for construction defects? This would be highly controversial but in the US it seems that major reforms come through litigation, not legislation. Ford Pintos didn’t stop exploding until a lawsuit forced a change in design Ford knew about. I think it cost $20 a car to prevent it.

?This is where we stand.