OWE MONEY? YOU MAY NOT BE ALLOWED TO RUN FOR THE BOARD
By Eric Glazer, Esq.
I feel like I handled a thousand annual meetings in the last month, flying from one to the other. When running the meetings, and depending upon whether the association is a condominium or HOA, it is important to know if the person running for the board, or even the winner of the election, is eligible to serve because they owe money to the association.
Let’s start with condominiums first, Florida Statute 718.112 (2)(d) states:
A person who has been suspended or removed by the division under this chapter, or who is delinquent in the payment of any assessment due to the association, is not eligible to be a candidate for board membership and may not be listed on the ballot.
So, in a condominium, the person’s eligibility to run and initially serve on the board is decided when the owner submits their notice to be a candidate, and that is no less than 40 days before the election. If at that time, the owner is delinquent in any assessment their name cannot be printed on the ballot and sent to the unit owners. On the night of the election the association need not worry if anyone is delinquent and cannot serve because their name was already excluded from the ballot.
The law in a Florida HOA is much different. Florida Statute 720.306(9)(b) states:
A person who is delinquent in the payment of any fee, fine, or other monetary obligation to the association on the day that he or she could last nominate himself or herself or be nominated for the board may not seek election to the board, and his or her name shall not be listed on the ballot.
Lots of differences between the two statutes here. In a condominium, you can only be prevented from being placed on the ballot if you owe an assessment. In an HOA, your name can be prevented from being placed on the ballot if you owe any fee, fine or other monetary obligation to the association; a far more restrictive provision in an HOA.
In addition, remember that in most HOAs, nominations are taken from the floor on the night of the election. That is the “day that he or she could last nominate himself or herself or be nominated for the board.” Therefore, on the night of the election, we need to know if any of the proposed nominees owe any fee, fine or other monetary obligation. If so, their name cannot be accepted into nomination. They cannot run.
ONCE A DIRECTOR BECOMES 90 DAYS DELINQUENT
The Condominium Act states:
718.112: Director or officer delinquencies.—A director or officer more than 90 days delinquent in the payment of any monetary obligation due the association shall be deemed to have abandoned the office, creating a vacancy in the office to be filled according to law.
The Homeowners Association Act states:
720.306(9)(b) A person serving as a board member who becomes more than 90 days delinquent in the payment of any fee, fine, or other monetary obligation to the association shall be deemed to have abandoned his or her seat on the board, creating a vacancy on the board to be filled according to law.
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Eric Glazer graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community association law for more than 2 decades and is the owner of Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
In a condominium, it’s much easier than an HOA to run the election with social distancing because the procedures allow for mail-in ballots. The association must still have an in person “annual meeting” but it can be very small, with only a few people showing up while everyone else tunes in to watch live on their computer.
