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The attorneys of Siegfried, Rivera, Lerner, De La Torre & Sobel, P.A. have been called upon regularly throughout the years by the media for our insight on the issues affecting community associations. With the passage of the new condominium association law in Florida, we have had the opportunity to write a guest column on the law’s impact and shortcomings that appeared in the Sept. 27 edition of The Miami Herald’s Business Monday. We have also provided our insight and opinions to journalists with the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Today, ABC News, Investor’s Business Daily, and other major news outlets, and they have quoted our attorneys in their reports.
In the “My View” guest column in The Miami Herald, two of the firm’s partners, Helio De La Torre and Roberto C. Blanch, wrote that the new law “has made it easier for the condominium associations to collect from delinquent owners who are receiving rental income. However, the wording of the law indicates court challenges are likely regarding how the payments will be applied to the account of delinquent owners.”
They further wrote: “While an improvement, the new law falls short on several counts. Rather than creating a greater incentive for lenders to expedite foreclosure cases, it maintains the cap for their payment of delinquent maintenance fees to one year’s assessments or one percent of the mortgage loan, whichever is less rather than whichever is greater. It further fails to clearly describe how rental income is to be applied to a delinquent unit owner’s account, and it does not list the scope of the common elements that may be suspended for delinquent owners.”
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel also turned to Mr. Blanch for its report on Wednesday, Aug. 25, entitled “Renters May Be Forced to Pay for Deadbeat Condo Owners.” The article discussed how condominium associations which are working with our attorneys are now collecting the monthly rental fees directly from the tenants of unit owners who are delinquent in the payment of their association fees.
In the article, Mr. Blanch explained: “This is a huge problem prevalent in most condo and homeowners communities. Often, delinquent owners are investors who bought during the boom, rented out their units and are still collecting rent but not paying their maintenance fees.”
Blanch and other firm lawyers who focus on condominium associations and homeowners associations were also quoted extensively in reports on the new law and other issues affecting Florida community associations by Miami Today, ABC News and Investor’s Business Daily.
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