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By: Awilda Esteras and Maryvel De Castro Valdes
In addition to the bills pertaining to construction defect litigation that our firm’s Georg Ketelhohn shared his insights on in previous articles in this blog as well as in a recent report in the Daily Business Review, another bill was recently introduced during the current session of the Florida Legislature that also presents significant concerns for community associations.
House Bill 611 (SB 736 in the Senate) aims to make major changes to the process, costs and effects of the estoppel certificates that are prepared by associations. Estoppel certificates are issued by associations, their attorneys or their property managers to provide the amounts owing to an association for a unit as of a particular date. Prospective buyers rely on the estoppel certificates to bind the association to the stated amount until the expiration date of the certificate.
The proposed bill intends to impose a maximum estoppel fee of $100 to $150, as opposed to a “reasonable fee” as the current law allows. Since the preparation of estoppel certificates can be highly detailed and labor intensive for experienced professionals, the newly proposed fee range is inadequate and may lead to increased management and legal fees that are passed on to associations for the preparation of these certificates, which in fairness should only be paid for by the buyers and sellers.
The bill also aims to eliminate the ability of an association and its agents to collect an estoppel fee prior to the closing of the sale of the underlying property by requiring that the estoppel certificate be paid from the proceeds of the sale. In addition, the proposed bill provides for extremely limited recourse for the collection of the fee should the closing never occur. Ultimately, the association may become liable for any fees that go uncollected.
The bill further proposes the reduction in the number of days that associations have to respond to estoppel requests from 15 days down to 10 days. In complex cases such as those that include fines levied against an account in addition to delinquent maintenance dues and/or litigation, the preparation of an estoppel certificate typically exceeds 10 days. According to the proposals found in the bill, associations that are unable or fail to meet the 10-day deadline will have effectively waived any claims for the amounts due that would have been provided in the estoppel certificate. This is an extreme measure that would seriously impact an association’s right to collect unpaid assessments.
Another important concern for associations is that the bill would require all estoppel certificates to be valid for 30 days from their issuance, and it prevents the association and its agents from collecting additional assessments or other costs that accrue within those 30 days. In the case where an estoppel certificate is being requested for a delinquent account in litigation, attorneys would either have to stay the case pending payment or would need to include additional attorney’s fees if there are pending matters to be addressed in the 30-day period from the issuance of the estoppel.
Lastly, the proposed bill would require a waiver language to be included in the estoppel certificate preventing the association from collecting moneys in excess of the amount set forth in the estoppel certificate.
For the professionals who prepare estoppel certificates for community associations on a regular basis, the measures that are being put forth in this bill appear to be drastically onerous. We encourage association directors, members and property managers to contact their state legislators to express their concerns and disapproval with this bill.
Click here to find the contact information for the legislators for your district.