The Florida Condominium Act authorizes
condominium associations to enter into
contracts for community antenna systems or
cable television services. The statute
provides that the cost of the service is to
be a common expense allocated on a per-unit
basis rather than on a percentage basis as
are other common expenses of condominiums.
In those instances where the contracts were
entered into prior to July 1, 1998 (the
effective date of the statute), if the
contracts did not provide for an equal
division of the charges among all of the unit
owners, the unit owners may change the
allocation by a vote of the majority of the
voting interests present at a regular or
special meeting of the association.
A little known and rarely used section of the
Condominium Act requires that television
service contracts contains language that
allows hearing impaired or legally blind
owners to be relieved from paying the common
expense attributable to the television
service. If a hearing-impaired or legally
blind unit owner who does not occupy the unit
with a non-hearing impaired or sighted person
desires to avoid the television expense, the
owner may discontinue the service without
incurring any disconnect fees, penalties or
service charges.
In order for a unit owner to avoid the cable
charges, he must demonstrate that he is
legally blind or hearing impaired as defined
by the Florida Administrative Code.
According to Section 61B-23.0051, "legally
blind" means a person having central visual
acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye
with corrective glasses or otherwise
with a disqualifying field defect as
described more specifically in the Code.
"Hearing Impaired" means an individual who
has suffered permanent hearing impairment and
is not able to discriminate speech sounds in
verbal communication with or without the
assistance of amplification devices or an
individual who has suffered permanent hearing
impairment which is severe enough to
necessitate the use of amplification devices
to discriminate speech sounds and verbal
communication.
According to the Florida Administrative Code,
a legally blind or hearing impaired unit
owner seeking to discontinue cable television
service under the provisions of the
Condominium Act is required to provide proof
to the Association's Board of Directors of
his visual or hearing impairment. The
Association is required to accept as proof of
the impairment a statement attesting to such
impairment from a licensed physician,
audiologist, or speech pathologist, a State
certified teacher of the visually impaired or
the hearing impaired or an appropriate State
or Federal agency. While the statute does
not limit the ability of the Association to
accept only those forms of evidence as proof
of the impairment, a prudent Board would
require at least one of those items to assure
that the individuals seeking the exception
from the cable television service charges is,
in fact, entitled to the exemption. Since
the other unit owners may have to pay an
increased charge to cover those who are not
paying, the Board of Directors will want to
make sure that only those who are actually
entitled to an exemption are relieved from
the obligation.
