BackerReport )
A newsletter addressing issues of concern to South Florida Community Associations September 2009
Articles In This Issue
  • Official Records and Delinquency Reports
  • Back Issues of BackerReport Available Online
  • BackerReport is a periodical addressing topics of interest to community associations in South Florida and is provided as a service to the clients and friends of Backer Law Firm, P.A.

    All articles are written by attorneys of Backer Law Firm, P.A. (unless otherwise indicated) and are protected by copyright.

    It is important to note that court decisions discussed in this newsletter are sometimes subject to change as the parties pursue further appeals or other remedies. The articles that discuss court cases in this newsletter are based upon the courts' decisions that are released when the newsletter was written.


    Official Records and Delinquency Reports

    In the current economic climate, many community associations are struggling with delinquent accounts. Clients of Backer Law Firm have been successful in minimizing the effect of the delinquencies by implementing aggressive, consistent collection policies. Even with such prudent policies in place, those property owners who pay timely and who may often be asked to bear the burden of the non-paying owners sometimes want to verify that their community is doing all it can to pursue collection of delinquent accounts. Such owners may sometimes choose to exercise their right to inspect their association's financial records to find out just who among their neighbors are not paying timely. Questions may arise about whether an association may legally provide that information or whether the delinquent owners have a right to keep their delinquency private.

    For condominiums, Section 718.111(12)(a)11 requires that accounting records be kept for each association and those records are a part of the Association's Official Records. Specifically, subparagraph b. of the referenced statute provides that the records must include "A current account and a monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly statement of the account for each unit designating the name of the unit owner, the date due and the amount of each assessment, the amount paid upon the account and the balance due (emphasis added)." For homeowners associations, Section 720.303(4)(j)2 contains similar language.

    Property owners have no right to insist that the accounting records of the Association which contain entries to their accounts and which may reflect delinquencies be kept secret or otherwise be omitted from the Association's official records when a request for inspection is made by another owner or someone on the owner's behalf. If an owner requests to see and copy this particular official record, the Association must provide access to the record and the record may be copied. The Association may not alter the record by removing the owners' names, whether they are delinquent or not.

    Because there are other laws which protect consumers from improper dissemination of such information, I recommend that the Association keep track of requests for these type of records so that it may be confirmed that the Association gave the information only to those legally entitled to have it. If the information is later disseminated by a person who received it properly, the Association will be in a better position to demonstrate that it provided the information only to those who the Condominium Act requires have access.

    There are privacy provisions in the both Condominium Act and the statutes governing homeowners associations, but they apply only to specific categories of information. The following information about unit owners is not to be made accessible to other owners:

    1. Information obtained by an association in connection with the approval of the lease, sale or other transfer of a unit.

    2. Medical records of unit owners. (other community residents' medical records in an HOA)

    3. In a condo, Social security numbers, driver's license numbers, credit card numbers, and other personal identifying information of any person. (this category is not currently in the homeowners association laws).

    If the Association's accounting records contain the information required by Section 718.111(12)(a)11 b or Section 720.303(4)(j)2 and also include some of the information which is required to be kept private, the Association should remove the private information from the accounting record before producing it for inspection and copying to the requesting owner. It is far more prudent to keep the information which must not be made accessible in a place where potential accidental dissemination is minimized. Since the law specifically requires the Association to keep the owners' names in the accounting records and since other sections require owner rosters and other materials containing owner names, it is not likely that the legislature intended condominium unit owners' names to included among the "personal identifying information of any person" which is not to be made accessible to other condo unit owners.

    Since there may be legal consequences for failing to comply with an owners' document request and they may also be legal consequences for revealing private information, your association's legal counsel should be consulted when there is any doubt.

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