Residents of a Florida homeowners association forced the entire board to resign after they voted to make each townhouse owner pay an additional $60,000 in special assessments.
The HOA sent a letter to residents of Carillon Villas in Feather Sound informing them they need to come up with $60,000 to cover all state-mandated maintenance costs.
“There will be a lot of people losing their homes…”
Florida has increased funding requirements to ensure apartment complexes have enough money to pay for proper maintenance following the tragic collapse of Surfside’s Champlain Tower in 2021.
But there is debate about whether those requirements apply to the Villas of Carillon and whether the HOA board needed to make such extensive demands on the 165 townhome owners.
“There’s a difference between being 100 percent funded and having 100 percent of your reserve requirements for the next fiscal year,” said Patricia Stabler, a Sarasota-based certified reserve professional. To WTSP-TV.
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and in my entire career as a reserve professional, I’ve never seen an organization that is 100 percent funded,” she added.
Her interpretation of the law was that the HOA did not have to require owners to pay 100% of the funds up front.
“Nobody should be 100% funded. That would be excessive. And, again, that’s not the intent of the law,” Stabler explained.
Adding to the confusion, the new rules only apply to buildings with three or more storeys and may not apply to the Villas of Carillon townhouses, which only have two storeys.
On Thursday, more than 100 owners gathered in the Hilton’s ballroom to force the HOA to postpone the assessment vote, citing a technicality in the rules.
That evening they received an email informing them that the entire HOA board had resigned.
Some owners say they may have had to sell their homes if the assessment had passed.
“There will be a lot of people who will have to sell their homes or can’t make their payments and will lose their homes. They will have their homes foreclosed and will be foreclosed. I’m worried about the whole community.” Said Tammy Rodefer, owner of WTSP.
Feather Sound is a census-designated area in Pinellas County with a population of approximately 3,600.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this directly to your inbox. Register here!
