By Caridad Rusconi, Esq.

With the troubles and financial difficulties currently plaguing condominium and homeownersLaw Firm Works with County to Clarify New Upkeep Ordinance, Ensure it Won't Apply to Condominium Associations associations throughout South Florida, any new and costly regulations affecting an association’s ability to collect delinquencies or imposing new charges would be devastating.

In July, attorneys from our firm analyzed such an ordinance adopted in Miami-Dade County, which would have required associations to pay for maintenance and upkeep for some properties under foreclosure.

The Miami-Dade ordinance, which took effect in early July, essentially requires that those who file a foreclosure action on a vacant residence in unincorporated Miami-Dade must maintain the property and prevent it from becoming an eyesore through the entire course of the foreclosure process until the final sale. The wave of foreclosures and ensuing delays in the process have caused homes to fall into disrepair, and without this new ordinance neighbors and county code enforcement have argued that they have had no legal recourse to force the banks that are filing the foreclosures to maintain the vacant homes.

In light of ambiguities within the text of the ordinance, we inquired with the county’s Office of Neighborhood Compliance (ONC) as to whether the ordinance applied to foreclosures filed by community associations. The initial interpretation that we received from the ONC was that the new ordinance applied to foreclosure actions filed by banks as well as community associations. This would require that the associations pay a $125 registration fee to notify the ONC of the vacant property undergoing foreclosure. The residences would then be regularly inspected by county code enforcement officers, and the associations would be required to act on the county’s findings and maintain the residences to various standards set in the ordinance.

Our attorneys understood the severe implications of the ONC’s interpretation of the ordinance and acted quickly to have it reviewed and hopefully reversed at the highest possible levels. After several calls and conferences with county officials and attorneys, including some county commissioners, we prevailed in obtaining a clarification from the county attorney’s office confirming that the ordinance did not apply to community association foreclosure actions.

This news was welcomed with a great deal of relief and gratitude by our clients. The new ordinance, which was meant to prevent the problem of vacant homes becoming dilapidated and unsightly, would have required community associations to maintain many of the homes whose owners had defaulted on their monthly dues. As a result of our efforts, many community associations may now rest assured that the new ordinance will not impose any additional burdensome requirements affecting their efforts to collect upon unit owner delinquencies. Instead, the burden imposed by the new ordinance will fall on the shoulders of banks and other entities that file foreclosure actions.

It is also important to note that other local municipalities may attempt to enact similar requirements for the maintenance of properties undergoing foreclosure. Community associations and residents should pay close attention to these attempts to adopt property upkeep requirements in foreclosure cases so that they could voice their concerns and work to avoid the applicability of these new regulations to community associations.