New law accommodates service members in communities
It was a good legislative session this year when it comes to condos, HOAs and co-ops if your idea of good is that nothing much at all was passed. All of the bills, that would have had major direct affects on community associations that were filed, died in committees. This was probably a good thing because the content of most of these bills did not look favorable for associations.
One bill that did pass and became effective July 1 was Senate Bill 184 adopting a new Section 83.683, Florida Statute. This bill to accommodate service members which include ‘any person serving as a member of the United States Armed Forces on active duty or state active duty and all members of the Florida National Guard and the United States Reserve Forces.’
Military personnel many times get change of orders and their family must then relocate to a new place quickly. What this new Florida Statute does to accommodate the quick moves required by our armed forces personnel is to say that if a condominium association, homeowners association or cooperative association requires a perspective tenant to complete a rental application before residing in a unit or parcel, the association must complete processing of the rental application submitted by a service member within seven (7) days and must notify the service member within that seven (7) days of approval or denial. If denial, the reason for the denial must be given. Absent a timely denial, the association must allow the unit or parcel owner to lease to the service member.
Most condos, HOAs and co-ops in Florida require a rental application, and most of their governing documents give the associations 20 to 30 days to process the applications once the applications have been fully completed and all information requested by the prospective tenants have been provided.
Because military personnel have to move many times on a moment’s notice, it could be very expensive for the service members to have to relocate to a temporary place such as a hotel or motel while waiting for association approval. This expensive inconvenience to our dedicated men and women in uniform should not have to happen now in Florida under the new law.
As background checks can be done quickly now electronically, seven days should usually be sufficient to weed out any military persons with questionable backgrounds sufficient to legally support grounds for denial.
Remember, although you cannot discriminate based on race, religion, sex or color, you still can discriminate against bad actors and keep bad characters out of your community. This includes keeping out persons convicted of a felony involving violence to persons or property, a felony involving possession or sale of a controlled substance, or a felony demonstrating dishonesty or moral turpitude. Also, possible reasons for denial include a history of financial irresponsibility such as prior bankruptcies, foreclosures or bad debts, a history of disruptive behavior or evidences an attitude of disregard for association rules or the rights of others by past conduct.
It is not very often when an association runs into a prospective tenant that should be denied, but when a background check does come back with a lot of red flags, associations must review the facts closely and should consult with legal counsel before deciding to deny.
With the sacrifices made by our servicemen and women and their families, it is great to see that our Legislature has found another way to accommodate their upended way of life by providing for prompt review and approval of the vast majority of their rental applications so there is no unnecessary delay in the relocation as they carry out their duty to country.
