The last thing a person wants after a long day of traveling is to be evacuated from his hotel room and herded into a basement hallway filled with dated furniture that likely hasn’t seen the light of day in a decade. When traveling to the central states this time of year, however, this scenario is not uncommon.
Continue Reading...(Note: This guest blog is by Andrew Smith, a certified roof inspector with Roof Leak Detection Company, Inc.1)
Hailstorms are one of the most unpredictable natural disasters that occur throughout the country, primarily, but not limited to, the Midwest and Central states. These storms tend to be semi-seasonal, spontaneous, and typically without warning. When a hailstorm strikes, we seek shelter and enjoy at the spectacle being played out before our eyes. The sound of the impacts pound like a beating drum against the roof flinch at the sound of each thud, and after the storm we go outside check out the damage. We see damaged trees, a carpet of hailstones blanket the yard, and numerous small dents on the hood of your car. So you think to yourself: “Why call the insurance company? They would just come out, take a quick look at my car and tell me that the hail wasn’t big enough to cause real damage. It’s nothing that a wash and wax couldn’t fix. Maybe my rates would increase and they might even drop my coverage.” You don’t take any pictures, go back inside and forget all about it.
Continue Reading...For years, the viability of suits brought by policyholders against insurance agents has been up in the air. On March 7, the Florida Supreme Court decided the long awaited Tiara Condominium Association, Inc. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., paving the way for policyholders to recover when they have been damaged by their agent’s negligence.
Continue Reading...According to the Community Associations Institute’s website,1 about 70 million people live in approximately 315,000 community associations throughout the United States. Thus, if you’re about to purchase a new home, the odds are good that you’ll be buying into an association as homeowners associations are not just for condominiums, but also for townhomes and even single family dwellings too.
Continue Reading...The governing documents1 of most, if not all, community interest developments/homeowners associations contain provisions setting forth the rules regarding real property insurance. Typically, an Association is required to obtain and maintain a master policy of fire insurance, naming the Association itself as the insured, for the full insurable value of all of the improvements within the development (the common areas and common structural components of the building including the roofs, exterior walls and exterior plumbing). Individual unit owners are prevented from separately insuring their units or common areas against loss by fire or other casualty covered by the Association’s insurance but may insure their own personal property or improvements they made to their own units.
Continue Reading...At sundown yesterday evening, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, came to an end. As the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people - and with its central themes of atonement, repentance and forgiveness - the holiday gave me cause to think about the tensions that exist between a homeowners association board of directors and its members and how those tensions might be eased with some common sense approaches.
Continue Reading...Piggybacking somewhat off of Glenn Rosen’s post, Is Your Association Manager Practicing Law Without a License, this post addresses whether Florida community association managers should be adjusting insurance claims. I recently encountered a situation where a community association manager’s de facto adjustment of an insurance claim jeopardized the insured’s recovery. Distinct skill sets and separate licensing requirements surround the community association management and public adjusting professions, so it seems to me that the professions should rarely (if ever) be blurred.
Continue Reading...Community Association Managers (“CAM”) are very busy working with their boards of directors caring for the common areas, handling the association’s financial affairs, collecting assessments, and ensuring that the community’s rules and regulations are enforced. Unfortunately, to cut costs, CAMs are frequently asked to prepare forms and provide advice that should properly be dealt with by an attorney. In this regard, both the CAM and boards must exercise caution to avoid having the CAM participate in the unlicensed practice of law.Community Association Managers (“CAM”) are very busy working with their boards of directors caring for the common areas, handling the association’s financial affairs, collecting assessments, and ensuring that the community’s rules and regulations are enforced. Unfortunately, to cut costs, CAMs are frequently asked to prepare forms and provide advice that should properly be dealt with by an attorney. In this regard, both the CAM and boards must exercise caution to avoid having the CAM participate in the unlicensed practice of law.
Continue Reading...For many years, some insurers have argued that Florida policyholders cannot bring statutory “bad faith” actions if the parties participate in the appraisal process. In essence, these insurers argued that there must be a finding of a breach of contract in an underlying action for an extra contractual action to proceed.
Numerous federal judges in Florida have rejected this argument, however until this week there were no Florida state court appellate opinions directly on point.
Continue Reading...In 2005, owners of Ocean Beach Resort Condominium began entering into negotiations with a development company for the sale of their individual units. When Hurricane Wilma struck in October of that year, approximately 45 owners had already agreed to sell. The other 21 owners agreed to sell shortly after the storm occurred. In 2006, the developer took possession of all of the units as well as the association.
Continue Reading...877.449.4700
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