2. The Division
The Department of Business and Professional Regulations, Division of
Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes, (“Division”) is
charged among other things with the responsibility of ensuring that
condominiums, cooperative, timeshares and mobile home parks
comply with the requirements of the Chapters, 326, 718, 719, 721, and
723 and their associated administrative rules.
With respect to condominium complaints, the Bureau of Compliance,
(“Bureau”) within the Division, handles complaints alleging violations
of the Condominium Act and the administrative rules related to
residential condominiums.
The Bureau’s goal in resolving complaints is to provide education to
board members and unit owners.
The Bureau will attempt to resolve complaints against developers and
associations as provided in the Division’s enforcement resolution
guidelines, (61B-20 and 61B-21), which are based primarily on the
harm caused by the alleged violation, and the association's
compliance history.
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3. What is an accepted complaint?
61B-21.001(1)(a) defines an accepted
complaint as follows:
• (a) “Accepted complaint” means a
complaint received by the division
containing sufficient documentation and
addressing a subject within the
jurisdiction of the division, pursuant to
Section 718.501(1), F.S.
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4. Accepted Complaint continued…
The complaint must:
Allege a violation of Chapter 718, F.S., or the Division’s rules;
Contain a plain statement of specific facts upon which the
complainant bases the allegation that a violation of Chapter
718, F.S. or a rule occurred. A complaint that merely recites the
statutes or is based on mere suspicion or speculation, without
a plain statement of facts clearly describing what is alleged to
have occurred, will not be accepted;
Contain sufficient evidentiary documentation. For example, a
complaint alleging access to records must contain the request
to access the association records; and
It must be an issue that the Division has jurisdiction over.
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5. Accepted Complaint continued…
A complaint that fails to meet these criteria will
be returned to the complainant with an
explanation as to why it was not accepted
with suggestions as to how the complaint
may be made acceptable, and resubmitted.
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6. What is the Division’s Jurisdiction?
Prior to turnover of control of the condominium
association from the developer to the unit owners, the
Division has jurisdiction to enforce compliance with
Chapter 718 and the associated administrative rules.
After turnover of control of the condominium association,
the Division’s jurisdiction in a condominium association is
limited to the following issues:
• Financial;
• Election;
• Access to Records.
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7. Financial Issues
A financial issue means an allegation that
involves the maintenance or accuracy of
accounting records; assessments,
including the process by which
assessments are imposed; budgets,
including the budget preparation and
adoption process; reserves including the
amounts and the use of such reserves
for their proper purpose; financial
reporting; and use of association funds.
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8. Financial Issues continued…
Specifically, financial issues would be as follows:
• Failure to maintain accounting records;
• Assessment percentages or insufficient
budget;
• Developer assessment guarantees;
• Financial reporting;
• Budget preparation and adoption;
• Reserve funding and use of reserves for
other purposes;
• Transfer fees;
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9. Financial Issues continued…
• Bids;
• Transfer audits;
• Converter reserves;
• Escrow of purchaser deposits;
• Board member compensation;
• Using association funds for non common
expenses;
• Using special assessment funds for purposes
other than intended;
• Insurance proceeds and related expenses.
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10. Election Issues
Election issues include but are not limited to
the following:
• Notice of the election;
• Ballots, envelopes, certification forms;
• Candidate eligibility;
• The election.
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11. Access to Records
Access to records issues include but are not
limited to the following:
• Unit owner denial of access to records;
• Records that are open for inspection and
records that are not open for inspection;
• Maintenance of records.
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15. Filling Out the Complaint Form
Enter your name, mailing address, telephone number(s) and e-mail
address.
Indicate whether your complaint is against the developer or against
your association. Enter the name of that party, followed by the
name of the developer’s principal officer or the association’s
president, as applicable, followed by that party’s address and
telephone number, if known.
State whether you have notified the party against whom the
complaint is filed. If so, state how you provided such notification.
Identify the date that the declaration of condominium was recorded
in the public records, if known. In the case of a cooperative, identify
the date the association was incorporated. Insert “unknown” if you
do not know this date.
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16. Complaint Form continued…
Check in the appropriate space whether turnover of control has
occurred, (i.e., whether the developer has turned over control of the
association to the non-developer unit owners).
If you have retained an attorney regarding this complaint, please
indicate whether it is permissible for the Division to contact your
attorney. If so, please provide the attorney’s name, address, and
telephone number.
If you and/or your attorney have filed a lawsuit pertaining to the
issue(s) in this complaint, please indicate and attach copies of the
court complaint and any other pertinent documents (e.g., pleadings,
orders, et cetera). Additionally, please indicate whether a petition
for a Declaratory Statement and/or Mandatory Non-binding
Arbitration has been filed with the Division regarding your
allegations.
Please include a short and plain statement of each issue you wish
the Division to review.
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17. Where to file?
Division of Florida Condominiums,
Timeshares and Mobile Homes
Bureau of Compliance
1940 N. Monroe Street,
Tallahassee, Fl 32399-1031
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18. Compliance Offices
The Bureau of Compliance has offices in:
Tallahassee
Orlando
Tampa
Ft. Lauderdale/Miami.
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19. Once the Complaint is received by the
Division
Cases are normally assigned to the investigators within 3
days of the receipt.
The investigator will contact the complainant to discuss
the issues in the complaint. This will be to determine
whether the complaint is within our jurisdiction and if
additional information is needed.
This will be followed up with a letter to the complainant
acknowledging the complaint.
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20. Initial Contact with Complainant
Before taking action on a complaint, the investigator obtains
information and documentation sufficient to constitute a reasonable
basis for concluding that a violation has occurred.
• For example, a complainant who merely states that, "The Division
needs to review our books because these guys are crooked" has
not stated a reasonable basis for concluding that a violation has
occurred.
• On the other hand, if the complainant states, "I have looked at my
association's records and the reserve account ledger balances don't
match what is in the reserve bank account" they have provided a
reasonable basis for concluding that a violation may have occurred.
• If a complainant cannot or refuses to provide sufficient evidence to
provide a reasonable basis, the case may be closed due to a lack of
documentation.
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21. Initial Contact with Complainant
continued…
In some cases the Bureau would accept a complaint without any
evidence while in others evidence would be required.
• Specifically, if the complaint is that a unit owner didn’t get the year-
end financial report or a notice of it’s availability, there is no
evidence that the complainant can provide in this type of complaint,
so we would investigate the issue.
• In a case were the complaint is that the board used reserves for
other than their intended purpose, the investigator would ask the
complainant how they know this. If they say, “I was out at the pool
talking to Joe and he told me”, this is not sufficient evidence. At this
point, the investigator would indicate that either Joe needs to file the
complaint or that the complainant would need to provide some form
of evidence to indicate a possible violation. (May be a set of
financial statements, ledgers, or bank statements.)
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22. Identifying Allegations & Determining
Jurisdiction
Each complaint will be analyzed to determine the
following:
Who is the complaint filed against;
The allegations; and
Whether the case should be handled by a
financial investigator.
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23. Identifying Allegations & Determining
Jurisdiction continued…
Complainants alleging that crimes have been committed
will be informed that the Division does not conduct
criminal investigations and that they should consider
presenting their evidence to their local law enforcement
agency or local State’s Attorney Office.
If evidence of criminal activity becomes apparent during
an investigation, the matter may be referred to the
appropriate law enforcement agency.
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24. Non-Jurisdiction Complaints
If the association is a master association,
possible Ch. 720, or is a hotel-condominium, the
Division may not have jurisdiction.
The Division does not have jurisdiction over
CAM’s, contractors or CPA’s. However, the
Bureau of Investigative Services within the
Department does have jurisdiction over these
individuals and may be able to assist the
complainants in these instances.
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25. Resolution of Complaints
The Bureau’s goal in resolving complaints is to provide
education to board members and unit owners to ensure
compliance with the Condominium Act and the associated
administrative rules.
The Bureau will attempt to resolve complaints against
developers and associations as provided in the Division’s
enforcement resolution guidelines, (61B-20 and 61B-21), which
are based primarily on the harm caused by the alleged
violation, and the association's compliance history.
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26. Customer Contact Center
For additional information concerning the
Condominium or Cooperative Acts and to
request copies of educational materials available
to condominium and cooperative unit owners you
may contact the Department’s Customer Contact
Center at Center at 1-800-226-9101 (Florida
Only) or 850-488-1122.
You may also e-mail the Department at
call.center@dbpr.state.fl.us
Statutes and other information concerning the
division are available on the World Wide Web at
www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/lsc/index.html
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