Florida Community Association Managers Continuing Education

Florida has the highest number of community associations in the nation. Association fees and assessments must be collected and accounted for according to state laws that govern the amount of reserve funds the association must have to cover operations and deferred maintenance. The board of directors (BOD) is often comprised of individual association members who volunteer part-time and may have little experience in accounting, knowledge of Florida statutes, or ability to identify financial problems. For these reasons, community associations are often the targets of fraud, theft, and embezzlement.

Among their many duties, community association managers in Florida are responsible for “Coordinating maintenance for the residential development and other day-to-day services involved with the operation of a community association. Managing community associations in Florida presents a number of unique challenges in maintaining the property due to the effects of intense heat, humidity, rain, and sun that are prevalent throughout the year. In addition to these damaging elements, coastal properties adjacent to a river, ocean, inlet, gulf, or lake face additional effects from salt water, sand, and erosion.

The community association manager (CAM) has many important responsibilities; the most complex may be managing human resources that include the volunteer BOD members and paid employees. That task is often complicated by the challenging relationships that may develop among the CAM, BODs, owners, tenants, and guests.

The Florida House and Senate convened March through May of 2019 and introduced nineteen new pieces of legislation related to community association management. Many of proposed bills addressed similar topics that have caused confusion and misinterpretation among community association managers (CAMs), residents, and tenants.
The 2019 proposed bills did not become law; they were ultimately postponed and withdrawn from consideration. This course will include a brief synopsis of the bills since many were discussed by CAMs, BODs, and owners as they waited for the legislative session to end.