Give the Condo His Due

Condo associations can collect the full assessments that are due them from absentee owners and units facing foreclosure. It is true. This is happening.

Some Florida courts understand the Condo Crisis and are giving Receivers the authority to collect rents directly from tenants, before the money has a chance to reach the owners, and then using it to pay the condo assessments FIRST, before the unit owner has a chance to get his hands on it.

This is an extraordinary solution prompted by extraordinary times. Florida’s condo statutes were not written to give Associations the power to enforce payment of assessments even in the face of an overwhelming number of foreclosures and the pressures felt by investor-owners struggling to stay out of foreclosure.

Receivers, court-appointed for no other purpose than to collect rents from tenants, can step in. Once the money is in their hands, Associations get paid first; well, almost first. The Receiver takes his fees off of the top, then pays the Association second. If money is left over after these dues are paid, the unit-owner gets it.

The plan is working, bringing financial health back to condo associations and stabilizing property values.