On June 7, Governor Scott signed House Bill 87 commonly referred to as the “Foreclosure Bill” or “HB 87” into law. As a result, so long as none of the defendants in the case raise a defense to the lender’s foreclosure, any of the parties can move the court for an “order to show cause for entry of final judgment of foreclosure.” This step obviates the need for further hearings such as the motion for summary judgment and orders the clerk to set a sale date. If all goes according to plan, these new laws will be of great benefit to condominium, homeowners’, cooperative, and commercial associations as they will shave months and months from the otherwise languishing foreclosure process. However, when property is erroneously foreclosed, there is little hope for the homeowner to set aside the foreclosure and regain title to their property. At best, the homeowner in that situation can recover monetary damages but not their home. YOUCH! HB 87 became effective on the day Governor Scott signed it into law, June 7, 2013.
Not often mentioned in the news is Senate Bill 342 (“SB 342”). It was signed into law by Governor Scott on May 30, and provides that homesteaded property can be rented for as long as 30 days per calendar year without being in danger of losing a previously filed homestead exemption on the property. If the homesteaded property is rented for more than 30 days, then the owner is in great danger of losing their homestead exemption. SB 342 becomes law on July 1.
If you have been thinking about installing a solar pool heater or other renewable energy source device, there is new benefit thanks to House Bill 277 (“HB 277”) which the Governor also signed on May 30. HB 277 acts to ensure that the appraised property tax value of your property cannot increase due to the installation of such equipment.
Have you heard about House Bill 999 (“HB 999”)? Boat owners and marina developer- operators surely have! This legislation provides great incentive for the latter group to lease state submerged lands at a lease rate to be deemed fair by the Board of Governors, which fully waives the need for competitive bid. The legislation also provides a 30% discount to the lessee/marina owner-operator if they advertise their boat slip availability to the general public reciting in the ad, “first come, first serve.”
The general public could really benefit from the legislation by way of many more affordable and leasable boat slips. But, there is a catch. For the marina owner to qualify for the 30% discount off the State’s annual sovereign land lease rate, the marina owner, leasing the marina’s land from the State, can only offer boat slip leases to the general public with a maximum term of 12 months. Also, the lease between the marina owner and the boat owner must not include any auto renewal terms. This means that boat slip lessees must remember to sign a new lease each year. This requirement will help ensure the boat slips remain in active use.
HB 999 also provides residential homeowners whose land borders “sovereign lands” what amounts to a no fee “use right” to build a maximum of four boat slips behind their single family home. In addition, owners in a multi-family development that has “multi-family docks” are not required to pay lease fees for a “preempted area” equal to or less than 10 times the shoreline times the number of units with docks in the multifamily development. This one almost sounds too good to be true, we’ll see…
Meanwhile, expansive community association House Bill 73 is just waiting to be presented to the Governor. Upon becoming law, it will provide that, amongst many other changes, homeowner association board members must complete certification requirements similar to what is already in effect for condominium association board members and provides association owners the right to use their own electronic portable devices to make copies of the association’s official records. Senate Bill 120, also waiting to be presented to the Governor, will create a new type of condominium regime for “condos in a condo” through creation of some new concepts including “primary condominiums” and “secondary condominiums,” along with the requisite primary and secondary condominium associations necessary to operate them.