Owners Assoc President is also Management Company President

[dok]

I just received my billing for a unit that I have at Mizner Place and my billing for a unit that I have at Vacation Village at Parkway.

The maintenance fees are up again, above the rate of inflation - nothing new there.

I looked back at me records and noted that maintenance fees were not increased much in the early part of the decade, but have gone up substantially since in the last several years.

I thought that I would write a letter to the Board of Directors of the Owners Association of Mizner Place, indicating my displeasure with the current increases.

I searched for the contact information, as nothing is provided by the Management Company.

I eventually ended up at this web page http://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/Co...place&listNameOrder=MIZNERPLACE A950000007590

which is the State of Forida Division of Corporations.

On this page you will note that the President of the OA is Janice Feirstein.

The Vice Pres is Rebecca Foster and the VP Treasurer is Marc Landau.

I must have been having a slow day, as I then searched those names for other affliiations.

You do that by going to the main search page, https://dos.myflorida.com/sunbiz/search/ and seaching by Officer/Registered Agent.

There you will see that Janice is the President of Daily Management, Inc. and Rebecca is a Director of Daily Mangement Inc.

What you will also see is that Janice is a Director of ARDA/ROC, and if you go to their website, you will note that Janice is a Director representing Daily Management Inc.

Janice is also a Director on six other Owner Associations, one of which is the previously mentioned Vacation Village at Parkway

Rebecca Foster is an amazing person with obviously not much spare time, as you will see when searching her information that she has six pages of Corporate listings, most of which appear to be Resorts.

Marc Landau only has three pages of Corporate listings.

What it is important to note is that these three people are the only officers noted for the following resorts -

VACATION VILLAGE AT WESTON OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
MIZNER PLACE AT WESTON TOWN CENTER OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
SURFSIDER OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
VACATION VILLAGE AT BONAVENTURE OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
VACATION VILLAGE AT BONAVENTURE MASTER OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
VACATION VILLAGE AT PARKWAY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC



To me this is a clear conflict of interest.

I know that management can easily take over an Owners Association by using the proxy votes, but to blatantly name yourself as the senior officers of the Association I have not heard of previously.

I am sure that there is something wrong with this situation.

Is there something in Florida statute that prohibits this from happening?

I know nothing about class action law, but it would seem to me that this is a situation where Owners Associations have been taken over by the Management company, which profits from collecting fees and dues from the Association members, and controls the flow of information that the Owners receive.

Somebody please tell me that my thinking is all wrong, as right now I am not favouable inclined towards my holdings in Florida.

 

[vacationtime1]

I agree that it is an egregious conflict of interest. The problem is that there is no good remedy.

If you and other owners were to bring a class action, you would in effect be suing yourselves. You would be paying both groups of lawyers. And if you "won", the HOA would be in chaos, adversely affecting your ownership interests.

My conclusion is that if you cannot hold your nose and put up with it (i.e. if the MF's don't get too high and ownership remains beneficial to you), your only remedy is to sell. ymmv

 

[Talent312]

These are obviously "captive" resorts where management, by virtue of a perpetual management contract and/or retention of unsold inventory, controls the boards. Unfortunately, no law (that I know of) precludes managers from running HOA's.

Look at any hotel-based system. At HGVC, for example, executive officers sit on multiple boards, or in the audience as "advisors." They prolly just don't want to be bothered with the nuisance of day-to-day operations.

Exploria runs Gatlinburg Town Square as part of it's little fiefdom. A few years ago, rebels on the board staged a coup and tried to terminate Exploria. They told employees that they now worked for the board. Exploria sued, citing a self-renewing contract and won. Everyone's legal fees were paid by the HOA. The rebels were replaced.

..."Young fool. Only now, at the end, do you understand. Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the dark side. You have paid the price for your lack of vision. -- Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars.
.

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Somebody please tell me that my thinking is all wrong, as right now I am not favouable inclined towards my holdings in Florida.

Your thinking is correct, it stinks. The conflicts of interest are blatant and this example of crappy timeshare governance at Mizner Place is a feature of the industry and is the very reason I never bought there.

 

[pedro47]

Do you smell a rat in this setup?

 

[Maple_Leaf]

Do you smell a rat in this setup?

Only the usual nest of rats associated with a timeshare developer. You know them, the sales weasels, management lackeys and developer henchmen in control of the HOA.