Christine Jordan Sexton
With time running short the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries on Tuesday deferred action on a controversial bill that real estate professionals believe will help expedite the sale of home.
SB 736, sponsored by Sen. Kelli Stargel, addresses estoppel letters, how long they are effective and how much home owner associations and community management companies can charge for them. The changes are supported by the Florida Association of REALTORs and were included in a list of legislative recommendations submitted by the Community Association Living Study Council, a group that meets every five years for six months to discuss multi-residential housing issues.
Estoppel letters are legal document that list information regarding the current owner’s financial obligations to their Homeowner’s Association. The bills were opposed by Community Association Mangers lobbyist Mark Anderson as well as a score of others who traveled to Tallahassee to testify against the measure.
Anderson said the costs of the estoppel are currently picked up by either the REALTORs or the title company when the estoppel letters are ordered, which must be done before closing. The bill would shift the costs of the letters to be paid by the home seller and would appear as one of the myriad closing costs.
Committee Chairman Sen. Rob Bradley was only half joking when he said he had gotten 1,300 emails on the caps “today, alone.”
Bradley had 12 minutes left in his regularly scheduled committee to move the bill but it proved to not be long enough. Seeing the opposition to the measure, Stargel tried to make a motion to vote on the bill two minutes before the meeting was scheduled to end. But Bradley said he had enough time move the bill.
Another motion to vote on the bill at 3:29 was accepted by Bradley. But the Chairman — who had rushed the public who came to testify against the bill — was hearing concerns from committee members who were uncomfortable with the measure.
While the Senate deferred action on the bill, the House Business and Professions Subcommittee approved the measure, though not unanimously. The House bill CS/HB 611, caps the fees that can be charged for estoppel letters or certificates at $300.
