Live in a home governed by a condominium, co-op or homeowner’s association? Have questions about what they can and cannot do? Ryan Poliakoff, an attorney and author based in Boca Raton, has answers. 

Question: I am from Chicago where the warning systems are vast and always working for tornados and other dangerous weather conditions.

Our large HOA community has three pools, tennis courts, and 793 homes.  We received a notice that our HOA management company has taken the warning systems here out of service. This is concerning with an aging population and severe weather in Florida.

Is it a state, county or community decision whether or not to have a warning system? I called the local fire department to try to get a legal ruling but there were not aware. Signed, S.R.

Dear S.R.,

As far as I’m aware, neither the state of Florida nor Palm Beach County have a siren or speaker-based severe weather warning system. You didn’t share the letter from your management company, so I don’t know exactly what was taken offline — but whatever it was, it wasn’t something official that was linked to the state or county.

Your county, like many others, has an emergency notification system that allows people to get notifications via phone, text and email. I get these from my own city, and this is the only severe weather warning system that I have ever seen.

Perhaps your community had installed loudspeakers so that management could broadcast a warning in the event there was severe weather in the area, but unless they are monitoring the weather 24/7 that would seem ineffective and might give residents a false sense of security.

I think they probably recognized this and, while at one point it was thought the warning system was useful, the board likely considered all the factors, decided it wouldn’t be used, and took it out of service (if no one is going to trigger the warning, there’s no real purpose to having the warning system hardware). With that said, a different board could certainly put it back into operation and decide how to monitor the weather and trigger the warnings.

Can I make them send me a copy of the condo’s financial statement?

Question: I live in an over-55 condominium. I requested that a copy of the most recent audited financial statement be faxed to me. I received a voicemail saying “you can come to the office and view the document, but you can’t have a copy.” Is that legal?  Signed, R.K.

Dear R.K.,

The Condominium Act, at Section 718.111, Fla. Stat., provides that within 21 days after the completion of the annual financial report, but not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year (or whatever different date is provided in the bylaws), a condominium association must either mail or hand deliver a copy of the financial report to every owner, or instead send every owner a notice that such report will be either mailed or hand delivered to them within five days of a written request.

The statute does not say that such written request must be made within a particular time period. So, and assuming they sent the notice rather than sending the financials themselves, I do think you have a right to make a written request that a copy of the most recent report be mailed or hand-delivered to you.

If they fail to do so, you can notify the Division of Condominiums, and if the association in fact failed to respond, the Division will order them to do so — and may fine them as well.  In addition, if they fail to comply with the Division’s request, they are prevented from voting to use a lower standard of review than is otherwise required by the statute for two years.

I’m paying what for cable in my condo?

Question: I live in a community with condo apartments and houses for people over the age of 55.  We have a $400,000 per year contract with Hotwire that doesn’t make sense to me.  It’s 40% of the total budget. My quarterly fees are $2,000 which means I’m paying $800 a quarter for cable.

The houses just pay $900 a quarter for their entire HOA fees, which includes free basic cable plus HBO.  Are communities required to have cable contracts? Is it normal that only condo owners would have to pay for cable? Any information would be appreciated.  Signed, D.G.

Dear D.G.,

While there is no state law requiring community associations to enter into bulk cable contracts, the Condominium and HOA Acts permit boards to elect to do so.

From your question, my best guess is that your condominium has a separate association from the houses, and that it is your condominium association that has the Hotwire contract; and the board for the association that manages the houses has simply entered into a different arrangement with another company, providing fewer services for less money.

Ryan Poliakoff, a partner at Poliakoff Backer, LLP, is a Board Certified specialist in condominium and planned development law. This column is dedicated to the memory of Gary Poliakoff. Ryan Poliakoff and Gary Poliakoff are co-authors of “New Neighborhoods — The Consumer’s Guide to Condominium, Co-Op and HOA Living.” Email your questions to condocolumn@gmail.com. Please be sure to include your location.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: HOA expert weighs in on condo cable bill, weather warning system