E.K. from Broward County, Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
My condo board has fought me in my request to see our condo Official Records. We went to DBPR Arbitration now we are in court waiting for trial. We do not have the correct amount of reserves. Is it a law if we have over $500,000 we need to have an annual audit? We didn’t have a member vote to waive reserves since I am a resident now over 25 years. No other resident has ever asked to see the Official records. It’s been hell for me to get access.
Mister Condo replies:
E.K., I am sorry for the problems you are facing. By law, you should be able to request access to association records. There may be a fee for you to do so and you may need to do so at a designated office or other place and time decided by the association. However, to fully deny you or any other member of the association access to these records is inappropriate at best and illegal at worst. As you mentioned, the courts are now involved and I suspect that this issue will resolve via legal channels. If the suit is settled and you still aren’t satisfied, you may need to take matters into your own hands and seek legal counsel of your own. My guess is that it won’t come to that but you never know. I am not aware of any laws requiring audits of Reserve Funds, regardless of size. However, Boards practicing good business judgment should seek to protect the association’s cash resources. Protecting cash of that amount often involves some type of periodic audit. The cost of the audit far outweighs any doubt that association funds may be missing or unaccounted for, in my opinion. All the best!