By Jeffrey A. Rembaum, Esq. / Published March 2024 Pursuant to their relevant statutory provisions, election disputes that take place in condominium, homeowners’, and cooperative associations are subject to mandatory nonbinding arbitration before the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes (the “Division,” for short). It is referred to as “nonbinding” because the arbitrator’s order is not final until 30 days after its issuance, which provides time for either party in the dispute to challenge the decision to their local circuit court, which hears the case de novo (anew). As you will read, not every election dispute will be heard by the Division. As a threshold matter of importance, the Division will not hear election disputes within 60 days prior to an election or 60 days after the election has taken place. In order to bring an election challenge, Florida Statutes require prior written notice to the other party

The daily and long-term procurement process can be complex for an association and its leadership. Requirements to purchase goods and services from dozens of categories with each their own set of vendors can be challenging to say the least — a single property can have over 200 unique vendors they purchase and contract with on an annual basis. Taking a strategic perspective along with consolidating a vendor network creates an opportunity to manage costs effectively and foster stronger vendor relationships for an enhanced quality of service. KWPMC recognizes the importance of providing additional value for our clients. The Value and Procurement team’s efforts will focus on leveraging technology and scale to allow for benchmarking within the vendor landscape and to develop a key partner ecosystem for KWPMC clients. Industry Benchmarks Understanding “should-be” or “competitive” market rates is essential when beginning the sourcing process. Leveraging KWPMC’s scope and reach provides a

Yet many signs of caution, further action needed Demotech issues a strong report card for its Florida property insurance companies, another carrier enters the marketplace, the reality check that we’re not out of the woods yet, plus the NAIC calls for states to collect more granular data to find property insurance affordability and availability gaps. It’s all in this week’s Property Insurance News. A Financially-Stable Market: Demotech, the financial ratings and analytics firm that reviews the financial stability of many of Florida’s domestic property insurance companies is out with almost all of its mid-year reviews. Its July 28 website update as of July 28 lists Financial Stability Ratings of “A” or higher with just a few firms reportedly awaiting review. Market Expansion: The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) made news this past week by announcing that it had authorized a second property insurance company this year to begin writing

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTED BY: LISA MILLER, CEO OF LISA MILLER & ASSOCIATES Q: Why are Florida’s property insurance rates the highest in the nation? A: Three reasons: weather, litigation, and reinsurance. Florida is a peninsula that sticks out into the warmest ocean and gulf currents in the nation. It has 1,300 miles of coastline with nearly 75% of Florida’s 22.5 million residents living within 15 miles of a coast. We are a hurricane magnet. Insurance rates are priced to that risk and we can’t do anything about the weather. On litigation, the Florida Legislature did its best this year to provide long term consumer rate relief with House Bill 837, the historic tort reform bill. Florida has 7% of the nation’s homeowner’s insurance claims yet 76% of the nation’s homeowner’s insurance lawsuits. Those lawsuits have been driving rate increases. That leaves reinsurance, which is simply “insurance for insurance companies” to help