More than 65 owners at a 131-unit condo building in Orlando have taken the unusual step of suing their own homeowners association board, accusing a director who also serves as treasurer of steering association money toward his own company and a friend’s business without ever putting the work out to bid. A judge has already frozen collection of a steep special assessment and ordered an independent audit of the association’s books while the case plays out, according to a summary of the litigation reported by Hoodline and corroborated by FOX 35 Orlando.
The building is the Residences at Villa Medici, a condo complex off Conroy Road, and the case is now sitting in Orange County Circuit Court under the name Sanchez Properties Group LLC v. Residences at Villa Medici Condo Association Inc. What started as frustration over a special assessment of $5,000 to $10,000 per unit has turned into a much bigger fight over how the association’s money has been spent, and who has been spending it.
Trash pickup, a friend’s firm, and one very specific paper trail
According to the court filing described by Hoodline, the HOA’s director and treasurer awarded the community’s trash collection contract to his own company, skipping any competitive bidding process that might have let other vendors compete for the work. Separately, the association is accused of paying more than $500,000 to a maintenance firm run by a friend of the same director, again without soliciting other bids. That is the kind of arrangement condo bylaws typically exist to prevent, since a board member deciding where association dues go, while also being the person collecting on the other end, is close to the textbook definition of a conflict of interest.
Then there is the credit card statement. Owners suing the board say HOA bank records turned up charges at Victoria’s Secret, Burberry and Macy’s, retailers that have nothing to do with landscaping, roof repairs or a trash truck. The director has said some of those retail charges were fraudulent and has refunded them, per the reporting, though the explanation has done little to quiet the owners who are now asking a judge to open the books entirely.
The special assessment itself became a flashpoint before any of that came out. Notice of the meeting where it was approved reportedly was not postmarked the 14 days ahead of time that Florida Statute 718.112 requires for condo association meetings, giving the owners a procedural hook as well as a financial one when they went to court.
A judge steps in while the audit runs
Rather than let the assessment collection and the alleged spending continue while the lawsuit works its way through the system, the judge overseeing the case froze collection of the special assessment and ordered an independent financial audit of the association, according to Hoodline’s account of the ruling. The board has also been ordered to turn over its financial records, and board members reportedly face the possibility of contempt sanctions or removal from their positions depending on what the audit and the rest of the case turn up…