Florida Judge's Writ Of Bodily Attachment Sends Wake-Up Call To Rent Skimming Condo Owners Delinquent On Maintenance Fees - Jail Time Could Await Them

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• Condo investors delinquent on association fees could face jail time for thumbing their noses at court-ordered blanket receiverships. In a new first for distressed condo associations, a Broward circuit court judge last week commanded the sheriff, via a writ of bodily attachment, to physically bring owner Timothy Mohn to court to explain why he should not be found in contempt for failing to fork over rent to a receiver on two units he owns in the Villas de Venezia in Sunrise.

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• [A]ttorneys for Villas de Venezia condo association claim the writ demonstrates [...] the sharp teeth of blanket receiverships and just how serious judges are taking their enforcement. [...] Ben Solomon, a partner with Association Law Group and the attorney for the Villas, said the writ would have represented the first time that "a foreclosure debtor may be put in jail for a foreclosure-related issue.''

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• Judge Lynch's order should be a wake-up call, since judges rarely resort to sending the sheriff out in real estate-related civil cases, he said. "Hopefully, this will send another signal, at least symbolically, to the real estate market that owners and their tenants are going to have to comply with these court orders or face being held in contempt and put in jail,'' Solomon said.(1)

For more, see Sheriff sent to pick up delinquent condo investor (A Broward circuit court judge sent the sheriff out to get a condo investor because he failed to appear in court to explain why he wasn't turning over rent to cover his past due association fees).

(1) According to the story, a writ of bodily attachment is not an arrest in the typical sense, but the sheriff does go to collect the person and forceably take them to court. They are handcuffed and placed in a patrol car, Solomon said. If the judge is unable to see them, the person waits in jail, where they could spend the night.