Unpaid Water Bill Leads To Another Shutoff For One S. Fla. Condo; Unpaid HOA Fees Cause Assoc's Cash Shortage; May Need To Start "Reverse F'closures"

In Lake Worth, Florida, WPEC-TV Channel 12 reports:

• Residents of a Lake Worth condo are once again without water. People who live at the Sun Home Condominium say the water went out Monday. Residents fear a repeat of what happened in June when the water was off for a week. Tuesday, the condo's bookkeeper tells us the building is again behind on its utility bills by $1,400.

• With many owners overseas, the bookkeeper says it's hard to raise the money needed. Compounding the problem, sources tell us half the units are in foreclosure and those owners are not paying the maintenance fee which pays the water bill.(1) Condo resident Tenille DeJesus says, "My boyfriend had to go to work without taking a shower. I can't cook really. I can't clean my dishes. My toilet, I can't flush." The condo's bookkeeper says she hopes to get the water back on in a few days.

Source: Condo residents left without water-again.

(1) This condo association may be a prime candidate for the process being referred to in Florida as "reverse foreclosure." See South Florida Sun Sentinel: South Florida homeowner associations get tough collecting delinquent fees.

• Homeowner associations throughout South Florida are becoming more assertive in the fight to maintain property values and their own bottom lines amid one of the worst housing collapses since the Great Depression.

• A new legal strategy and a sweeping condominium reform bill are empowering boards hit hard by budget shortfalls after a deluge of foreclosures in recent years. Associations now are attempting so-called reverse foreclosures, which force lenders to seize homes more quickly than they otherwise would. Banks often delay taking back these troubled properties to avoid having to pay past-due assessments.