Florida condo board question - help for a non-board owner

[Caroline C.]

• My husband and I own a rental unit in a condo building in Jacksonville, FL. It is currently rented, and we are bullish on the building and plan to keep the unit in our portfolio.

• The problem is the Board. Owners were charged an assessment (several thousand dollars) in 2023 to put into reserves, as per the new rules after the Surfside collapse. Board collected those funds and put them in Operating instead of Reserves. This allows the Board to spend the funds on anything, and if they do, the owners would need to restock the reserves!

• The Board already spends funds on things owners disagree on, such as expensive vendor contracts where a Board member gets a referral fee or is part of the contract.

• So far, Board hasn’t spent the funds from 2023, but they also didn’t move funds back to Reserves after it was pointed out at the annual meeting that the funds are in the wrong place. 

• The building's Property Manager is sympathetic to the owners at large, but says they can’t do anything until instructed by the Board, and they indicated the building’s lawyers would only respond to Board members.

• Is there an ombudsman or some central HOA agency that can help non-Board owners? Any other ideas on how to ensure our funds are protected?