Sugarhill

Concerned Homeowners Group
Working to make Sugarhill as sweet as it can be.

The BAD Contract Created with Signature Property Management

Comments and Themes have been directly inspired
from the overwhelming results of our first Survey
from a majority of Sugarhill homeowners.

Covert Behavior Unbecoming to Sugarhill

It was created without consensus.

It may have been illegal.
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Were These Statutes Violated?

2018 Florida Statutes
Title XL Real And Personal Property
Chapter 720 Homeowners’ Associations

720.303
(2) BOARD MEETINGS.—

(a) Members of the board of administration may use e-mail as a means of communication but may not cast a vote on an association matter via e-mail. A meeting of the board of directors of an association occurs whenever a quorum of the board gathers to conduct association business. Meetings of the board must be open to all members , except for meetings between the board and its attorney with respect to proposed or pending litigation where the contents of the discussion would otherwise be governed by the attorney-client privilege. A meeting of the board must be held at a location that is accessible to a physically handicapped person if requested by a physically handicapped person who has a right to attend the meeting. The provisions of this subsection shall also apply to the meetings of any committee or other similar body when a final decision will be made regarding the expenditure of association funds and to meetings of any body vested with the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions with respect to a specific parcel of residential property owned by a member of the community.

(b) Members have the right to attend all meetings of the board . The right to attend such meetings includes the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated items. The association may adopt written reasonable rules expanding the right of members to speak and governing the frequency, duration, and other manner of member statements, which rules must be consistent with this paragraph and may include a sign-up sheet for members wishing to speak. Notwithstanding any other law, meetings between the board or a committee and the association’s attorney to discuss proposed or pending litigation or meetings of the board held for the purpose of discussing personnel matters are not required to be open to the members other than directors.

(c) The bylaws shall provide the following for giving notice to parcel owners and members of all board meetings and, if they do not do so, shall be deemed to include the following:

1. Notices of all board meetings must be posted in a conspicuous place in the community at least 48 hours in advance of a meeting, except in an emergency. In the alternative, if notice is not posted in a conspicuous place in the community, notice of each board meeting must be mailed or delivered to each member at least 7 days before the meeting, except in an emergency. Notwithstanding this general notice requirement, for communities with more than 100 members, the association bylaws may provide for a reasonable alternative to posting or mailing of notice for each board meeting, including publication of notice, provision of a schedule of board meetings, or the conspicuous posting and repeated broadcasting of the notice on a closed-circuit cable television system serving the homeowners’ association. However, if broadcast notice is used in lieu of a notice posted physically in the community, the notice must be broadcast at least four times every broadcast hour of each day that a posted notice is otherwise required. When broadcast notice is provided, the notice and agenda must be broadcast in a manner and for a sufficient continuous length of time so as to allow an average reader to observe the notice and read and comprehend the entire content of the notice and the agenda. The association may provide notice by electronic transmission in a manner authorized by law for meetings of the board of directors, committee meetings requiring notice under this section, and annual and special meetings of the members to any member who has provided a facsimile number or e-mail address to the association to be used for such purposes; however, a member must consent in writing to receiving notice by electronic transmission.

2. An assessment may not be levied at a board meeting unless the notice of the meeting includes a statement that assessments will be considered and the nature of the assessments. Written notice of any meeting at which special assessments will be considered or at which amendments to rules regarding parcel use will be considered must be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to the members and parcel owners and posted conspicuously on the property or broadcast on closed-circuit cable television not less than 14 days before the meeting.

3. Directors may not vote by proxy or by secret ballot at board meetings, except that secret ballots may be used in the election of officers. This subsection also applies to the meetings of any committee or other similar body, when a final decision will be made regarding the expenditure of association funds, and to any body vested with the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions with respect to a specific parcel of residential property owned by a member of the community.

(d) If 20 percent of the total voting interests petition the board to address an item of business, the board shall at its next regular board meeting or at a special meeting of the board, but not later than 60 days after the receipt of the petition, take the petitioned item up on an agenda. The board shall give all members notice of the meeting at which the petitioned item shall be addressed in accordance with the 14-day notice requirement pursuant to subparagraph (c)2. Each member shall have the right to speak for at least 3 minutes on each matter placed on the agenda by petition, provided that the member signs the sign-up sheet, if one is provided, or submits a written request to speak prior to the meeting. Other than addressing the petitioned item at the meeting, the board is not obligated to take any other action requested by the petition.

(e) At the first board meeting, excluding the organizational meeting, which follows the annual meeting of the members, the board shall consider the desirability of filing notices to preserve the covenants or restrictions affecting the community or association from extinguishment under the Marketable Record Title Act, chapter 712, and to authorize and direct the appropriate officer to file notice in accordance with s. 720.3032.

(3) MINUTES.—Minutes of all meetings of the members of an association and of the board of directors of an association must be maintained in written form or in another form that can be converted into written form within a reasonable time. A vote or abstention from voting on each matter voted upon for each director present at a board meeting must be recorded in the minutes.



All activity between our POA Board and Signature Property Management was done and for all we know is still being done covertly.

No explanation of the need was ever presented to the community.

No explanation of the duties of the management company was ever presented to the community.

No explanation of actions created by covenant violations, either new violations or very old violations. Is there any grandfathering? Will they sue us for violations a previous owner did? The previous POA Board sued a homeowner for putting Hardy cement siding on their house. The POA Board lost the judgment costing the homeowners association $80,000. Many, many houses have Hardy siding now.

Notifications of POA Board meetings prior to signing of the contract were not posted prior to the meetings. They were mysteriously posted after the contract had been signed and enacted along with a May 7th letter that was also mailed to us. Well past the meeting dates. (Hoping nobody noticed?)

No mention of this activity at the annual meeting but evidence the POA Board was planning to hire a management company existed in 2017.

Why Signature Property Management? A Ruthless History!

Don't think we're stuck with the Signature contract. It can be gone in 30 days.

Taken from the Signature Contract

3. EARLY TERMINATION: Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, either party may terminate this Agreement by giving thirty (30) days written notice to the other party. Termination may be with or without cause. All obligations arising under this Agreement shall be null and void as of the termination date, except for Agent's obligation to inform the Association with respect to all incomplete business and turn over all Association books, records, monies and personal property, including but not limited to, electronic data, and except for the Association obligation to pay Agent for services rendered up to, and including the termination date. Agent shall not be liable to Association or its members for any costs or delays incurred by Association to complete work in progress at termination, and shall not be liable for any of the costs incurred by Association to change management companies even though the early termination may be instituted by the Agent.   ×     ×  

Why did the management company request the breed and weight of animals at owners homes? So they could wander around our houses looking for covenant violations twice a week? Who knows, the POA Board knows.

Signature Property Management has a bad reputation for ruthless interactions with property owners in the communities they serve. We know of two of our neighbors that have dealt with them and have made it clear to us that Signature Property Management was chosen for their very harsh strict rule.

The POA Board claims in the above mentioned letter, dated after signing the contract with Signature, that they had, over several months, vetted many management companies. This leads us to believe the choice of signature was made for their harsh reputation.

Why has the POA Board hired Signature Property Management to conduct two inspections per week looking for covenant violations? The inspections cost $50 per inspection. That's a whopping $5200 a year. That's your money and for what?

Don't Think the Association Can Afford This

No clear accounting of the cost of this service and its impact on the budget was ever presented. In the above mentioned May 7th letter they stated the cost of the service is " ... fundable within our current annual budget with no need to change or increase the Annual Assessment." the keyword here is current.

We have to save for and pay for road repair and repaving regularly. Very expensive and very likely to be higher when we have to repave.

This contract is now 15+% of the Sugarhill budget and that doesn't include what may be significant "Supplementary Charges" that the Signature contract allows. Wow, a whole lot of money spent that we were completely and illegally kept in the dark from having any involvement in implementation.

Here is the contract with Signature in full to get back to here use your browser BACK button.

You Have to Wonder Why People Do the Things They Do

The covert installation of Signature Property Management ultimately shows the poor judgement potential of Sugarhill’s POA leadership. What will be the next event we have to contend with? People that do things like this can do just about anything, and with your money.

Who knows we might have approved a different management company with duties voted on by a majority.

We agree with the 100% majority responding to our first survey, that what this POA Board did was wrong, very wrong and it's unlikely it will stand.