FirstService Residential Class Action

Those of you who live in Condos should know about a Class Action suit filed against FirstService Residential. If you've moved in or out of a building is managed by FirstService you may be a member of a class action under consideration now.

Broward Case Number CACE17005983.

Florida statutes allow a maximum of $100 transfer fee to move in or out of a condo; that includes all application fees, background checks, move-in fees, etc.

FirstService is trying to fight the class certification claiming that it is just doing what condo boards tell them to do, and as Agents they're not liable. My favorite excerpt from the case:

FirstService's overly restrictive interpretation of the transfer fee provision leads to the ridiculous conclusion that the entire provision may be sidestepped merely by funneling the money through a middleman. If a condominium association could bypass the FCA's prohibition on transfer fees - and potentially many other prohibitions in the statute - merely by hiring a third-party or setting up a sham corporate entity to do its bidding, the statute would be pointless.

If the class is certified, it could be tremendously expensive for FirstService as 1000s of people would be in the class.

These things are usually settled so that the lawyers make a fortune and the class members get a small check, but it may have an impact on how condos operate; Condo boards use their management companies to thumb their nose at the law, and putting the management companies in the crosshairs may get them to push back on illegal activities that they regularly ignore.