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Homeowners associations (HOA), condominium associations (COA) and other associations are not typical business entities. They are governed by a variety of laws, depending on the nature of the association. Since many associations are nonprofit corporations, they are governed by the same rules that govern other nonprofits, as well as other association-specific regulations.
When moving forward with any legal issue, an association can benefit from the insight of a lawyer who understands all applicable laws and is sensitive to the unique relationship between associations and property owners. At Heekin Law in Jacksonville, we have earned a positive reputation for our representation of associations throughout Florida. We also represent property management companies who work on behalf of HOAs and COAs.
As a commercial and business law attorney law firm, we know that great ideas and efficient marketing strategies may make a business stand out, but what really allows a business to rise above its competition and thrive is the effective handling of its day-to-day business law issues it may face. From entity selection, contract formation to dispute resolution for all parties concerned, having an available and proven, cost-effective legal resource is essential in today’s business environment.
We can assist developers with the creation of an HOA, condo association or other type of association. We are well-versed in the creation of governing documents, including declarations of covenants, conditions and restrictions (CC&R). We can help in determining annual assessments and plans for funding reserves. We can provide guidance in assembling a board of directors or other governing body for the association, or offer information about enlisting a management company to handle all or some of the governing duties.
For already established associations, we can help with all the day-to-day business and legal issues that arise. We can revise CC&Rs and change annual assessments. If a community member has violated the terms of the CC&Rs, we can assist with enforcement actions, from sending out covenant violation letters to assessing fines.
When conflicts arise between associations and property owners, our attorneys will work to resolve the dispute. If possible, our goal is to remedy the issue while preserving the relationship between the association and the property owner. This can often be accomplished through skillful negotiation. However, we are trial-ready attorneys, prepared to defend your association in court or pursue aggressive action to protect the community as a whole.
We are proficient in the collection of unpaid assessments, charges and fees. We can assist in preparing collection letters including statutorily required notices of intent to record a claim of lien and notices of intent to foreclose a claim of lien. We are prepared to go as far as foreclosing on an owner’s property in order to get the association reimbursed for unpaid dues. We are also competent in getting property owners to strictly maintain their property as set forth in the CC&Rs and other governing documents.
We also handle disputes between associations and management companies and other parties.
Our attorneys offer a wide array of Homeowner, Condo & Commercial Associations legal services to ensure you receive quality legal representation at an affordable price. Send us a message through the contact form and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours. We are available to answer any questions you may have.
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to