{"id":292865,"date":"2026-06-02T09:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/292865\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:29:08","slug":"florida-hoa-postpones-elections-amid-legal-battle-with-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/292865\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida HOA \u2018postpones\u2019 elections amid legal battle with resident"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 More than two years after a state arbitrator ordered a southeast Orange County homeowners association to hold a new five-seat board election, residents have been blocked from casting votes as the existing HOA board remains in power.<\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, the North Shore at Lake Hart HOA has \u201cpostponed\u201d its annual board elections as the association appeals a court order requiring it to comply with the arbitrator\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just really unsettling and frustrating as a homeowner,\u201d Tonja Niemi told News 6. \u201cI love where I live, but we need to have an election.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, homeowner Miriam Burtoff filed a petition with the state agency that oversees HOA election disputes, Florida\u2019s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, or DBPR.<\/p>\n

Miriam Burtoff is the wife of Bruce Burtoff, an attorney who has been jailed for contempt since March as part of a separate legal dispute with the North Shore at Lake Hart HOA. <\/a><\/p>\n

Miriam Burtoff alleged that the HOA board had illegally amended the association\u2019s by-laws in 2021 to disqualify people from being board candidates if they were involved in litigation with the HOA.<\/p>\n

DBPR assigned the dispute to an arbitrator who held a two-day hearing to hear witness testimony and review documents.<\/p>\n

Arbitrator Keith Hope issued a final order in December 2023 ordering the HOA to hold a new election for all five of its board seats.<\/p>\n

Besides finding that the HOA had improperly precluded homeowners from seeking election to the board, the arbitrator determined that the HOA had a \u201chistory\u201d of \u201cimproper conduct of elections and board meetings\u201d.<\/p>\n

An Orange County circuit court judge confirmed the arbitrator\u2019s order in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Seven months later, the HOA appealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDBPR Arbitrator Hope exceeded his power and authority in ordering a new five-seat election,\u201d an HOA attorney wrote in its petition to the 6th District Court of Appeal. \u201cAlthough there was only one director seat up for election at the May 2, 2023 annual meeting, DBPR Arbitrator Hope took the bait cast by Burtoff and clearly looked back at previously unchallenged elections in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, found that they were somehow flawed, and then created a remedy for what he perceived as election problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 6th District Court of Appeal has not indicated when it might rule on the HOA\u2019s petition.<\/p>\n

Until the appeals court issues a ruling, the HOA has indicated that it will not hold new elections, leaving the current board in place. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe election is being deferred until the case makes its way through the courts,\u201d a spokesperson for the HOA\u2019s management company told News 6 in response to questions about the election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe homeowners just want to have a fair election with fair rules,\u201d said Miriam Burtoff. \u201cThey\u2019ve put every hurdle up known to man.\u201d<\/p>\n

News 6 gave all five members of the North Shore at Lake Hart HOA board an opportunity to comment on this story. <\/p>\n

Only two board members, who said they are typically outvoted on HOA matters by the majority, provided statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeowners want an election,\u201d board member Kurt Kuhl told News 6. \u201cThey are suffering from fatigue fighting this Association and litigation. If an election is announced, in my opinion there would be over 20 candidates if not more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory Mathison, another board member, said he concurred with Kuhl\u2019s comments while also referencing the lawyer who remains incarcerated for contempt.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for drawing attention to the facts of how homeowners have been abused, threatened, sued multiple times, and \u2013 to make all that even worse and, in my opinion, dangerous \u2013 having a 78-year-old neighbor, physician and attorney jailed,\u201d said Mathison.<\/p>\n

Despite the HOA announcing that elections were again being \u201cpostponed\u201d this year and would not take place during the association\u2019s annual meeting, dozens of homeowners attended anyway.<\/p>\n

The meeting was quickly adjourned due to lack of quorum. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have done nothing but put off elections,\u201d said homeowner Tom DeFreest. \u201cIt has created a hostile environment if you don\u2019t have a voice in any kind of government and they\u2019re controlling the scenario and they are spending your money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dolores Petropulos, a retired Orlando police officer who has lived in the community for more than 20 years, said many of her neighbors worry they could be sued if they publicly criticize the HOA board.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt pits one neighbor against another,\u201d Petropulos said. \u201cA lot of them are afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeowner Mike Drew said he originally tried to stay quiet about HOA matters but has recently become more vocal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t make effective changes,\u201d Drew said. \u201cThis community has kind of lost its spirit. We need to bring that spirit back.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 More than two years after a state arbitrator ordered a southeast Orange County homeowners…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2715,28,1042,14912,139,141,140,4220],"class_list":["post-292865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-elections","tag-florida","tag-hoa","tag-homeowners-association","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}