Strong property rights are fundamental to our country’s capitalist system of free enterprise. In The Founder’s Constitution in 1787, President John Adams wrote: “Property is a right of mankind as surely as liberty. The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
In light of the importance of property rights in our society, it has come as a shock to many that the condominium termination law, which was amended by the Florida Legislature in 2007, is now being used successfully throughout the state by real estate developers to take over communities and force unwilling homeowners to sell their residences at prices that are often well below their original purchase price, and in many instances, below their remaining mortgage debt.
