Harvey Berman, president of Royal Oaks condominium in the California Club area of Miami-Dade County, takes a lot of flack from dues-paying residents in his building who are peeved about other owners in foreclosure and behind on their association fees.

''A man has been in a unit for 17 months and hasn't paid a nickel for anything and that is not right,'' Berman said, ``Nobody should be allowed to live on a piece of property for free, especially in a condo where the condo pays the water, cable, laundry, lawn maintenance, the pool, the garbage.''

Still, Berman admits the problem in the 180-unit complex is not as bad as in many other South Florida condo communities where nonpaying units are swamping budgets and forcing associations to cut back on services and hike maintenance fees. But, he says, preventing that takes enormous effort.

The system that allows lenders to avoid paying maintenance fees is broken, says Berman, and needs fixing when Florida legislators meet for their annual session, which starts Tuesday in Tallahassee.

Central to the solution, condo owners say, is finding a way to get lenders to contribute to the costly maintenance of buildings by not dragging out foreclosures and by assuming fee payments like other homeowners.

State Rep. Julio Robaina, a Miami Republican who has hosted a series of town hall meetings on the issue, said his top priority would be ensuring associations are made whole by banks before the foreclosure process is finished and huge delinquencies have accumulated.

Other lawmakers are also proposing legislation to address the problem.

''Constituents have brought me clear evidence that banks are purposely delaying the foreclosure proceedings, thus hurting the associations,'' Robaina said.

However, Tom Cardwell, general counsel for the Florida Bankers Association, said he has seen no evidence of such delays. Lenders, he said, are working in a court system bogged down by filings in which homeowners often mount time-consuming defenses.

Lenders, he added, are taking pains to work with homeowners to keep them in their properties and heeding calls for foreclosure moratoriums from both state and federal governments.

The issue is indeed tricky.

Strapped for cash, condo boards complain current state law actually encourages banks to stall taking title to units -- even vacant units -- because a statutory cap limits the amount of past-due fees they must pay to six months of arrears or 1 percent of the original mortgage amount.

Sharon Dodge, president of The Venetia in Miami, said several units had racked up as much as $30,000 in unpaid fees. Others, she said, may owe as much as $50,000 by the time the banks take ownership.

Yet, under the current law, the maximum her association can recover from lenders for each is $4,200. While the process drags on, homeowners often continue living in the units, using the building's facilities and amenities for free. To make budget and cover expenses, paying unit owners have to foot the difference, often at great expense and at their financial peril.

''The story is really that condominiums, which are really the vertical small towns of Florida, are being horribly victimized by laws that protect the banks,'' Dodge said, ``They are ill-suited laws for the present crisis. In fact, they totally exacerbate the situation and they will destroy many, many associations.''

THE SPIRAL

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