Good morning, everyone.


I would like to address the issue that came up last night about us having insurance. We do not.

The certificate which was brought up at last night's meeting is only for wind and only covers $1 in damages. Below is my response to the owner who brought it up at the meeting last night and to another owner who emailed me with a copy of the same certificate.



First, let me say that I understand that everyone wants all of this to be just a bad dream, but it is very real. Second, I want to tell you that I have been immersed in this situation for 3 months now and I can tell you we are doing everything we can, as quickly as we can.


I am going to explain to you how insurance for an HOA works. The following policies are needed to cover our properties and to comply with state statutes. Which after Surfside are getting stronger and stricter.


  • Wind - Covers the damage from hurricane damage in combination with Property Insurance. It does nothing as a stand-alone policy, except in some cases, it acts as a supplemental insurance to cover any addition costs the main policy does not.

  • Property - This covers damage to the property such as fire, a car crashing into your house, a door from a plane falling on your roof, a tree coming down on your porch. Combined with wind, it covers hurricane loss.

  • General Liability - This policy covers people injured anywhere on the property. We were sued in 2018 by an owner by the name of Ramon Ravelo. He sued us for $300,000 for falling by tripping on a sidewalk that was raised, and the Association had not fixed after many complaints. We did not have insurance. This lawsuit is still open. He is now holding out that we will pay him $10,000. Our lawyer is looking into it. The lawyer fees for defending us against that lawsuit have yet to be billed to us. I would not be surprised if the bill is in the tens of thousands.

  • Bond or Fidelity - This protects us from theft by employees and vendors. We are looking to see if we are covered during the time this initial theft took place. There is no conviction yet, so we won't get anything until they are convicted. That is an important point to remember.

  • Workers Comp - Protects our employees and us against lawsuits for injuries on the job. Liability does not cover this, as employees are required to be on the property to do their work.

Now, the policy that Acentria sent you is a WIND ONLY policy. Look carefully at the highlighted areas. The policy covers only $1 million of wind damage ONLY. Replacement value on our properties is $30 million. And as I explained earlier, the combination of Property Insurance and Wind Insurance.


If you look at the highlighted area on the budget, you will see that we still owe $142,000 on that policy. It is now past collections, and we are being sued to pay it back. This policy is not like other policies in that it cannot be cancelled and re-written for a better price, or better coverage. You buy it outright and you owe for it.


I want to say partly in my defense and partly for your edification. I do not take this lightly. I am literally working seven days a week to come up with solutions and ways to ensure the people who did this pay for what they did, personally and financially. It takes time though. It doesn't happen overnight. In the meantime, we are where we are. We owe a lot of money and still need urgent repairs to our property.


I hope this helped to clarify the Acentria Insurance certificate you received and that you understand that we do NOT have insurance at this time. By the way, our Property, Bond and General Liability was held by Bellwether Group. See attached cancellation notice.


We had no money in the bank to pay. Regardless of what owners think, think they know, or have been telling each other, currently, we have no insurance. Attached you will find the December bank statement with the balances of all 3 accounts as proof there was no way to pay and just 2 weeks after we took office, they cancelled the policies on January 6, 2024.


The above is the truth and verifiable by documents, emails and conversations with brokers and insurance companies.


If you have any other questions, I am more than happy to answer them.


Cordially,


Iliana Ordaz Jeffries


Westwind Lakes Garden Homes Assoc., Inc.
6610 SW 152 PL - Pool Area
Miami, FL 33193
Office: 305.364.5154
Fax: 305.436.3683
Email: westwind33193@yahoo.com