As a community association manager, you must keep updated regularly, both educationally and professionally. CAM licensees must renew their CAM license every even-numbered year by the end of September. This requires that they also take 15 hours of continuing education.
The coursework involves subjects of 3 hours in length, including legal updates, preventive maintenance, human resource education, financial best practices (such as collecting rents or insuring units), as well one elective. The current elective covers how to handle partying, or marijuana or alcohol use by residents.
Florida CAM Continuing Education Online
Florida CAM continuing education is featured online and may be taken as a bundled package (all five courses at the same time), or you can elect to take each course individually. It’s entirely up to you. You just need to complete the training before the September 30, 2022 expiration date.
Renewing Your CAM License
Once you take and pass the training, you can renew your CAM license. You’ll need to give $105.00 to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to keep your license valid.
The Benefits of Continuing Education
By going online, you can save a lot of time and effort. It will give you a nice way to study what you need to know to do your job more effectively. Because CAM professionals must oversee budgets of $100,000 or more, this type of training proves to be invaluable.
For example, the training you’ll receive on insurance can help you handle issues that involve what your association insurance covers. As a case in point, let’s say that lightning strikes an AC unit and disables it. The property owner asks the association to fix the AC. If you’re well versed on financing and insurance, you’ll know that it is the responsibility of the association to repair the AC.
Therefore, a resident, who is part of an HOA who owns a condo, is not obligated to turn in a claim to their insurer. While an association’s insurance coverage does not extend to personal property or items, such as the floor, ceiling, electrical fixtures, countertops, or cabinets, it does cover the outside AC unit.
As long as an insurable event, such as a lightning strike, damages the AC, the association is responsible for repairing the equipment. Learning these types of details will help you make the right decision quickly and competently. That’s why a review of the current laws and CAM best practices is always beneficial.
Who Is Exempt from Taking the Courses
You are exempt from taking CAM continuing education this time if you received an LCAM designation after October 1, 2021. However, you’ll still have to pay the renewal fee by the September due date.
How to Study Effectively
There’s a lot of legalities involved in the coursework, so schedule a block of time for each course so you can absorb the information. It also helps to create index cards where you can write down questions and answers for review.
For example, the course covers Workers’ Compensation. To ensure you learn and understand the material, you might ask the following questions,
- “What is Workers’ Compensation? (Answer: An insurance that covers employees injured while working on the job or contract.)
- Who Must Carry the Insurance? (Answer: All employers who have 4 or more part-time or full-time employees.)
- When Is it Used? (Answer: The insurance is used when an employee must pay for the medical costs of a work-related illness or injury. It also covers lost earnings.)
- Are officers in a company considered employees under Workers’ Compensation? (Answer: Yes, unless they choose to be exempt.)
If you feel you need to get a better grasp on the material, writing down questions can help. Write down the question on the front of the card and place the answer on the back and use each card as a flash card. Or, you can set up some flashcards online for the same purpose.
The idea is to make sure you understand the materials presented in each course, so you can fully benefit from the information and use it to do a better job.
Don’t start learning the material when September is almost around the corner. To ensure you understand the material you learn and receive full benefits, you need to be proactive. That means you should sign up for the coursework now.
Now is the Time to Begin Studying
Now is the time to begin studying. If you need to take the coursework to renew your CAM license, sign up for the courses today.
