But now, thanks to a bill promoted by a Republican state congresswoman and signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis last week, things are about to change.

No more can residents be cited or fined for trivial transgressions, like leaving their trash cans out beyond collection day, or having holiday lights and decorations still hanging long after the last visitors have returned home – at least without 14 days’ written notice, a hearing and appeals.

Anyone seeking to become an HOA board member will be required to be trained and regulated, a blow to Florida’s army of overzealous and autocratic apparatchiks who revel in controlling even the smallest details of residents’ existence.