Article Courtesy of The Sun
Sentinel
By Gary M.Singer
Published November 12, 2017
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Our homeowner association recently passed an amendment to our community
requiring everyone who buys a resale in our community to join the golf and
country club. It is costly to do so, and I am having a problem selling my home.
Can the association do this? – David
A: This is an area of law where there is no clear answer to give you. You live
in a homeowner association property which is different than a condominium, and
most of the law in this area concerns condominiums.
Several years ago, many associations changed their rules to limit the ability of
owners to rent out their properties. The courts decided that condos could not do
this and ruled that adding such restrictions was prohibited.
In response, the Florida Legislature overrode the ruling by changing the law to
allow condos to restrict renting the property from new owners, but not current
ones. This “grandfather clause” pertained only to condos and not to homeowner
association communities.
With many community golf clubs struggling, associations are looking for ways to
help fund them. Some are changing their rules to require all owners to join the
club. Others seek to soften the blow by using a grandfather clause and only
require membership when the property sells.
However, some of these clubs require a sizable initial buy-in for as much as
$100,000. This has the effect of reducing the value of the property by limiting
the number of potential buyers who can afford such a large deposit.
With no “hard” law addressing this, we are left to see what will happen.
Many lawyers I speak to feel that this is not allowed for the same reasons that
the original condo rental case prohibited rental restrictions – that it changed
the essential character of the community. Others view the change as one that
merely requires a 75 percent approval from the owners, similar to converting,
for example, a tennis court to a parking lot.
Existing case law offers little guidance. While this issue has been litigated
before, the cases ended in confidential settlements before the law was clarified
by the courts.
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