Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published May 28, 2008

Rules, rules, rules.

When you bought into your condo or homeowner association community, you promised to obey them — even if you don't like them, don't understand them or think they're too vague. Consider the following:

• The board at a Margate condo came up with an idea to help landscape common areas. An owner who wants to memorialize someone can pay for a palm tree, plant it and put a 3-by-5-inch plaque next to it. But there is no designated area where the trees can be planted. Kal Rosenblum objects because the trees "could be under my kitchen window." Besides, he said, "it makes this place look like a memorial park or cemetery. I'm not objecting to trees. I'm objecting to having memorial plates all over."

• At a Boynton Beach condo, the board decided for security reasons to ban visitors after 11 p.m. Any car parked in a visitor spot is towed away. A resident had to cancel plans for his birthday party after learning of the new rule.

• Ann Zucker, a teacher who has the summer off, was looking forward to spending time relaxing at her Weston condo's pool. Sorry, Ann. Her condo documents make four separate buildings responsible for maintaining the pool, which was closed for repairs more than a year ago. The problem, she said, is that representatives of the four buildings can't agree on an acceptable plan. So, because of the rules, she and her neighbors won't be able to use the pool, for the second summer in a row.

• A Pompano Beach condo wants visitors to show photo identification to the security guard in the lobby. Some residents appreciate the security; others say it's no one's business who visits them.

• A Delray Beach-area condo has rules against disturbing others. But one owner, who fears being identified, said they are not enforced. The owner's neighbor "has a God-awful snoring problem. He sounds like a prize-winning hog at a state fair." The bedroom windows of the complainer and the snorer are less than 15 feet apart. The complainer won't say anything because it wouldn't be neighborly. Besides, the snorer "is huge."

The complainer won't ask directors to enforce the disturbance rule because "they will laugh at me." So the complainer plans to sleep in the living room or sell.

If you think these rules are silly or extreme, consider a deed-restricted development in Jasper County, near Hilton Head, S.C. In 1998 a developer bought 1,700 acres, a property called Delta Plantation, to subdivide for homes. The official covenants, as recorded in the county auditor's office, say the property may never be sold or leased "to any person or entity that may be described as being part of the Yankee race."

The definition of "Yankee race" is anyone or anything "born or formed north of the Mason-Dixon Line" or anyone who has lived north of the line continuously for a year.

It also says "no person with the last name of Sherman or born up north whose last name includes letters that can be rearranged to spell Sherman shall ever own, lease, enter, occupy, walk upon or hold any interest" in the property.

The covenants say the restrictions "are necessary to ensure that the Yankees will never own or control large tracts of land that rightfully belong in Southern hands again or again."

Can such deed restrictions be enforced?

Yes, says Fort Lauderdale-based attorney Gary Poliakoff, whose firm, Becker & Poliakoff, represents more than 4,300 condo and homeowner associations in Florida.

Federal, state and county laws say only that you can't discriminate against those in "protected classes," he said. These include race, religion, national origin, sex, handicap and family status (unless the community is over 55). In Broward County, sexual orientation is also protected.

Those in other classes can be discriminated against. For example, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against lawyers, he said.

Since Yankees aren't protected, "I see no reason why the restriction [would] not be upheld," Poliakoff said.

The South Carolina property owner never enforced his deed, Yankees have bought property and all is well on the Delta Plantation.

But the deed remains in the official records of Jasper County.