Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Joe
Kollin
Published July 23,
2008
When Bess Weiner died in
March at 87, her two grown children inherited her apartment in the Holiday
Springs condo in Margate.
The siblings, both with homes of their own, would like to sell it so they
can stop paying the $228 monthly maintenance and taxes. But they can't
find a buyer and they can't rent because 16 years ago the association
banned rentals, say Ellen Rieback, 56, of Plantation, and her brother,
David Rieback, 60, of Coral Springs.
"People are so afraid of who is going to live there that they
discriminate against those who want to rent," Ellen Rieback said.
"I have no problem submitting renters for approval to make sure they
get nice people, but the association would rather us keep it empty. We're
paying all the expenses and we're not even allowed to have visitors from
up north stay there unless one of us, as owners, is in residence with
them."
About 20 years ago, several communities where renting was allowed began
changing the rules after learning of problems in communities such as the
600-unit Versailles Gardens condo complex in Tamarac. Half the units there
were owned by investors who did not screen their tenants. Almost
everything that could go wrong did, including the roof nearly collapsing
from lack of maintenance. Permanent owners were helpless because investors
owned enough units to control the board.
Banning rentals, however, created a legal problem. Those who bought when
renting was legal challenged the associations' ability to rewrite the
documents. In 2002 the Florida Supreme Court upheld the ban. Two years
later, the Legislature reacted by changing the law. Now, if you buy a unit
when rentals are permitted and the association later bans them, you can
continue renting.
All associations decide for themselves whether to allow or restrict
renting. Consult your documents to determine your association's rules and
how you could try to change them.
At Whitehall Condominiums at Camino Real in Boca Raton, the association
had no ban on renting. But owners saw what was happening to the housing
market and feared they might have a problem. In May, they voted to limit
rentals to 15 percent of the 408 units at any one time.
"We were having too many renters, we worried about property values,
we didn't want to become a rental community and wanted to prevent
investors from coming in," said Glorida DeFeo, the association's
treasurer.
Aleida Patino, 66, and her husband Freddy, 70, owned a second-floor
apartment in Environ Towers in Lauderhill. They fell in love with a
first-floor apartment in another Environ building and bought it.
"We moved before we put the old apartment up for sale and the real
estate situation then got worse every day," Aleida Patino said.
So they were stuck paying expenses, including $400-a-month maintenance, on
both apartments.
Their story has a twist. Although the buildings are in the same community,
they are run by different associations. Their first building banned
rentals several years ago. Their new building allows rentals.
They could move back into their original apartment and rent the new one,
but they preferred not to.
"We asked them to temporarily let us rent," she said. They were
told no.
In January, when golfers begin coming down, they'll rent the new place and
move back into the old one, she said.
Q "We have all heard the stories of condo commandos,
but here we have an 'owner commando,'" writes a director. "She
is driving us nuts! She has written 14 certified, return-receipt letters
since March 2007, each one requiring us to answer" and each time,
"she has asked for the same information."
"Is there some legal way of getting her off our backs?" the
director asks.
A There isn't much the board can do, said Robert Kaye, of
the Robert Kaye & Associates law firm in Fort Lauderdale. The state
favors owners exercising their rights under the condo law.
"Condominium associations do have a few tools available," he
said. "The best advice is for the association to strictly follow the
letter of the law" by responding properly to requests for
information.
When a question is asked properly by certified mail, the law requires
answers within 30 days. If the letter asks for access to a document, it
must be provided in five business days. But the law also says associations
can adopt rules limiting unit owners to one request every 30 days and
limit each inquiry to a single issue, Kaye said.
Also, owners can't make associations do their research for them. Owners
can ask to inspect records "to find what they are looking for"
and when they find it, ask for copies.
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