Peppertree III, Boca West: a 2025 new owner contribution, six-month leases and an amendment recorded twice

Peppertree III's approval of the buyer, the master's Certificate of Compliance, the Club's approval, and the umbrella's estoppel alongside the condominium's. The 2025 amendments did not touch the sale procedure, so the 1980 Article XVII governs.

• Who needs approval. Any sale, lease, gift or other transfer, "except to another Unit owner" (Art. XVII.A, OR 3416/238).
• Notice and answer. The selling owner sends notice with the buyer's details, and the association approves or disapproves within 20 days. An approval is a certificate recorded in the public records (Art. XVII.B, OR 3416/240).
• A substitute buyer. If the seller's notice demanded one, a refusal obliges the association to deliver a cash buyer at the contract price within 20 days. Failing that, the sale is deemed approved (Art. XVII.C, OR 3416/240–241).
• Mortgages. A loan from anyone but an Institutional Lender needs approval (Art. XVII.D, OR 3416/241).
• Without approval. An unauthorized sale, mortgage or lease is void unless later approved (Art. XVII.F, OR 3416/242).

A new owner contribution. Under the 2025 amendments, "all future conveyances of any ownership interest in a Lot shall pay to the Association the sum of one (1) quarterly assessment, as a capital contribution". It is "deemed to be a special assessment" (OR 36172/1610, p. 3; OR 36484/561, p. 3). It states no exemption, so before a family or trust transfer closes we ask the association in writing whether it charges one.

The master's capital contribution and the Club's Joining Fee are separate. The master bills Peppertree III $141,370 for 2026/2027, down 2.63% (master's adopted 2026/2027 budget, not recorded), besides its per-unit charges.

• Then. From 1980, whole units could be leased with approval "for a term of not less than one (1) month" (Art. XVI.E, OR 3416/238).
• Now. A lease must run "not less than six (6) months per term of lease and Unit Owners are limited to one (1) lease in any calendar year" (OR 36484/561, p. 2).
• The application. The owner's notice must prove the six-month term and attest that this is "the first and only lease of the calendar year" (p. 3).
• Review. 20 days, as for a sale, with a substitute tenant only on the owner's demand (Art. XVII.B–C).

A condominium amendment banning rentals, changing the rental term or limiting how often owners may rent binds only owners who consent to it and those who take title after it (§ 718.110(13)). A buyer closing today is bound by both new limits. An owner who held title before the recording, and did not consent to it, may still be on the one-month rule. The master's rules add their own first-year bar and four-month minimum.

The owners adopted it at a special meeting on 14 August 2025. The first certificate was signed by the association's lawyer "as agent" and recorded on 5 December 2025 (OR 36172/1610, pp. 1, 4). The same text, with the changes marked, was recorded again on 29 April 2026 over the president's and secretary's signatures (OR 36484/561, pp. 1, 4).

Which recording fixes the effective date matters for an owner who took title between them. The 2025 amendments also lowered the vote to amend the declaration from 66⅔% of the units to "Fifty percent of all Unit Owners plus one" (Art. XII.C, OR 36484/561, p. 2). So further changes are now easier to pass, and we search forward on every file.

• The contribution is placed in "Article XXII. Miscellaneous", but Article XXII of the declaration is Termination and Miscellaneous is XXV. It says it is collectible under "Article XVIII" in 2025 and "Article XVII" in 2026, while assessments are Article XIX (OR 3416/219, p. 2).
• The association's name varies: "Village of Peppertree Condominium III Association, Inc." in the declaration's exhibits, and "Village of Peppertree III Condominium Association, Inc." in both amendments. We match the name on the estoppel and the approval certificate.
• The Clerk links a 2014 agreement and assignment between the association and a bank (OR 27000/1455, /1457), which we have not read. We ask the manager whether a loan secured by assessments remains open.

The Peppertree umbrella's 1978 declaration (OR 2975/1222) makes every unit owner a member, with assessments secured by a lien (Art. IV § 1, Art. V § 1, OR 2975/1223–1224). Peppertree III's own declaration lets its Board collect and remit those assessments "under the terms of … the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions for Village of Peppertree" (Art. XIX.F, OR 3416/244). It also names the umbrella among the bodies whose failure to enforce is no waiver (Art. XVIII.C, OR 3416/243).