Willowwood Gardens, Boca West: 134 garden condominiums where a new occupant counts as a transfer

The association approves first, then the master issues its Certificate of Compliance and the Country Club approves the buyer. Article XVII puts every sale, lease, gift and other transfer under the association's approval. Only a sale or lease to another unit owner is exempt (OR 3170/290, p. 20).

• What the seller sends. A notice naming the buyer, with whatever information the association reasonably requires. If the seller wants a substitute buyer in case of refusal, the notice says so and encloses the contract (p. 21).
• The decision. The association has 20 days from the notice to approve or disapprove. An approved sale or gift is stated in a certificate in recordable form, which is recorded (pp. 21–22). Certificates from 1980 and 1981 show the practice (OR 3431/1743, OR 3462/943).
• If it refuses. On the seller's demand it must deliver, within the same 20 days, a contract from itself or an approved buyer at the contract price, for cash, closing in 30 days. Failing that, the sale is deemed approved (pp. 22–23).
• Exempt buyers. An institutional lender acquiring through its mortgage, and a buyer at an advertised public sale such as a foreclosure, judicial or tax sale (pp. 23–24).
• Void otherwise. A sale, mortgage or lease made without authority "shall be void unless subsequently approved by the Association" (Art. XVII.F, p. 24).

Mortgages work the same way. Only banks, life insurance companies, federal savings and loan associations and real estate investment trusts may take one without approval. Any other lender's approval "may be arbitrarily withheld" (Art. XVII.D, p. 23).

The association approves the person who will live there. A corporate owner or buyer is approved only on condition that its Primary Occupant is approved too, and the same applies to a trustee holding for a beneficiary. Then the Gardens text goes further than the usual form. "Any change in the Primary Occupant of a Unit shall be considered a transfer of such Unit, and shall be subject to approval or disapproval by the Association" (Art. XVII.B(3), p. 22). If the owner gives no notice, the association may approve or disapprove whenever it learns of the change, though no deed is recorded (Art. XVII.B(1)(d), p. 21).

Yes, whole units only, after approval (Art. XVI.E, p. 20):

• Approval. The owner sends the lease, which must say it is subject to approval, and the association decides within 20 days (Art. XVII.B, pp. 21–22).
• Any length. After a refusal, an owner who demanded it may require the association to supply a tenant on the lease's terms, or the lease is deemed approved. The text sets no one-month threshold, so this applies to a lease of any length (Art. XVII.C(2), p. 23).
• No other limits found. The declaration pages we read set no minimum or maximum term, yearly cap or first-year wait. The master's leasing rules apply on top.

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 (Fla. Stat. § 718.110(13)). The declaration also delays any such amendment until nine months after its adoption (Art. XII.C(6), p. 11). No leasing amendment is linked to the declaration, so neither rule has yet had work to do at Willowwood Gardens.

Governance, mostly. At the annual meeting of 27 December 1988 the members approved four changes, certified by a Board resolution of 1989 (OR 6025/1327). It was re-recorded in 1990 "to correct a scrivener's error" (OR 6394/1934):

• a quorum of members is one-third of the votes, not a majority;
• the By-Laws may be amended by a majority of the units, not two-thirds, with recording within 60 days;
• the Articles may be amended by a majority of the units, not three-fourths;
• after the original By-Laws, only the members may alter them.

In 2008 the members let the association replace front-entry doors "in its sole discretion" as a common expense, though owners still maintain their units (OR 22619/784). In 2010 the Board was allowed to choose the annual meeting date, 11 to 13 months after the last (OR 23818/1895).

No capital contribution or transfer fee appears in the pages we read or the amendments. A Gardens buyer still owes the master's capital contribution and the Club's Joining Fee. The master bills Willowwood Gardens $139,838 for 2026/2027, up 22.82% from $113,852 (master's adopted 2026/2027 budget, not recorded). The condominium's and the Village of Willow Wood's own charges come from their estoppels. In a voluntary conveyance the grantee shares liability with the grantor for unpaid assessments (Art. XIX.M, p. 28).

• The 2008 amendment calls itself "Article XII, Section A", the article on unit maintenance. In the recorded declaration that article is XIII; XII is "Amendment of Declaration". The declaration's own index leaves out Article VIII and numbers the rest one lower (pp. 2, 10, 12). We note the mismatch for underwriting.
• Each phase was described by metes and bounds, not by plat lot (Exhibit A-1, p. 34). The developer could add Phases II to IX until 31 December 1983, and each addition changed every unit's share of the common elements (Art. IV.D, p. 4). We did not read the phase amendments, so we check the unit's phase and share on the file.
• Parking spaces are limited common elements assigned by recorded instrument or by deed. Second-story units also hold their balconies and the attic space above them as limited common elements (Art. V.C, pp. 6–7).
• Every unit owner is a member of Village of Willow Wood Association, Inc., whose declaration covers "condominium dwelling Units now or hereafter created" on its land (Art. II § 1, OR 2990/610). Its assessments are a lien without recording, and its certificate is "conclusive evidence of payment" (Art. V §§ 7–8, OR 2990/613–614). The Gardens declaration does not mention it in the pages we read.
• The 1979 lien text dates the association's lien from a recorded claim and limits a foreclosure buyer's liability (Art. XIX.K–L, pp. 27–28). The condominium statute now governs.

The declaration describes ground-floor and second-story units. The milestone inspection applies to buildings of three or more habitable stories (Fla. Stat. § 553.899), and so we confirm the building's height before saying it does not apply.

The Gardens association also granted an easement to the Village of Willow Wood in the early 1980s (OR 3430/1858), listed in the Village's 2011 preservation notice (OR 24580/1907).