7400 Oceanside, Fisher Island: condominium rules, fees and closing points

• The association's estoppel. 7400 Oceanside levies its own assessments, secured by its own lien (§ 13). The declaration promises a certificate within fifteen (15) days of a request by a purchaser, owner or mortgagee (§ 13.7). Chapter 718 now requires one sooner: "Within 10 business days after receiving a written or electronic request therefor … the association shall issue the estoppel certificate" (Fla. Stat. § 718.116(8)(a)). FICA's estoppel is ordered separately (master page).
• Right of first refusal: none. The declaration has no right of first refusal and no approval of buyers (§§ 17–18); its § 18 is "Compliance and Default". The Articles let the association approve leases and transfers only "as may be provided by the Declaration" (Art. 5.2(f)), and the declaration provides none. So no waiver or approval letter is needed under the recorded documents, though the association should be asked whether any later amendment added one.
• No fee to the association is set in the recorded documents: no transfer fee, capital contribution, working-capital payment or approval fee.
• Entity buyers. The declaration sets no rule on who may occupy a unit owned by an entity; each unit is "used as a residence only" (§ 17.1).
• Parking and golf-cart assignments. These are Limited Common Elements, assigned by a written assignment that is not recorded, with a copy held by the association (§ 3.3(c)(ii)–(iv)). Ask which spaces go with the unit.
• The shared-facility budget with 7600 Oceanside, and the current rules.

Yes, without the association's approval. Under § 17.8:

• only a whole unit may be leased, by a written lease that must give the association the right to terminate it on the tenant's default;
• "No Unit may be leased for a term of less than six (6) months and no Unit may be leased more than one (1) time, including any renewals, in any calendar year";
• the owner must notify the association each time a tenant will occupy the unit, and is jointly and severally liable for the tenant;
• the association may require an escrow of up to one month's rent;
• while the unit is leased, the tenant has the use rights in the common facilities and the owner does not, except as a guest.

No waiting period after purchase is stated. The declaration keeps the developer subject to lease-approval requirements "if any" (§ 17.14), but imposes none.

FICA may refuse a tenant the ferry when an association approval that is required was not obtained (master page). The recorded declaration requires none, so this matters only if a later amendment added one.

No leasing amendment is in our set, and nothing recorded after September 2002 is. Under Chapter 718, "An amendment prohibiting unit owners from renting their units or altering the duration of the rental term or specifying or limiting the number of times unit owners are entitled to rent their units during a specified period applies only to unit owners who consent to the amendment and unit owners who acquire title to their units after the effective date of that amendment" (Fla. Stat. § 718.110(13)). A buyer acquires title after any amendment already in effect, so for an investor buyer the records need searching forward from 18 September 2002.

• The lien and its priority. Assessments not paid within ten (10) days bear interest at 15% a year and a late fee of up to the greater of $25.00 or 5%. The lien relates back to the recording of the declaration, but as to first mortgages it is effective only from the recording of a claim of lien (§ 13.3).
• The buyer owes what the seller did not pay. "A Unit Owner shall be jointly and severally liable with the previous Owner for all unpaid Assessments that came due up to the time of the conveyance" (§ 13.1), as Chapter 718 also provides: "A unit owner is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for all unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of transfer of title" (Fla. Stat. § 718.116(1)(a)).
• Bank-owned resales. A first mortgagee's liability for assessments that fell due before it took title is limited to the lesser of six (6) months' assessments or 1% of the original mortgage debt, if the association was joined in the foreclosure (§ 13.6). Chapter 718 now sets the lesser of the unpaid common expenses and regular periodic assessments "which accrued or came due during the 12 months immediately preceding the acquisition of title" or "One percent of the original mortgage debt" (§ 718.116(1)(b)1.). Which applies to a particular sale is for underwriting; the estoppel shows what the association claims.
• Large assessments need the owners. Special and capital improvement assessments over $125,000.00 in a year, or that would raise the year's assessments above 115% of the prior year's, need the approval of a majority of the units represented at a meeting with a quorum (§ 13.2(c)). Capital additions over $125,000 a year need a majority of the voting interests represented at a meeting at which a quorum is attained, and may be subject to FICA's "specific action and veto rights" (§ 8).
• Amending the declaration takes 67% of the voting interests (§ 6.1). A change to a unit's size, appurtenances or share is a Material Amendment and needs the joinder of the affected owners and lienholders (§ 6.2). An amendment directly affecting, among other things, leasing restrictions, sale or transfer restrictions, assessment liens or the reallocation of common-element interests also needs a Majority of Institutional First Mortgagees (§ 20.2): those holding mortgages on units with at least 51% of the mortgaged units' votes (§ 2.23).
• The shared facilities. The owners "shall have the right to use the swimming pool, pool deck and accessory outdoor Common Element facilities of the Adjacent Condominium", 7600 Oceanside, under the easement in 7600's declaration, sharing the costs by unit count. 7600's association regulates the use, without discriminating against 7400's owners (§§ 2.2, 22). 7600's declaration (OR 19486/1101) grants the easement, and also covers its emergency generator, which 7400's § 22 does not mention. No agreement between the two associations is in our set.
• Flood plain. Part of the parking is below the federal flood plain, and each owner accepts the risk of water damage (§ 3.3(c)(iv)).
• The developer's mortgage. Bank of America's mortgage, given by Fisher Island Holdings, LLC (OR 19354/632) and assumed by the developer (OR 20095/4348), was subordinated to the declaration by the lender's consent. We confirm its release from the unit being insured.
• The declaration's date is blank. It is dated "as of the ___ day of ______, 2002" and was acknowledged in August 2002. The blank does not affect its recording; cite it by OR 20666/292.
• Disputes go first to mandatory nonbinding arbitration (§ 18.1), and the association needs a 75% vote of the owners to sue, except to enforce the declaration, collect assessments, challenge taxes or counterclaim (§ 25.2).
• FICA. The Master Covenants take precedence over the declaration (§ 11.1). FICA's own lien, and which version of its master covenants governs, are on the master page.
• Cited but not in our set: the Master Covenants (OR 13008/2052); the Bank of America mortgage and its assumption; and the condominium plans the Clerk noted at Condominium Plans Book 363, Page 7.