Bayside Village, Fisher Island: condominium rules, fees and closing points

• The association's estoppel. "Within fifteen (15) days after request by a Unit Owner or mortgagee", the association must certify the assessments owed on the unit (§ 13.7). Chapter 718 now requires that "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).
• The right-of-first-refusal certificate. The association's certificate that its right was satisfied or waived is the document that clears the sale, and a lease too (see below).
• Notice of the sale. The notice the declaration requires is the first-refusal notice: before accepting an outside offer, the owner sends it to the Board by registered mail (§ 18.1).
• No fee is set. The recorded documents have no transfer fee or capital contribution. The first-refusal certificate may cost no more than "the charges reasonably required for same", and never more than the Condominium Act allows (§ 18.5).
• Entity buyers. A unit owned by a corporation, partnership, trust or other fiduciary may be occupied only by the people § 17.1 lists — an officer, director, stockholder, designee or employee; a partner or employee; the fiduciary or a beneficiary — or by permitted occupants under an approved lease, with their families. Name the intended occupant before closing.
• Parking and storage. Each unit "shall be entitled to the exclusive use of one parking space to be assigned by the Developer at the closing of the purchase of the Unit from the Developer". Assignments are in writing but "not recorded in the Public Records of the County", with a copy kept by or given to the association; extra spaces may be assigned, and an owner may reassign an extra space by an unrecorded writing (§ 3.3(c)). The space assigned at the Developer's sale may be transferred only with the unit; when a unit with an extra space is conveyed, the extra space becomes appurtenant to another unit the same owner holds, if there is one (§ 3.3(c)(iv)). Storage cubicles, not necessarily on the unit's floor, are assigned by the association as limited common elements (§ 3.3(d)). Ask the association for the unit's written assignments.
• The construction mortgage. Irving Trust Company of New York consented to the declaration as holder of the mortgage recorded at OR 12249/868 on 27 August 1984. Confirm it has been satisfied or released as to the unit.

Yes, on sales and on leases. "No Unit Owner other than the Developer may sell or lease his Unit except by complying with the following provisions" (§ 18):

1. An owner who receives a bona fide offer "to purchase or lease" his unit gives the Board notice of it by registered mail.
2. The association may elect "Not later than thirty (30) days" after the notice to buy or lease on the same terms, and then closes, or signs the lease, within "forty five (45) days".
3. If the association fails to accept, "or, in the case of a lease, shall fail to reject the proposed lease as permitted by Section 17.8 hereof, within twenty (20) days", the owner may accept the outside offer within "sixty (60) days". The 30-day and 20-day periods conflict; allow 30, and rely on the certificate rather than on either period running.
4. A lease to an outside offeror must bar its modification, extension or assignment, and any subletting, without the Board's consent, and must let the Board terminate it or evict the tenant on the tenant's default or on foreclosure of the association's lien.
5. The association may not exercise its option to buy or lease "without the prior approval of Owners of a majority of the Units present in person or by proxy and voting at a meeting at which a quorum has been obtained" (§ 18.2).
6. A sale or lease made in breach of § 18 "shall be voidable at any time at the election of the Association". If the Board so elects, the association may sue to evict the tenant under an unauthorized lease or to void an unauthorized sale, and the owner pays its costs, attorneys' fees included.
7. A certificate "executed and acknowledged by an officer of the Association" that § 18.1 was satisfied, or that the right was released or waived, "shall be conclusive with respect to all persons who rely on such certificate in good faith" (§ 18.5). We record it with the deed.

None of this applies to units owned by or leased to the Developer, or to an Institutional First Mortgagee acquiring title by foreclosure or deed in lieu (§ 18.1). Section 18.7 also excepts any lease, sale or conveyance to the owner's spouse, adult children, parents, parents-in-law or adult siblings, or to a trustee, corporation or other entity of which the owner or those relatives "are and continue to be the sole beneficiary or equity owner"; to the Developer or the association; by an officer conducting a foreclosure sale or by a deed in lieu; and to an Institutional First Mortgagee taking title. Gifts, devises and intestacy are free (§ 18.8), and a unit may be mortgaged without restriction (§ 18.9).

Yes, once a calendar year. Whether the association must approve the lease is unclear on the face of the declaration.

• What § 17.8 says. "No portion of a Unit, less than the entire Unit, may be rented." Every lease is deemed to bind the tenant to the declaration, the association's articles, by-laws and rules, and the Master Covenants. "A Unit may be leased no more than one time in any calendar year", and the owner must notify the association "each and every time his Unit is to be occupied by a tenant". The owner is jointly and severally liable for the tenant. The section as recorded has no approval clause, deposit or fee.
• What other sections assume. Section 17.1 lets a unit be occupied by "permitted occupants under an approved lease or sub-lease", and § 18.1 speaks of the association's right to "reject the proposed lease as permitted by Section 17.8". Section 17.8 gives no such right. The recorded page missing from our copy (OR 13008/2115) holds §§ 17.2–17.7, not § 17.8, which is on the next page, so it cannot settle the point. Bayside Village East's declaration, recorded in 1988 on the same form, does require approval.
• What to do. The first refusal on leases applies whatever the answer: a lease must first be offered to the association (§ 18.1). Ask the association whether it approves leases and on what terms, and have its written approval or waiver before a tenant moves in. FICA may refuse the ferry to a tenant when a required association approval was not obtained (master page), and here it is not clear whether one is required.

Occupancy is limited too. Units are residences only; "Under no circumstances may more than one family reside in a Unit at one time"; and occupancy may not exceed "two (2) persons per bedroom and one (1) person per den", apart from temporary guests. Anyone occupying a unit "for more than one (1) month" is treated as a lessee (§ 17.1). Sections 17 and 18 do not bind the Developer or its units (§ 17.11).

No leasing amendment is in our set. One that limits rentals "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)), so it would bind a buyer. For an investor buyer we search the records forward from 1986 first.

• Missing pages. Our copy lacks OR 13008/2115, with the end of § 17.1 and §§ 17.2–17.7 (the pet rule among them), and By-Laws pages OR 2178 and 2180. We pull certified copies before relying on those provisions.
• The construction lender's priority. Irving Trust Company of New York's consent says: "Notwithstanding the foregoing consent, and as provided in the Declaration, Mortgagee's lien on the property shall be superior to the lien for assessments granted to the Association." Confirm that mortgage (OR 12249/868) is satisfied or released as to the unit.
• The buyer owes what the seller did not pay. "the grantee shall be jointly and severally liable with the grantor for all unpaid Assessments" (§ 13.1), and "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)).
• The lien. Assessments unpaid "fifteen (15) days" bear interest "at the highest lawful rate"; the lien is effective "as of the date of the recording of this Declaration" and is evidenced by a claim of lien (§ 13.2). How it stands against a particular mortgage is for underwriting; rely on the estoppel.
• A foreclosing first mortgagee. Under § 13.5 an Institutional First Mortgagee taking title by foreclosure or deed in lieu is not liable for earlier assessments unless a claim of lien was recorded before its mortgage. Chapter 718 now makes such a first mortgagee liable for the lesser of the unpaid 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)). Which applies to a bank-owned resale is for underwriting.
• Fines are capped at $50.00, need notice and a hearing, and never become a lien (By-Laws § 5(m)).
• Amendments need owners of more than 50% of the units together with at least 66 2/3% of the Board, or owners of more than 80% of the units (§ 6.1). The Developer's execution of an amendment "shall be conclusive evidence that the amendment does not materially and adversely affect substantial property rights of Unit Owners" (§ 6.2).
• What the common expenses include. "the costs of charging and re-charging golf carts used for transportation, certain costs affiliated with the sharing of swimming pool facilities, and all reserves" (§ 2.9).
• The master covenants are cited without book and page. The declaration defines them as those "recorded of even date herewith in the Public Records of the County" (§ 2.20). The other Island Developers declarations cite OR 13008/2052, recorded the same day. Which version now governs is on the master page.
• Building numbers. Describe a unit by the declaration's building and unit numbers, and confirm them against the Property Appraiser's record and the condominium plans.
• Cited but not in our set: the three missing pages, the Irving Trust mortgage and any release of it, the condominium plans, the Lindisfarne on Fisher Island, Section 1 plat (Plat Book 128, Page 59), and the Master Covenants.