Bayside Village East, 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 for a sale: 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). A lease may need a deposit (see below), and the association "may charge a use fee to a Unit Owner for the use of the Common Elements or Association Property" (§ 13.9), which the estoppel should show if one is charged.
• A buyer who will lease, or a sale subject to a lease. The lease needs the association's approval and goes through the first refusal, and the association may ask for a deposit (§§ 17.8, 18.1).
• Entity buyers. A unit owned by a corporation, partnership, trust or fiduciary may be occupied only by the people § 17.1 lists — a corporate officer, director, stockholder, designee or employee; a partner, designee or employee; a fiduciary, designee or beneficiary — or by approved tenants, with their families. Name the intended occupant before closing.
• Parking. Each unit was assigned at least one space at the Developer's sale by a written assignment that is not recorded (§ 3.3(c)(ii)). Ask the association for the unit's assignment.

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

1. The owner sends the Board the bona fide offer to purchase or lease by registered mail.
2. The association may elect within 30 days to buy or to lease on the same terms. Title then closes, or the lease is signed, within 45 days.
3. A later sentence says: "In the event the Association or its designee shall fail to accept such offer 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" (OR 13718/1034). 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 provide that it may not be modified, extended or assigned without the Board's consent, that the tenant may not sublet without it, and that the Board may terminate the lease or evict 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, that the right was satisfied 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.

The "restrictions regarding sales of Units" do not apply to units owned by the Developer or to an Institutional First Mortgagee acquiring title by foreclosure or deed in lieu, and such a mortgagee may also lease without first offering the unit to the association (§ 18.1). Section 18.7 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, with the association's approval and no more than once a calendar year (§ 17.8):

• "No portion of a Unit (other than an entire Unit) may be rented."
• "All leases shall be in writing, be approved by the Association", and must let the association terminate the lease on the tenant's default.
• "A unit may be leased no more than one (1) time in any calendar year", and the owner must notify the association every time the unit is to be occupied by a tenant. The owner is jointly and severally liable for the tenant's violations.
• The association may require the owner to place in escrow "a reasonable sum, not to exceed the equivalent of one month's rental", to repair damage by tenants; any balance is returned "within fifteen (15) days following the tenants vacating the Unit".
• The section also applies to subleases, assignments and renewals that change more than the expiration date and the rent.
• The declaration sets no approval fee, deadline or interview. Ask the association for its procedure and fee.

Every lease also goes through the first refusal (above). The Developer's exemption from § 17 does not reach "Section 17.8 hereof to the extent that said Section 17.8 requires leases and tenants to be approved by the Association" (§ 17.12).

Without approval, a tenant may be refused the ferry. FICA may refuse the ferry to a tenant when a required association approval was not obtained (master page). Get the approval in writing before the tenant moves in.

Occupancy is limited too. Units are residences only; "Under no circumstances may more than one family reside in a Unit at one time"; occupancy may not "exceed two (2) persons per bedroom and one (1) person per den", apart from visiting guests; and anyone occupying a unit "for more than one (1) month" is treated as a lessee "regardless of whether a lease exists or rent is paid" (§ 17.1).

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 1988 first.

• 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. An Institutional First Mortgagee that acquires title by foreclosure or deed in lieu is not liable for earlier assessments "unless such share is secured by a claim of lien that is recorded prior to the recording of the foreclosed mortgage" (§ 13.5). 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 "No fine shall become a lien upon a Unit" (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 pool easements. Bayside Village owners hold "a non-exclusive easement over the Condominium Property" to use this condominium's pool, and these owners may use the pool within Bayside Village (§ 22, OR 13718/1038). Expect the easement as an exception on the commitment.
• Building numbers. Describe a unit by its unit number and the declaration's building number, and confirm both against the Property Appraiser's record and the condominium plans (Condominium Plans Book 214, Page 13).
• The Developer's rights. The Developer may change units it owns (§ 10), and holds an irrevocable power of attorney for government consents (§ 25.11).
• Cited but not in our set: the condominium plans, the Lindisfarne on Fisher Island, Section 1 plat (Plat Book 128, Page 59), and the Master Covenants recorded at OR 13008/2052 (which version now governs is on the master page).