Bayview No. Two, Fisher Island: condominium rules, fees and closing points

• The association's estoppel. Bayview No. Two levies its own assessments, secured by its own lien (§ 13). The declaration promises a certificate within fifteen (15) days (§ 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).
• The Certificate of Termination of Right of First Refusal, executed and acknowledged by an officer, which is conclusive for those who rely on it in good faith (§ 18.5). We record it with the deed. The next section has the periods.
• Notice of the sale, by registered mail to the Board, of the bona fide offer and its terms (§ 18.1).
• No fee to the association is set in the declaration or By-Laws: no transfer fee, capital contribution or approval fee. The certificate's fee is capped at what the Condominium Act allows, and there is no charge for approving a lease renewal (§ 18.5).
• Entity and trust buyers. Occupancy of a unit owned by an entity or trust is limited to its officers, partners, beneficiaries or designees and their families (§ 17.1).
• Parking, golf-cart and storage assignments. These are Limited Common Elements assigned by a written assignment that is not recorded (§ 3.3(b), (d)). Ask the association which spaces go with the unit.

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" § 18 (§ 18.1). It works like this:

1. The owner gives the Board notice of a bona fide offer by registered mail.
2. The association, or its designee, may elect by certified mail "Not later than thirty (30) days after receipt of such notice" to buy or lease on the same terms. A purchase needs the approval of a majority of the units present and voting at a meeting with a quorum (§ 18.2).
3. If it elects to buy, title closes at the association's attorneys' office "within forty five (45) days" after its election. The seller gives a statutory warranty deed, pays the documentary stamps and delivers a title binder at least thirty (30) days before closing.
4. 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", "within twenty (20) days after receipt of notice and all additional information requested", the owner may accept the outside offer within sixty (60) days. The twenty days conflict with the thirty in step 2. Allow thirty.
5. A sale in violation of § 18 "shall be voidable at any time at the election of the Association".
6. The association gives the certificate described in the section above (§ 18.5).

Exempt transfers (§ 18.7): a transfer to the owner's spouse, adult children, parents, parents-in-law or adult siblings, or to a trust or entity they wholly own; transfers by the developer or the association; foreclosure sales; and an Institutional First Mortgagee taking title. Gifts and devises are free of § 18, but each successor stays bound by it (§ 18.8), and mortgages are unrestricted (§ 18.9).

Yes, with the association's approval. Under § 17.8:

• the lease must be written, cover the whole unit and "be approved by the Association", and it must let the association terminate it 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 of each tenancy;
• the association may require a deposit of up to one month's rent, with any balance returned within fifteen (15) days after the tenant leaves;
• no minimum term is stated, but a stay of more than one month counts as a lease (§ 17.1).

No fee, interview or day count is stated for the approval itself, and every lease is also offered to the association first under § 18.1. The developer was exempt from § 17 except the pet rule and lease approval (§ 17.12).

FICA may refuse a tenant the ferry when a required approval was not obtained (master page), so the association's approval should be in hand before the tenant arrives.

No leasing amendment is in our set, and nothing recorded after May 1991 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 17 May 1991.

• The lien. It is effective "as of the date of the recording of this Declaration", 17 May 1991 (§ 13.2). Amounts unpaid fifteen (15) days after they fall due bear interest at "the highest lawful rate"; the declaration sets no late fee. After thirty (30) days' written notice, the association may accelerate "the next twelve (12) months'" installments (§ 13.2).
• The buyer owes what the seller did not pay. The grantee is jointly and severally liable for the seller's 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)).
• Bank-owned resales. As recorded, a first mortgagee is not liable for assessments that fell due before its title unless a claim of lien was recorded before its mortgage (§ 13.5). No amendment of § 13.5 is in our set. Chapter 718 now makes a first mortgagee that acquires title by foreclosure or deed in lieu liable for 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.
• Amending the declaration takes the owners of more than 50% of the units plus at least 66 2/3% of the Board, or the owners of more than 80% of the units (§ 6.1).
• The shared pool. If an adjacent condominium's declaration so provides, its owners "shall have the right to use the swimming pool, spa and related facilities located within the Condominium Property". The costs are shared by unit count, and Bayview No. Two's association regulates the use (§ 22). Bayview No. Three's declaration claims that right over No. Two's pool. No agreement between the two associations is in our set; ask how the shared costs are billed.
• The developer disclaimed its warranties, and the disclaimer binds later owners (§ 25).
• The developer's lender. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company consented to the declaration, but the consent does not give its mortgage's recording data. We confirm the mortgage was released from the unit being insured.
• FICA. The Master Covenants prevail 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) and the Mutual Benefit mortgage. Bayview No. Three's declaration, recorded after this one, is on its own page.