Harborview at Fisher Island: condominium rules, fees and closing points

• Harborview's estoppel. The association levies its own assessments, secured by its own lien (§§ 13.1–13.2). The declaration promises a certificate "Within fifteen (15) days after request by a Unit Owner or mortgagee of a Unit" (§ 13.7). Chapter 718 is now stricter: "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. Every sale and every lease is first offered to the association (below). Its certificate is "conclusive with respect to all persons who rely on such certificate in good faith" (§ 18.5). Recording it with the deed is the safer course.
• Notice of the sale. The owner's notice of the outside offer, sent to the association by registered mail, starts the association's time to decide (§ 18.1).
• Any lease. If the unit is let at closing, check that the lease was approved (§ 17.8). A buyer who means to rent needs the association's approval for each lease, once a calendar year (below).
• No sale fee is set. The declaration has no transfer fee, capital contribution or approval fee. But "The Association may charge a use fee to a Unit Owner for the use of the Common Elements or Association Property" (§ 13.9), so ask the estoppel to show any.
• Entity buyers. A unit owned by a corporation, partnership, trust or other fiduciary may be occupied only by its officers, directors, stockholders, partners, fiduciaries, beneficiaries, designees or employees, as the case may be, and their families (§ 17.1). Identify who will live in the unit.
• Parking and storage. Each unit has the exclusive use of "one or more parking spaces and one (1) storage space to be assigned by the Developer at the closing of the purchase of the Unit from the Developer", by written assignments that are not recorded (§ 3.3(c)). Get the unit's written assignments from the association.
• The survey for Buildings 45 and 46. See the title points.

Yes, on sales and 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. Notice. The owner sends the association notice by registered mail of a bona fide offer "to purchase or lease" that the owner intends to accept, with any further information the association asks for (§ 18.1).
2. Thirty days. "Not later than thirty (30) days" after the notice and that information, the association may elect to buy or lease on the same terms, and then closes, or signs the lease, "within forty five (45) days".
3. Twenty days, and sixty. If the association "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". The 20 days conflict with the 30, as in the other Island Developers declarations (master page). Allow 30, and rely on the certificate.
4. A members' vote is needed before the association buys or leases (§ 18.2).
5. Voidable sales and leases. A sale or lease in breach "shall be voidable at any time at the election of the Association", which may sue to void the deed or evict the tenant (§ 18.1). A lease to an outside offeror may not be modified, extended, assigned or sublet without the board's consent.
6. The certificate under § 18.5 is executed and acknowledged by an officer. "No charge shall be made in connection with the consideration of the approval of an extension or renewal of a previously approved lease."

Exempt: the Developer's sales, and an Institutional First Mortgagee's sales and leases after it takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu (§ 18); transfers to the owner's family, or to a trust or entity wholly theirs, transfers by the Developer or the association, foreclosure sales and mortgagees (§ 18.7); and gifts and devises (§ 18.8).

Yes, with the association's approval, 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 shall provide that the Association shall have the right to terminate the lease upon default by the tenant".
• "A unit may be leased no more than one (1) time in any calendar year." The owner must notify the association "each and every time his Unit is to be occupied by a Tenant", and is jointly and severally liable for the tenant.
• The association "may require of Unit Owners wishing to lease their Units the placement in escrow with the Association of a reasonable sum, not to exceed the equivalent of one month's rental", with the balance returned within 15 days after the tenant leaves.
• The section reaches subleases, assignments, and renewals that change more than the expiration date and rent, and every lease also goes through the right of first refusal.

No minimum term is stated, and the declaration sets no criteria, deadline, fee or interview for the approval, apart from the 20-day language in § 18.1. Anyone staying "for more than one (1) month" is treated as a lessee, whether or not rent is paid (§ 17.1). Because every lease needs the association's approval, FICA may refuse the ferry to a tenant whose lease was not approved in advance (master page).

No leasing amendment is in our set. One made later would be limited by Chapter 718: an amendment that prohibits renting, changes the rental term or limits how often a unit may be rented "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)).

• Survey sheets for two buildings are not in our set. The survey has 44 sheets, about eleven for each building. In the original recording, the sheets numbered as the declaration's Building 1 (OR 14340/2779–2788) show Building 3: Building 3 is hatched on the site plan, and the floor plans carry units 4611 and 4612 and the caption "Building 3". The Book 14385 pages with the same sheet numbers show Building 1, with Building 1 hatched, units 4511, 4512 and 4531, and added sheets "11A" and "11B"; two of them carry both books' stamps, so that instrument re-recorded pages of the declaration. We hold only 13 of its pages, so we cannot say whether it corrected the survey, amended the declaration or did more. Our copy of the original also lacks OR 14340/2801–2810, the declaration's Building 3 sheets 24–33. So:
  • Units numbered 45xx (the declaration's Building 1): pull the whole Book 14385 instrument, which begins at OR 14385/2661 or 2662.
  • Units numbered 46xx (the declaration's Building 3): pull OR 14340/2801–2810.
  • Units numbered 44xx and 47xx (Buildings 2 and 4): their sheets, OR 14340/2789–2799 and 2811–2821, are in our copy.
  • Every unit: the condominium plans, "CONDOMINIUM PLANS BK. 230 PAGE 12" in the clerk's note, which we do not hold.
• The lien. The association's lien is effective "as of the date of the recording of this Declaration" and is evidenced by a recorded claim of lien. Assessments not paid "within fifteen (15) days" bear interest "at the highest lawful rate" (§ 13.2). "No fine shall exceed $50.00", and a fine never becomes a lien (By-Laws § 5(m)).
• The buyer owes the seller's arrears. "the grantee shall be jointly and severally liable with the grantor for all unpaid Assessments" (§ 13.1). Chapter 718 says the same: "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. Under the declaration, an Institutional First Mortgagee that takes title is not liable for earlier assessments unless a claim of lien was recorded before its mortgage (§ 13.5). Chapter 718 now makes a first mortgagee that acquires title by foreclosure or deed in lieu owe 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)1.). Which rule governs a particular sale is for underwriting; the estoppel shows what the association claims.
• Amending the declaration takes 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). Termination needs 80% of the interests and the Primary Institutional First Mortgagee, and § 20 itself cannot be amended without all Institutional First Mortgagees and, while it owns a unit, the Developer (§ 20).
• The construction mortgage. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company's consent leaves its mortgage's date, book and page blank, and no release is in our set. Confirm the unit was released.
• Names. The survey sheets say "Harbor View Condominium at Fisher Island", and the Secretary of State's certificate on the articles spells the name "CONMDOMINIUM". The declaration and the articles' own caption are correct; use the declaration's names on the deed, the commitment and the estoppel request.
• Cited but not in our set: the whole Book 14385 instrument, OR 14340/2801–2810 and whatever followed OR 14340/2858, Condominium Plans Book 230, Page 12, the Mutual Benefit Life mortgage and any release, and the Commercial Subdivision of Harbor Terminal plat. FICA's lien and the question of which master covenants govern are on the master page.