Marina Village Gardens No. Two, 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 and other moneys owed on the unit, and a person relying on the certificate "shall be protected thereby" (§ 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 assesses and liens on its own (§ 22), so its 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 (see below).
• Notice of the sale. The notice the declaration requires is the first-refusal notice: before accepting an outside offer, the seller sends it to the Board by registered mail (§ 18.1).
• No fee is set. The recorded documents have no transfer fee, capital contribution or working-capital charge. The fee for the first-refusal certificate may not exceed the charges reasonably required for it or the maximum the Condominium Act allows (§ 18.5).
• Entity buyers need no approval. A corporate owner votes through a certificate filed with the association's Secretary, without which its vote is not counted (By-Laws § 3.5(c)), and it may let its officers, directors, designees and employees use the unit without that being a lease (§ 17.8).
• Parking. Parking-space assignments are made in writing and are not recorded; the association holds a copy (§ 3.3(c)(ii)). Ask for the unit's assignment.
• The unit's number and share. Confirm both against the Clerk's record and the condominium plans before the deed is drawn (see below).
• Rules. None adopted after 1989 is in our set. Ask the association for its current rules.

Yes, on sales. Any owner other than the Developer must follow § 18 before selling:

1. A seller who receives a bona fide outside offer he intends to accept gives the Board notice of it by registered mail. The notice is itself an offer to sell to the association on the same terms (§ 18.1).
2. The association or its designee may elect, by certified mail, "Not later than thirty (30) days after receipt of such notice" and of any further information it asks for. Title then closes at the association's attorneys' office "within forty five (45) days" (§ 18.1).
3. The next paragraph says that if the association fails to accept "within twenty (20) days", the owner may accept the outside offer within sixty (60) days; if that sale does not close, the process starts again. The 30-day and 20-day periods conflict; allow 30, and rely on the certificate rather than on either period running.
4. The association needs the prior approval of a majority of the units present and voting at a meeting before it exercises the option (§ 18.2).
5. A sale made in breach of § 18 "shall be voidable at any time at the election of the Association" (§ 18.1). The deed to the buyer is deemed an assumption of the declaration, By-Laws, Articles, rules and Master Covenants.
6. A certificate, executed and acknowledged by an officer, that § 18.1 was satisfied or waived "shall be conclusive with respect to all persons who rely on such certificate in good faith" (§ 18.5). Once the right is released or waived, the unit "may be sold, conveyed or leased free and clear" of it (§ 18.4). We record the certificate with the deed.

The right does not reach leases. Section 18.7 excepts transfers to a spouse, adult children, parents, parents-in-law or adult siblings, or to a trust or entity wholly owned by the owner or those relatives; transfers to or by the Developer or the association; foreclosure sales and deeds in lieu; and an Institutional First Mortgagee taking title. Gifts, devises and intestacy are free (§ 18.8), and mortgaging is unrestricted (§ 18.9).

Yes, without limits. "There shall be no restrictions on the frequency of the leasing of Units, on the duration of any tenancy thereof nor on the persons to whom a Unit may be leased" (§ 17.8). The section sets no approval, minimum term, deposit or notice to the association, and says nothing of subleases; the first refusal does not reach leases. The owner is jointly and severally liable for the tenant's violations, and the section "may be amended only by the affirmative vote of ninety percent (90%) of all Unit Owners".

FICA's rules apply on top. Tenants register with FICA, and FICA may refuse the ferry to a tenant when a required association approval was not obtained; this declaration requires none (master page).

No leasing amendment is in our set. One adopted since 1989 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 1989 first.

• The share schedule and the unit numbers. The First Amendment, made "to renumber certain of the Units … and to correct certain scrivener's errors", deleted Exhibit 2, the schedule of each unit's share, and replaced it with a new Exhibit "2" said to be attached; it also replaced the survey, Exhibit 3 (OR 13899/1043). No replacement Exhibit 2 is among its 20 recorded pages in our set (OR 13899/1043–1062). The only schedule we hold is the original, which the amendment deleted. Until the replacement is found, confirm the unit's number and share against the Clerk's record and the condominium plans (Condominium Plans Book 218, Pages 1 and 14).
• A missing page. Our copy lacks OR 13875/1032, the declaration's definitions in §§ 2.5–2.15.
• The association's name. Use the corrected name, Marina Village at Fisher Island Condominium No. Two Association, Inc., on the estoppel request and closing papers. The association's joinder in the declaration, under the old name, is dated 15 September 1988, before its articles were filed on 20 October 1988.
• 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 15 days bear interest "at the highest lawful rate". The lien covers assessments, interest, attorneys' fees and costs, "is effective as of the date of the recording of this Declaration", and is evidenced by a recorded claim of lien (§ 13.2). After 30 days' notice the association may accelerate three months' installments. How the lien stands against a particular mortgage is for underwriting; rely on the estoppel.
• A foreclosing first mortgagee. An Institutional First Mortgagee that takes title by foreclosure (having named the association) or by deed in lieu is not liable for assessments due before its title, except a share "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 an opportunity for 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); § 17.8 needs 90% of all unit owners. No amendment may affect the Developer's or mortgagees' rights without their consent (§ 6.4).
• The commercial units. Commercial units may be used for retail, service or other commercial purposes permitted by zoning, and no pets may be kept in them (§§ 17.1, 17.3). The declaration may not be amended or enforced so as to discriminate against commercial or residential units without a majority of the owners of that type (§ 24.1). The documents we hold do not say who owns the commercial units or what occupies them, and none mentions the Fisher Island Club.
• The Developer's rights. The Developer may alter, subdivide or combine units it owns, reallocate their shares, and amend the declaration alone to do so (§ 10), and every owner appoints it attorney-in-fact, irrevocably, to sign government consents for the plan of development (§ 24.12). Nothing we hold shows whether Island Developers, Ltd. or a successor still owns a unit.
• One association, possibly more than one condominium. The Articles and By-Laws let the association run other Fisher Island condominiums, with separate budgets and votes on one condominium's matters limited to its owners (By-Laws § 18). Nothing we hold shows that it does, or that the three Marina Village associations have merged.
• Cited but not in our set: the replacement Exhibit 2, the missing page OR 13875/1032, the condominium plans, the Commercial Subdivision of Harbour Terminal plat (Plat Book 23, Page 67), and the Master Covenants recorded at OR 13008/2052 (which version now governs is on the master page).