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

• The association's estoppel. The association levies its own assessments, secured by its own lien (§§ 13.1–13.2). The declaration promises a certificate within 15 days after request by an owner or mortgagee (§ 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 waiver or termination certificate, signed and acknowledged by an officer, is conclusive for anyone relying on it 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 board 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 approval for each lease (below).
• No fee is set. The declaration has no transfer fee, capital contribution or working-capital payment. The first-refusal certificate may carry only reasonable charges, within the Act's maximum (§ 18.5).
• Entity buyers. A unit owned by a corporation, partnership, trust or other fiduciary may be occupied only by its officers, partners, fiduciaries or designees and their families (§ 17.1). Identify who will live in the unit.
• Parking. Each unit has "the exclusive use of one or more parking spaces to be assigned by the Developer at the closing of the purchase of the Unit from the Developer", by assignments "in writing (but not recorded in the Public Records of the County)", with a copy kept by or given to the association (§ 3.3(c)(ii)). That space "shall not be assignable except together with the applicable Unit" (§ 3.3(c)(iv)). Get the unit's assignments from the association.
• The construction rules, if the buyer plans work (see the common questions).

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). The text is the same as Building 80's.

1. Notice. The owner sends the board notice by registered mail of a bona fide offer to purchase or lease that the owner intends to accept, with the offeror's name and address, the terms, and any further information the board asks for (§ 18.1).
2. Thirty days. "Not later than thirty (30) days" after the notice and that information, the association or its designee may elect, by certified mail, to buy or lease on the same terms. Closing is at the association's attorneys' office within 45 days; the seller pays the documentary stamps and other taxes and supplies title evidence.
3. Twenty days, and sixty. A later sentence frees the owner if the association fails to accept "within twenty (20) days", and the owner may then accept the outside offer within 60 days. The 20 days conflict with the 30 (master page). Allow 30, and rely on the certificate.
4. A members' vote. The association may exercise the option only with the approval of a majority of the units present at a meeting (§ 18.2).
5. Voidable sales and leases. A sale or lease in violation "shall be voidable" at the association's election (§ 18.1).

Exempt (§§ 18.7–18.9): transfers to a spouse, adult children, parents, parents-in-law or adult siblings, or to a trust or entity wholly theirs; the Developer; the association; foreclosure; an Institutional First Mortgagee; gifts and devises. Mortgages are unrestricted.

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 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." 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 an escrow of up to "one month's rental", returned within 15 days after the tenant leaves.
• The section also covers 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, form, fee or time limit for the approval is stated, apart from the 20-day language in § 18.1. A stay of more than one month makes a guest a lessee (§ 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)).

• The recording date is uncertain. The stamp reads "1990 FEB 1_ PM 4:41"; the second digit of the day is illegible on our copy. Where a date matters, cite the declaration by book and page, OR 14431/1144, and CFN 90R055626, and take the day from the Clerk's index or a certified copy.
• The lien. The association's lien is effective as of the recording of the declaration, and unpaid assessments bear interest "at the highest lawful rate" after 15 days (§ 13.2). "No fine shall exceed $50.00 … No fine shall become a lien upon a Unit" (By-Laws).
• The buyer owes the seller's arrears. The grantee is jointly and severally liable for the seller's unpaid assessments (§ 13.1), as a unit owner is under Chapter 718: "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 taking title is not liable for earlier assessments unless a claim of lien was recorded before the foreclosed 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.
• A 1990 contractor's lien, now historical. An "Amended Clerk's Certificate" recorded on 26 April 1990 (OR 14523/2296, CFN 90R154162) certifies that a claim of lien by William L. Bonnell Company, Inc. against "Oceanside Building II Phase II 79 Fisher Island Dr." (OR 14449/2493) was transferred to a cash bond of $38,785.72 posted by Turner Construction Co., reduced to $14,799.98 after a partial release (OR 14502/1318). Because the lien was moved to a bond, it should no longer encumber the land. The claim of lien, the partial release and any original Clerk's certificate are not in our set.
• Amending the declaration takes owners of more than 50% of the units together with 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 (§ 20), and the association needs 75% of the owners to sue (§ 25.2).
• The developer's mortgage. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company consented to the declaration, and no release is in our set. Confirm the unit was released.
• Nothing later is in our set. Oceanside No. Four's developer recorded a First Amendment with restated by-laws in December 1992; we hold no such instrument here, so the search forward from 26 April 1990 should look for one.
• Cited but not in our set: the claim of lien and partial release above, 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.

Our set also holds the association's undated "Construction and Contractor Rules and Regulations", which are not recorded.