Seaside, Fisher Island: condominium rules, fees and closing points

• Seaside'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" (§ 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 is first offered to the association (below). Its certificate that the right was met or waived is "conclusive with respect to all persons who rely on such certificate in good faith" (§ 18.5). The declaration does not require it to be recorded; 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).
• No fee is set. The declaration has no transfer fee, capital contribution or approval fee. The first-refusal certificate may carry only "charges reasonably required", within the Condominium Act's maximum (§ 18.5).
• Entity buyers. No approval is needed. A corporate owner may let its officers, directors, designees and employees use the unit "without it constituting a lease" (§ 17.8), and a transfer to the owner's family, or to a trust or entity wholly owned by them, is exempt from the right of first refusal (§ 18.7).
• Parking and storage. Each unit has the exclusive use of one or more parking spaces assigned by the Developer when it sold the unit, by a written assignment that is not recorded, and "The Association shall be entitled to keep any fee it charges a Unit Owner for the privilege of having a parking space(s) assigned" (§ 3.3(c)(ii)). Storage spaces shown on the survey "will be assigned by the Association and shall be a Limited Common Element appurtenant to the Unit to which they have been assigned" (§ 3.3(d)). Get the unit's written parking and storage assignments from the association.
• The current rules. The board adds rules to Schedule "A" without recording them, as the 2003 letter shows (see the common questions below). Ask for the current set.

Yes, on sales only: "No Unit Owner other than the Developer may sell his Unit except by complying with the following provisions" (§ 18). The section does not cover leases.

1. Notice. The owner sends the association notice "by registered mail" of a bona fide outside offer 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 on the same terms. If it does, title closes "within forty five (45) days"; the seller pays the documentary stamps and provides an abstract or title binder 30 days before closing.
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 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 rather than on either period running.
4. A members' vote. The association may not exercise the option without the approval of a majority of the units present and voting at a meeting with a quorum (§ 18.2).
5. Voidable sales. A sale in violation "shall be voidable at any time at the election of the Association" (§ 18.1).
6. The certificate. It is "executed and acknowledged by an officer of the Association" and states that § 18.1 has been satisfied or that the right has been released or waived (§ 18.5).

Exempt: the Developer's units, and an Institutional First Mortgagee's after it takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu (§ 18); transfers to the owner's spouse, adult children, parents, parents-in-law or adult siblings, or to trusts and entities wholly owned by them; transfers by the Developer or the association, foreclosure sales and mortgagees (§ 18.7); and gifts and devises (§ 18.8).

Yes, without restriction. "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). That section requires no approval, minimum term, deposit or notice to the association, and the right of first refusal does not reach leases. The owner is jointly and severally liable to the association for a tenant's breaches of the declaration and the rules.

Section 17.8 "may be amended only by the affirmative vote of ninety percent (90%) of all Unit Owners". Even then, 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)). No leasing amendment is in our set, so for an investor buyer the records need searching forward from 1989.

FICA's ferry rule turns on an association approval where one is required, and Seaside's declaration requires none; tenants still register with FICA (master page).

• 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 by foreclosure or deed in lieu 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 that way 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). The leasing section takes 90% (§ 17.8). Termination needs 80% of the interests and the Primary Institutional First Mortgagee (§ 20).
• A survey sheet is missing from our copy. OR 14165/3006, sheet 9 of the 18-sheet survey, is not in our set, nor are the condominium plans the clerk's note points to, "CONDOMINIUM PLANS BK. 226 PAGE 1". We pull both before relying on the survey for a unit. The surveyor certified on 30 June 1989 that "the construction of the improvements is substantially complete" (Exh. 3).
• The acreage is slightly off. 125,235 square feet is 2.875 acres, not the 2.881 the legal description states (Exh. 1). Both figures are stated "more or less".
• The construction mortgage. Philadelphia National Bank consented to the declaration as holder of a mortgage dated 11 April 1988 and recorded 13 April 1988 at OR 13642/1789. No release is in our set; confirm the unit was released.
• The name. The declaration's names are "Seaside, A Condominium" and "Seaside at Fisher Island Condominium Association, Inc." (§§ 1.3, 2.4). Use them on the deed, the commitment and the estoppel request.
• Cited but not in our set: OR 14165/3006, Condominium Plans Book 226, Page 1, the Lindisfarne on Fisher Island, Section 1 plat, the Philadelphia National Bank mortgage and any release, and the current Schedule "A" rules. FICA's lien and the question of which master covenants govern are on the master page.

Our set also holds the association's letter of 10 November 2003 announcing a new Rule 22, which is not recorded.