The Falls at Heron Bay: 53 Coral Springs homes with a new-owner charge

A New Owner Capital Contribution, separate from Heron Bay's Capital Payment. Since 22 December 2025, Art. II ¶ 12 sets it "at an amount determined annually by the Board of Directors or $2,500.00 … paid at closing if the annual determination is not made" (Instr 120608983, p. 2). No Board figure is of record through 20 October 2026, so the Falls estoppel should state the amount in force at closing and whether the Board set one.

The amendment never names the buyer, though "any new owner(s)" and "paid at closing" point that way, so the contract should say who pays. Whoever pays, it "shall run with the land" and is collectable "in the same manner as an assessment", by lien and foreclosure with late fees, interest, attorneys' fees and costs.

The 2025 certificate's new text, missing from its 12 December recording, went on record only on 22 December. So the amount due turns on the text of record at closing.

Both associations assess every Falls lot (Art. IV ¶ 1 and Art. V ¶ 6, pp. 10, 12), so a sale needs both estoppels. Under Art. IV ¶ 1, Falls assessments, with collection costs, late charges and "reasonable attorneys' fees", are the owner's personal obligation and "a continuing lien upon the LOT", needing no recorded claim. So only the Falls estoppel, not a lien search, shows what the seller owes, which a buyer can owe too.

The 2025 notice puts the manager, Superior Association Management, at 20283 State Road 7, once in "Lauderdale Lakes" and once in "Lauderdale". Its witnesses, and one on the December 2025 certificates, give that address as Suite 219 in Boca Raton (Instr 120504878, pp. 1–2; Instr 120608983, p. 1). Confirm where Falls estoppel requests go.

Since 2011 Falls fines may exceed $1,000 in the aggregate, and a fine over $1,000 may be treated as a special assessment against the lot. The costs and attorney's fees of bringing an owner into compliance are deemed a special assessment too, whether or not the association sues. Ask for both on the Falls estoppel, since some fines can become liens.

Send the Falls association the recorded deed after closing, as a buyer's membership rights wait on it (articles' Art. V, Declaration p. 20).

A Falls owner rents on Heron Bay's terms, one lease in any 12-month period. No Falls document recorded through 20 October 2026 limits leasing, so the 2021 rental statute does not come into play. Art. V ¶ 5 (p. 12) binds tenants to the Falls covenants and holds the owner "responsible for all violations" they commit.

Article II requires slate, tile or cedar shake roofs, not asphalt or cedar shingles. It also calls for a garage for two or three cars and a uniform pole light in the front yard (¶¶ 5–7, pp. 6–7). Drives must be brick, pavers or stamped concrete, not plain concrete, loose stone or asphalt (¶ 10, p. 7).

In the building setbacks a Falls fence may rise 5 feet (¶ 2.B(ii), p. 5), where the master's Third Amendment allows 6 (OR 29036/664). The master's other fence rules apply too. Where Falls and master rules clash, Art. V ¶ 8 (p. 12) gives WCI, the developer and Declarant, the final word, as WCI's other Neighborhood Covenants do.

Falls documents say nothing on pets, or on vehicles beyond paved drives and garages, so Heron Bay's pet and parking answers govern.

Neither contribution shows how it was adopted. As recorded, only WCI as Declarant may amend the declaration, and only by "minor modification or enlargement of existing covenants" (Art. V ¶ 9, p. 12). Owners figure only in Art. V ¶ 10, on extensions. The 2011 certificate says the amendments "were duly adopted in accordance with the governing documents" (Instr 110123806, p. 1). The 2025 one says members passed its amendment on 19 November 2025 under the governing documents and Florida law (Instr 120608983, p. 1). Neither states a vote, and we found no by-laws. WCI did assign the association "all of the rights, powers and authorities of Declarant" under Art. V ¶ 11, effective 20 April 2011 and recorded 3 May 2011, before either certificate, and released itself (Instr 110021299, pp. 1–2). So the association may hold the Declarant's power to amend, but only by minor modification or enlargement of existing covenants. Underwriting decides whether either contribution is such a change, and so whether it is enforceable.

The 1996 Second Amendment puts the Falls lien behind an "INSTITUTIONAL MORTGAGE", a bona fide first mortgage held by the Declarant or a bank, insurer or other listed lender. It must be arm's-length, in good faith, not meant to avoid the lien and "recorded prior to the date on which a notice of lien is recorded". Under Art. I ¶ 10 and Art. IV ¶ 1.1 (OR 25575/854, pp. 1–2), its foreclosure, or a deed in lieu, extinguishes the lien and the new owner's personal liability for earlier sums. The 2025 text, unlike the 2011 one, also reaches a lender taking a lot by foreclosure, so its acquisition and its resale may each draw the contribution. Chapter 720 also caps what a foreclosing lender owes, and underwriting decides how the two fit.

The Falls declaration turned 30 on 14 December 2025, the first day Florida's Marketable Record Title Act (chapter 712) could cut off unpreserved covenants on a Falls lot. Underwriting decides whether the association's preservation notice, recorded 22 October 2025, is in proper form:

• It names the declaration as "originally recorded in Official Records Book 24242, Page 652 and Book 24258, Page 0220", as if the master and Falls declarations were one.
• Its legal description reads "See attached Plat as Exhibit 'A' and 'B'". Those exhibits copy the two declarations, and no plat is attached. The Falls declaration's Art. I ¶ 5 describes the land.

The 2011 and 2025 certificates may also preserve the covenants, if properly indexed and cited, as Heron Bay's chapter 712 point explains. Both 2025 certificates cite the declaration as OR 48009/1533, page 2 of the 2011 amendment, though their caption and "12. CAPITAL CONTRIBUTION" identify the provision. The 2011 certificate cites the declaration itself, OR 24258/220, and is indexed under "FALLS AT HERON BAY" (Instr 110123806, p. 1). Neither year's certificate is the majority instrument Art. V ¶ 10 needs to change or end the covenants, and our search through 20 October 2026 found none.

Plat and declaration agree that Parcel A is the center parcel inside the ring of lots, C and D are berm and planting areas and F is a private street. Parcels F and G carry an ingress and egress easement for Block A and B owners, "and not the public" (PB 159/39, sheets 1, 3, 4, 8). The Property Appraiser lists the Falls association as owner of A, C, D and F. WCI's warranty deed of them, dated 11 December 1997, limits A to waterbodies and landscaping, C and D to landscaping and F to private streets, as "a covenant running with the land" (OR 27607/455). Parcel G, the street shared with Long Cove, is Committed Property under the master declaration (Exhibit A), not Falls common area.