Villa Sorrento at Heron Bay: HOA rules, fees and closing points

The association's estoppel certificate, before the deed is signed. Article 6, "Resale Restrictions", says:

• "No Owner may sell or convey his interest in a Lot unless all sums due the Association shall be paid in full and an estoppel certificate in recordable form to such effect shall have been received by the Owner."
• A sale without one "shall be deemed to be a breach of this Declaration, shall be wholly null and void, and shall confer no title or interest whatsoever upon any purchase", although "any deed may be validated by subsequent approval of the Association".
• The association must deliver the certificate, or notice of what is unpaid, within ten (10) days of a written request, and a failure to respond in time "shall be deemed an approval of the transfer".
• The owner pays "a reasonable sum … not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00)".
• A Preferred Lender taking title by foreclosure or deed in lieu, and the Declarant, are exempt (Declaration Art. 6, p. 15).

Section 4.8 repeats that "no sale or other disposition of Lots shall be permitted until an estoppel letter is received", adds that a buyer of a delinquent Lot may not occupy it or use the Common Areas until the seller's arrears are paid, and requires owners to hand the Declarant's documents to their grantee (§ 4.8, p. 10). Because the certificate is to be in recordable form, it can be recorded with the deed.

Chapter 720's estoppel statute sets its own deadline and fee limits (Fla. Stat. § 720.30851; see HOA approvals and estoppels). How they sit with Article 6's ten days and $50 is a question for underwriting, as is the declaration's clause letting the Board raise its dollar figures by a consumer price index from 1998, "unless limited or prohibited by law" (§ 11.11, p. 21).

Also:

• No resale contribution. The Capital Contribution of three months' assessments is paid once per Lot, on the Declarant's sale (§ 4.16, p. 11).
• The master's estoppel and Capital Payment, as on the master page.
• A tenant in place needs the association's written approval of the lease.

Only with the association's prior written approval, "which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld" (§ 5.18, p. 14). The terms:

• no lease may be approved for a term of less than one (1) year;
• the entire Lot and Unit only;
• on forms the association approves, which let it terminate the lease as the owner's agent if the tenant defaults;
• unpaid assessments are a reasonable ground to refuse approval;
• the owner places up to $250 in escrow against tenant damage, returned within 90 days after the tenants leave, less an administrative charge of up to $50 (§ 5.18, p. 14).

These rules are in the declaration as recorded in 1998, and no leasing amendment is in our set, so nothing here was adopted after the 1 July 2021 date that Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h) uses for rental amendments. The master's rules apply on top: one lease in any 12 months, with tenants registered first (master page).

• The owner maintains the whole Lot and Unit, "including, but not limited to, the lawn, landscaping, shrubbery, trees, sprinkler system, finished surface of the driveway, roof, and all other structures and improvements thereon". The association cuts the front lawn only and need not replace landscaping. If an owner falls behind, it may do the work after thirty (30) days' written notice and lien the Lot (§ 4.4, p. 8).
• The owner insures the home. The association's casualty insurance covers the Common Areas "but not for the Units" (§ 8.1.1, p. 17). It may buy flood insurance but need not; if it does not, each owner must insure his own Lot (§ 8.1.3, p. 17). It may also choose to insure the Units as a common expense (§ 8.1.5, p. 17), so ask whether it has.
• Villas built close together. There is no party-wall article, but each owner may cross adjoining Lots and the Common Areas to paint "the exterior of the Lot Owner's Unit and wall", rebuild after a loss, and service air-conditioning equipment and meters sited there, and where a home encroaches, an easement covers it and access to maintain it, roof overhang and exterior walls included (§§ 3.7.1–3.7.2, p. 6). Since 2001 an owner may pass through the neighbor's gate to reach his own rear yard for lawn care and emergencies (§ 3.7.6, Instr 100993880, p. 1).
• One Unit per Lot, "not to exceed two (2) stories in height" (§ 5.2, p. 11).

• The void-sale clause reaches back. Each earlier resale in the chain should have had an estoppel certificate, or a later validation by the association. What a missing one means for an earlier conveyance is a question for underwriting.
• Lien priority. The lien is continuing and is superior to all liens except tax liens and a Preferred Lender's first mortgage recorded before the association's claim of lien. A lender or foreclosure buyer takes subject only to assessments "coming due after such foreclosure (or conveyance in lieu of foreclosure)", and the uncollected balance is spread over all Lots (§§ 4.1, 4.9, pp. 7, 10). Assessments are the personal obligation of the owner when due "and all subsequent Owners until paid" (§ 4.1, p. 7), and Chapter 720 makes a buyer jointly and severally liable for them too (Fla. Stat. § 720.3085(2)(b)).
• Fines of up to $100, $500 and $1,000 for a first, second and later violation are treated as assessments (§ 7.3, p. 16). Chapter 720 lets an association fine only after at least 14 days' written notice and a hearing before a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors or employees (Fla. Stat. § 720.305(2)(b)). A fine under $1,000 cannot become a lien (§ 720.305(2)); a $1,000 fine may turn up in the search as well as on the estoppel.
• Amendments and turnover. WCI made all three amendments as Declarant, the First under its pre-turnover power to amend and the others under its easement power (§§ 3.7.3, 11.4, pp. 6, 20); none says whether turnover had occurred, and no turnover instrument is in our set. Apart from the Declarant's power before turnover, an amendment takes 66-2/3% of the entire membership at a meeting, and may not impair Preferred Lenders' rights without their consent (§ 11.4, p. 20).
• Signed under a power of attorney. WCI's officer signed the declaration under a power of attorney whose citation is hand-corrected from OR 28488/632–637 to OR 28911/1040–1044 (p. 24). That power of attorney is not in our set; nor are the BankBoston mortgage (OR 26082/1) or the City plat exemption that creates the Lots.
• The Heron Bay Four school impact lien. A 1995 Educational Impact Lien Agreement between Broward County and WCI liens all the Heron Bay Four land to secure school impact fees and allocates an amount to Parcel F, where every Villa Sorrento Lot lies. It binds WCI's grantees, subordinates mortgages, and is released only by a recorded County satisfaction or partial release (OR 24291/831, Instr 95564740, pp. 2–3). None is in our set, and the County's 2011 and 2017 certificates recorded against the plat only confirm its name. The title search should turn up the County's release for the Lot; if it does not, it goes to underwriting before we insure.
• The common land. The Property Appraiser records Villa Sorrento Homeowners Association, Inc. as owner of the common land, the rest of Parcels F and J, citing a quit-claim deed dated 15 July 2008 (OR 45560/592), which we have not read.
• Joining the master. The master supplement recorded 9 February 1999 (OR 29221/639, Instr 99074449), two months after the declaration, describes exactly the Villa Sorrento land. Nothing turns on the gap for a resale today.
• Term and preservation. The covenants run 30 years from recording, then renew for ten-year periods unless owners of 75% of the Lots record a revocation three years ahead (§ 11.1, p. 19). Chapter 712 runs separately, from each Lot's root of title, the most recent title transaction recorded at least 30 years before marketability is determined (Fla. Stat. § 712.01; § 712.04). The declaration's 30th anniversary, 8 December 2028, the day its first term ends, is therefore only the earliest date a Lot could lose the covenants under Chapter 712. A § 712.05 notice preserves them. So does an amendment indexed under the association's legal name that cites the declaration's recording information (§ 712.05(2)(b)), or a deed in the Lot's chain citing it by book and page or instrument number (§ 712.03(1)). We found no Marketable Record Title Act notice for this declaration, and the master's 2024 notice does not list it.