Waterford Estates at Heron Bay: HOA rules, fees and closing points

A second estoppel, the seller's arrears cleared, and a check that a first-sale charge is not being collected on a resale.

• Two estoppel certificates, from Waterford Estates at Heron Bay Association, Inc. and from the master association. The declaration adds its own certificate of whether the owner is in default, due within 15 days of a written request, and anyone who relies on it in buying or lending "shall be protected thereby" (Declaration § 8.1.8, p. 18). Chapter 720 requires each association to issue its estoppel certificate within 10 business days of a written or electronic request, and that period controls a request made under the statute (Fla. Stat. § 720.30851).
• Working capital of two months' assessments is due "upon the first to occur of the next conveyance of the LOT or the first occupancy of the UNIT" after the certificate of occupancy (Declaration § 7.4, p. 16). Read literally it is a one-time charge on the first sale. The estoppel should show whether it is being charged; on a resale, ask the association what it relies on.
• The seller's arrears. Each owner is responsible for assessments the prior owner owed (Declaration § 7.1, p. 15). A buyer other than a foreclosing first mortgagee "shall be liable for all unpaid ASSESSMENTS and other moneys due and owing by the former OWNER" and may not occupy the home until they are paid (§ 8.1.6, pp. 17–18).
• Insurance. Each owner must insure the home at replacement cost, and the association may require its name on the policy. If proof is not given within 10 days of written demand, the association may buy the insurance at the owner's expense (Declaration § 6.15, p. 12).
• Architectural approvals for additions, fences or pools come from the Approving Party and under the master declaration (Declaration §§ 5.2, 5.12, pp. 8, 10). Ask about any open violation when ordering the estoppel.

Yes, for at least six months. Every lease must be in writing, made subject to the declaration, articles and by-laws, and delivered to the association before the tenant moves in. No lease may run less than 6 months without the Approving Party's consent, and the owner may be required to escrow up to one month's rent against damage by the tenant (Declaration § 6.18, p. 13). The tenant needs no approval.

The association may evict a tenant who materially violates the documents and charge the cost to the owner (Declaration § 8.6, pp. 19–20). The master's rule applies on top: one lease in any 12-month period, tenants registered before they move in — see the master page.

The six-month rule dates from 1999. A rental amendment adopted after 1 July 2021 generally binds only owners who take title after it or consent to it. An amendment limiting leases shorter than six months, or barring more than three rentals in a calendar year, applies to every owner (Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h)). Under the declaration a material change to leasing needs two-thirds of the owners and lenders holding mortgages on at least half of the mortgaged lots (§ 10.4, p. 21). We hold nothing after 1999, so for an investor buyer we search forward before saying what applies.

Not in our set, which ends with the declaration itself. The Property Appraiser's record does cite deeds of the buffer parcels on the Waterford land dated 2001 and 2004, which we have not read (the title points below list them). The declaration can be amended by two-thirds of the owners, with the Declarant's joinder while it owns any of the land (Declaration § 10.1, p. 20), and more than 25 years have passed since it was recorded. Before relying on this page for a closing, search the official records from 7 June 1999 forward for amendments, rules and notices recorded by the association, particularly any leasing change or transfer fee. The Pointe, the other Shelby Homes neighborhood in Heron Bay, whose declaration appears to be drafted from the same form, added a $500 transfer fee from the buyer in 2004.

• The declaration's lien needs a recorded claim; the buyer's liability does not. The Waterford lien covers assessments, late fees, interest and attorneys' fees and "is effective from and after recording a claim of lien" (Declaration § 8.1.3, p. 17). Chapter 720 makes an association's lien relate back to the recording of the original declaration, except against a first mortgage of record, where it runs from the recorded claim of lien (Fla. Stat. § 720.3085(1)). Either way, a buyer takes on the seller's unpaid assessments under the declaration (§§ 7.1, 8.1.6) and under Chapter 720 (§ 720.3085(2)(b)). The estoppel is what protects the buyer.
• Bank-owned resales. A person taking title by foreclosure of a first mortgage, or a first mortgagee taking a deed in lieu, is not liable for assessments that came due earlier, "unless the payment of such funds is secured by a claim of lien recorded prior to the recording of the foreclosed or underlying mortgage" (Declaration § 8.1.6, p. 17). Chapter 720 caps what a first mortgagee owes when it takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu (§ 720.3085(2)(c)). The cap is the lesser of the unpaid common expenses and regular periodic or special assessments that came due in the 12 months before it took title, or 1% of the original mortgage debt. It applies "only if the first mortgagee filed suit against the parcel owner and initially joined the association as a defendant", unless the association was dissolved or had no office or agent the lender could find. Which rule governs a particular sale, and how § 720.3085(1) sits with the declaration's claim-of-lien clause, are questions for underwriting.
• No mortgagee joined the declaration. Nothing in the declaration shows the consent or subordination of any mortgage on the land in 1999. The plat shows that in March 1998 Union Planters Bank of Florida, "formerly known as Capital Bank", held a mortgage on land in the plat (OR 27540/707) and consented to the plat as mortgagee (PB 165/18, sheet 2). Whether that mortgage encumbered Blocks D and E and was still open on 7 June 1999, and so whether the declaration is subordinate to it, is a question for underwriting; the search should pull the mortgage and its satisfaction.
• The lots came under the master on 13 January 1998. Heron Bay Seven & Eight came under the master declaration in two steps: Supplement No. 6, recorded 13 January 1998 (Instr 98020807), annexed a 19.037-acre tract described by metes and bounds and called "Heron Bay Seven"; the supplement recorded 5 February 2001 (Instr 100811009) annexed the rest of the plat except Parcel D, the drainage and maintenance areas and the Supplement No. 6 land. The plat shows the Supplement No. 6 tract is Waterford Estates: three coordinate points on the plat fall on the supplement's courses, and the plat's areas for Blocks D and E and Parcels B, F and B-6 to B-9 total 19.037 acres (PB 165/18, sheets 3–5; Instr 98020807, p. 3). So the lots were committed before the plat and before this declaration, and the 2001 supplement does not re-commit them.
• The street, lake and buffers are outside the declaration's legal description. Exhibit A lists only the lots (Declaration p. 24). On the plat, Parcel B is a private street over which the owners of lots in Blocks D and E, "and not the public", have an ingress and egress easement; Parcel F is a lake; and the drainage easements on the blocks serve Parcel B, Parcel F and the lots (PB 165/18, sheets 1, 4–5). The Property Appraiser records the Waterford association as owner of Parcel B, the street, and Parcel F, the lake, citing a multi-parcel quit-claim deed dated 10 May 1999 (OR 29526/1851). It also records the association as owner of Parcels B-8 and B-9, citing a multi-parcel special warranty deed dated 8 November 2001 (OR 32449/350). It records the master association as owner of Parcels B-6 and B-7, most recently by a multi-parcel quit-claim deed dated 6 February 2004 (OR 37648/1817). We have not read these deeds. All of these parcels are master Committed Property under Supplement No. 6. Confirm with the association who maintains the street.
• Heron Bay Boulevard is private. Parcel A of the plat is Heron Bay Boulevard, a private street. All lot and parcel owners, and owners of master "Community Property" subject to the master declaration, have an easement over it (PB 165/18, sheet 1).
• The Declarant's rights. The Approving Party for architectural and use approvals is the Declarant while it owns any lot, or until it assigns that role to the association (Declaration § 1.1, p. 1), and the Declarant must join any owner amendment while it owns any of the land (§ 10.1, p. 20). The Property Appraiser's roll shows no lot or common parcel still owned by Shelby Homes; all 41 lots are built and privately owned. Nothing in our set shows that Shelby Homes at Heron Bay Seven, Inc. assigned its rights; confirm with the association.
• Fines. Up to $50 a violation, and up to $10 a day for a continuing violation not cured within 30 days of notice, after notice and a chance for a hearing; a fine is deemed an assessment (Declaration § 8.3, p. 19). Chapter 720 requires 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 of less than $1,000 may not become a lien (§ 720.305(2)), but it can appear on the estoppel.
• Preservation. The Waterford declaration turns 30 on 7 June 2029, but that is only the earliest date a lot could lose its covenants. Chapter 712 runs from each lot's root of title, the last title transaction recorded at least 30 years earlier (Fla. Stat. § 712.01; § 712.04). A § 712.05 notice preserves them, as 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)). No preservation notice for the Waterford declaration is in our set, and the master's 2024 notice does not list it.
• Term. Fifty years from the date of the declaration unless every owner signs to end it sooner, then 10-year extensions until a majority of the entire membership signs to terminate (Declaration § 9, p. 20).
• The city is Parkland. The declaration states none, but the plat is in the City of Parkland (PB 165/18, sheet 1), as The Colony's declaration, on Blocks A to C of the same plat, also says. The 2001 master supplement recites the City of Coral Springs (Instr 100811009, p. 4); the Property Appraiser places all 41 homes in Parkland. The plat's 93-home cap covers the 41 Waterford and 52 Colony lots and does "not operate as a restriction in favor of any property owner" (sheet 3, note 24).
• After closing, give the association a copy of the deed. Until it has one, it "shall not be obligated to recognize any change in membership or ownership" (By-Laws § 2.2, Declaration p. 31).