Waterford Estates at Heron Bay: 41 Parkland homes on a private street and lake

Waterford and the master each issue an estoppel, an association's statement of what the seller owes. Municipal searches go to Parkland, where the plat and the Property Appraiser place every home.

• Working capital. Two months' assessments fall 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 (§ 7.4, p. 16). Ask why if a resale estoppel charges it. Heron Bay's Capital Payment is the buyer's either way.
• Arrears and move-in. Each owner answers for the prior owner's assessments (§ 7.1, p. 15). Any buyer but a foreclosing first mortgagee "shall be liable for all unpaid ASSESSMENTS and other moneys due and owing by the former OWNER" and may not move in until they are paid (§ 8.1.6, pp. 17–18).
• Insurance. Each Waterford owner insures the home at replacement cost, naming the association if it requires. If cover is not proved within 10 days of a written demand, the association may buy it at the owner's cost (§ 6.15, p. 12).
• Unapproved work. Additions, fences and pools need the Approving Party's approval and the master's (§§ 5.2, 5.12, pp. 8, 10), so ask whether any violation is open.
• After closing. Send the association a copy of the deed, since its by-laws excuse it from recognizing "any change in membership or ownership" until it has one (By-Laws § 2.2, Declaration p. 31).

A Waterford lease runs at least six months unless the Approving Party consents to less (§ 6.18, p. 13). Section 1.1, on page 1, makes that party the Declarant, Shelby Homes at Heron Bay Seven, Inc., while it owns a lot or until it passes the role to the association. Shelby owns no lot or common parcel on the Property Appraiser's roll, and all 41 lots are built and privately owned. No assignment of its rights is recorded through 20 October 2026, so ask the association who consents now.

The owner may be required to escrow up to a month's rent against damage. The tenant needs no approval, but the association may evict one who materially breaches the documents, at the owner's cost (§ 8.6, pp. 19–20).

The master adds one lease in any 12 months, with the tenant registered first, and § 6.18 predates the 2021 limit on newer rental amendments.

Only common-land deeds and claims of lien. Our search of the County's records through 20 October 2026 found no amendment, rule or notice since the 1999 declaration, so a transfer fee on a Waterford estoppel would need a recorded instrument to rest on. Under § 10.1, on page 20, two-thirds of the owners can amend, with the Declarant joining while it owns any of the land, so ask the association whether it still requires that joinder. On the same builders' form, The Enclave and The Pointe, Heron Bay's other Shelby Homes Neighborhood, later added a $500 transfer fee from the buyer by amendment, The Pointe in 2004.

Florida's Marketable Record Title Act, which can cut off old covenants after 30 years unless they are preserved, tests each lot's own chain of title. The earliest it could touch a Waterford lot is 7 June 2029. Our search through 20 October 2026 found no Waterford notice or amendment that could preserve the declaration, and the master's 2024 notice omits it.

• Overnight, only private passenger vehicles may park outside, and only in driveways and garages (§ 6.2, pp. 10–11). A boat, RV, camper, trailer, commercially lettered vehicle or truck with more than two axles needs the garage or the Approving Party's consent. Keeping more than two vehicles permanently also needs consent, though Florida law now overrides part of § 6.2.
• Fences are white aluminum rail, never forward of the house or within 10 feet of its front wall line. Their location, height and type need consent (§ 6.11, p. 12), on top of the master's fence rules.
• A satellite dish up to 18 inches may go at the rear if it cannot be seen from the street. Other antennas and flag poles need consent (§ 6.23, p. 13).
• Section 6.4, on page 11, bars a home business that draws customers or clients to the house or shows from outside.
• "No UNIT shall be permanently occupied by more than two persons for each bedroom" (§ 6.22, p. 13).
• Section 6.28 on page 14 lets the Approving Party approve a For Sale sign in writing. But page 1 makes the property "also subject to" the master declaration, and its § 3.13 bars such signs.

Supplement No. 6 (Instr 98020807, the County's instrument number) put the Waterford tract under the master declaration on 13 January 1998, before the plat or declaration was recorded. That tract, Blocks D and E with their street, lake and buffers B-6 to B-9, is all Committed Property, the master's term for land under its declaration. The 2001 supplement leaves it out.

No mortgagee joined the declaration. The plat shows Union Planters Bank of Florida, "formerly known as Capital Bank", holding a mortgage on plat land in March 1998 (OR 27540/707) and consenting to the plat. That page falls inside a $5,675,000 Capital Bank mortgage from Shelby Homes at Heron Bay Seven, Inc., recorded 13 January 1998 at OR 27540/706. Whether it reached Blocks D and E and was still open on 7 June 1999, putting the declaration behind it, is for underwriting, and the search should pull the mortgage and its satisfaction.

Exhibit A, the declaration's legal description on page 24, lists only the lots. Shelby's 1999 deed, though, makes the street and lake the association's "Common Area" under the declaration (OR 29526/1851). Shelby deeded buffers B-6 and B-7 twice, to the association in 1999 and to the master in 2001, and the association's 2004 deed of them to the master closes that gap (OR 32449/353; OR 37648/1817). On the plat, Parcel B is that private street, open to Block D and E lot owners "and not the public", and Parcel F is a lake. Drainage easements on the blocks serve the street, the lake and the lots. Heron Bay Boulevard, Parcel A, is also private, open by easement to every lot and parcel owner and to owners of master "Community Property".

Waterford's lien for assessments, late fees, interest and attorneys' fees runs "from and after recording a claim of lien" (§ 8.1.3, p. 17). Under § 8.1.6, whoever takes title through a first-mortgage foreclosure, or that lender by deed in lieu, owes no earlier assessments unless a claim of lien was recorded before the mortgage. Underwriting reads both clauses beside Chapter 720's lien rules.

After notice and a chance for a hearing, Waterford may fine up to $50 a violation, and up to $10 a day for one still uncured 30 days after notice (§ 8.3, p. 19). A fine is treated as an assessment and can show on the estoppel, but Florida's fine rules bar a lien for one under $1,000.