Woodfield Country Club: the master association, its Neighborhoods, the Club and what matters at closing

The master. The 2010 restatement says: "The Country Club shall be owned by the Association", and the master's duty to maintain it "shall be undertaken by The Country Club at Woodfield, Inc., pursuant to a long-term renewable lease of the Country Club from the Association" (Art. III § 1, OR 23721/1800, p. 8). The Property Appraiser lists the golf course parcels in the master's name, as lessor. Membership is open to residents of Woodfield and of Woodfield Hunt Club and the Carriage Homes at Woodfield Hunt Club, across Jog Road, and the Club "shall be required to offer a membership to each Resident" (same page). The golf course and the other required open space are restricted to the uses in § 25-173(8) of the City's code.

Yes. "A person or a corporation, partnership, trust or other entity obtaining title to a Lot is required, as a use restriction incident to ownership in the Woodfield Community, to become a member of the Country Club" (Art. X § 17, OR 23721/1800, p. 32). The rule was first adopted in 2003 (OR 15173/1155, recorded 5 May 2003).

• Membership is to be ministerial. The requirement operates only so long as the Club's criteria for a buyer are "ministerial only": information for the Club's records, "a pro-forma application", and "payment of the necessary sums as may be required by the Country Club from time to time" (Art. X § 17). The terms of membership are in the Club's own documents, which are not recorded.
• Who is exempt. Owners of record who were not members when the 2003 rule took effect need not join, but anyone they sell to must. A first mortgagee that takes title by foreclosure or deed in lieu, the master taking title by foreclosure, and the Club itself need not join; whoever buys from any of them must (Art. X § 17 A–B, pp. 32–33).
• Judicial and tax sales. The declaration says a buyer at a clerk's, sheriff's or tax collector's sale must join (Art. X § 17 B, p. 33). A covenant that requires the grantee "to expend money for any purpose" does not survive a tax deed (Fla. Stat. § 197.573(2)(b)). Whether the obligation survives a tax deed is for underwriting on the file.
• What the Club says. The Club's website states that "Membership at Woodfield Boca Raton® is mandatory, meaning all home buyers are Members of the Club", and that equity membership comes in two categories, Full Equity and Standard Equity. Full Equity (golf) is "currently sold out", and a buyer can obtain golf at once by buying a home whose seller has golf "Transferability" (Membership page, woodfield.org, viewed 27 October 2026, not recorded). The Club publishes no initiation, equity or capital fee, no dues, and no transfer charge, so we take them from the Club's Membership Office (561-989-7272) in writing on every file.

To the master, a resale working capital contribution. It is "currently set in an amount equal to six (6) months of the annual Assessment for each Lot" and is "collected from each Lot purchaser at the time of conveyance". "Payment of this resale working capital contribution by the purchaser shall be a condition of approval" (Art. VIII § 8, OR 33401/264, pp. 16–17). Since 2022 the Board may change the amount by the vote of 75% of its directors. It is treated as an assessment for collection, with the right to record a claim of lien. The amount has risen:

We take the amount from the master's estoppel. The declaration lists no exempt transfers.

To the Neighborhood, whatever its own documents charge. Most Neighborhoods now charge a resale capital contribution of their own, usually one or two quarters of their assessment (see each Neighborhood's page). To the Club, whatever its membership documents require.

Two association estoppels and the Club's account statement:

• The master, Woodfield Country Club Homeowners' Association, Inc. Its estoppel should show the working capital contribution and any master fine or charge, and the master records the Certificate of Compliance. Its office is managed by Campbell Property Management, 561-994-9989 (woodfieldhoa.com, viewed 26 October 2026).
• The Neighborhood association. "All assessments of the Association shall be billed to and collected from each Parcel Association", which is liable to the master for its members' assessments whether or not it collects them (Art. VI § 4, OR 23721/1800, p. 17). The Neighborhood's estoppel should show the master's share as well as its own.
• The Club's statement, for the seller's account and the buyer's membership charges. The Club is not a homeowners' association, so no statute sets its deadline or fee.

A homeowners' association must issue its estoppel certificate within 10 business days of a written or electronic request (Fla. Stat. § 720.30851). Our page on estoppel certificate fees sets out the caps and who pays them.

The master's Certificate of Compliance. "No instrument purporting to transfer an interest in or title to a Lot shall be effective unless Association shall certify compliance of the Lot with this Amended and Restated Declaration", and it certifies "only by recordation of a Certificate of Compliance in the Public Records of Palm Beach County" (Art. V § 6, OR 23721/1800, p. 16). Its review is "ministerial only": the master's records, that the lot's financial obligations to it are current, that the lot is not otherwise in violation, and that the buyer will not be in violation, "including without limitation the restrictions found in Article X Section 17", the Club requirement. No certificate is needed for a transfer to a surviving spouse by operation of law, to a former spouse by divorce decree, or to family members by "a bona fide family planning device", nor for a mortgagee's foreclosure or deed in lieu; a buyer from that mortgagee needs one (Art. I E, OR 15173/1155, pp. 3–4).

The Neighborhood, then the master, since 2022. The 2022 amendment added a new Article X § 19: "All perspective [sic] sales, transfers or conveyances of Lots shall be approved by the Parcel Association governing the Lot" (OR 33401/264, p. 29). The owner applies at least 30 days before the transfer, and "transfer" includes a gift, devise or inheritance. The Neighborhood approves or disapproves within 30 days, and the completed application then goes "to the Master Association for review and final approval". The fee is at least $100. "Good Cause" to disapprove is listed, and in place of disapproval the buyer may be required to prepay six to twelve months of assessments (§ 19 A–D, pp. 29–30). This binds every Neighborhood, whatever its own documents say; several Neighborhoods' approval certificates cite no clause of their own. Some Neighborhoods' documents add rules of their own, and each Neighborhood's page says what they provide. No right of first refusal was found in any Woodfield instrument now in force.

Yes, within the master's rules as amended on 22 March 2022 (Art. X § 18, OR 33401/264, pp. 24–26):

• Two approvals. "No lease of any interest in a Lot shall commence without the Lot Owner having first obtained the written approval of such lease by the Parcel Association." The owner gives the Neighborhood the lease and a signed application at least 30 days ahead, and it approves or disapproves within 30 days. The approved application then goes "to the Master Association for review and final approval".
• Term and frequency. At least six months and no more than a year; renewals of up to a year with the Neighborhood's approval. "No Lot may be subject to more than one (1) lease in any twelve-month period."
• Fees. The Neighborhood sets an application fee of not less than $100 a person, plus the cost of background checks.
• Grounds to refuse. "Good Cause" includes certain felonies and a failure to qualify under the governing documents; the list continues in the amendment.
• Waiting periods. A Neighborhood may make an owner who takes title after 22 March 2022 wait a set time before leasing (§ 18 N, p. 28). Each Neighborhood's page says whether its documents set one.
• Guests. A guest who is not family and stays more than 30 days in 12 months while the owner is away is treated as a tenant (§ 18 K, p. 27). Subleases, rentals of part of a home and short-term rentals such as Airbnb are barred (§ 18 J, p. 27).

Which rules bind a buyer. A rental amendment to a homeowners' association's documents enacted after 1 July 2021 binds only owners who take title after it, or who consent to it. Limits on leases shorter than six months, or on leasing more than three times a calendar year, bind everyone (Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h)). A buyer takes title after the 2022 amendment, so it binds every buyer now. The one-lease-in-12-months rule was already in the 2010 restatement (OR 23721/1800, p. 34). A Neighborhood's own rules come on top.

Every home is in one of 20 Neighborhoods, and the Neighborhood decides the second estoppel and any Neighborhood approval or contribution. The Property Appraiser's roll lists 1,290 homes, all platted lots; the master's website counts "1297 home[s]" in "20 communities" (woodfieldhoa.com, viewed 26 October 2026). The plan at the top of this page numbers every Neighborhood, and the Find a Neighborhood lookup names a home's Neighborhood from its address or its lot and plat. The Hamptons' legal descriptions do not name it: they read "Woodfield Country Club", Lots 1 to 150 (PB 54/79).

The master's website lists each Neighborhood's management company (viewed 26 October 2026):

A Neighborhood can change managers without recording anything, and for several of them the Property Appraiser's mailing address names a different firm, so we confirm the manager when we order the estoppel.

Yes. Every Woodfield parcel's number begins with the City's code, 06, and the Property Appraiser lists the City as the municipality. Code enforcement and other government liens on a Woodfield home are therefore the City's, and we run the municipal lien search with the City of Boca Raton (our Boca Raton page).

• The master's lien attaches on recording a claim of lien. "The lien of the Association shall be effective from and after recording, in the Public Records of Palm Beach County, Florida, a claim of lien" (Art. VIII § 10, OR 23721/1800, p. 26). Chapter 720 dates an association's lien from the declaration's recording, except against a first mortgage of record (Fla. Stat. § 720.3085(1)), and the buyer is jointly and severally liable with the seller for unpaid assessments (§ 720.3085(2)(b)). The estoppels protect the buyer, not the lien search.
• Mortgagees. The master's lien is subordinate to a first mortgage held by a bank or other "recognized lending institution", for assessments due before a foreclosure sale or deed in lieu; the President's or Vice-President's written opinion on subordination is "dispositive" (Art. VIII § 11, p. 26). Chapter 720 caps a lender's liability only on its terms (§ 720.3085(2)(c)), and underwriting decides which rule governs.
• The buyer owes what the seller did not pay. Since 2022 an owner is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments, as Chapter 720 provides (Art. VIII § 11, OR 33401/264, p. 17).
• Fines. Since 2022 fines may exceed $100 a violation, $100 a day and $1,000 in all, and may become a lien "where allowable under Florida law" (Art. VII § 8.B, p. 14; By-Laws Art. X § 2(d), p. 47). An HOA fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien (Fla. Stat. § 720.305(2)).
• Late fees. $25 or 5% of the late instalment, whichever is greater, with interest (Art. VIII §§ 10 and 14, pp. 26–27).
• Gate access. The master may deactivate the gate bar code of an owner who is delinquent to a Neighborhood whose assessment includes the master's share, at the Neighborhood's written request (By-Laws Art. X § 3, OR 22976/903).
• Garages. A home with more than two garages may convert the extra to living space, with Design Review Board approval and permits, if it keeps two (Art. X § 7, OR 32341/548).
• Preservation. The master recorded a Statement of Marketable Title Action on 15 January 2013 (OR 25721/1037), which preserves the declaration for 30 years under Fla. Stat. § 712.05. The declaration itself runs 50 years from recording and renews automatically for ten-year periods unless three-fourths of the members vote to end it (Art. XII § 1, OR 23721/1800, p. 37).
• The developer's right of first refusal is gone. The Third and Fourth Supplements (OR 8145/1577, 1994; OR 8235/361, 1994) gave the developer a right of first refusal on vacant lots in the First Addition and Hamilton Place. The 2010 restatement struck Article XIV in full (OR 23721/1800, pp. 39–40), and the 2022 amendment removed any remaining developer rights (OR 33401/264, p. 2).
• Amendments. The declaration may be amended by three-fourths of the members, voting through the Neighborhood designees, at a meeting (Art. XII § 2, p. 37).

This page rests on the recorded documents of Woodfield Country Club Homeowners' Association, Inc. through 22 March 2022 (OR 33401/264): the Master Declaration recorded on 14 October 1986 (OR 5037/1571), the 2003 Club membership amendment (OR 15173/1155), the 2010 Amended and Restated Master Declaration with its by-laws and articles (OR 23721/1800), by-law amendments of 2003 and 2008 (OR 15462/890; OR 22976/903), the 2013 preservation notice (OR 25721/1037), and the amendments of 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (OR 29391/354; OR 32044/113; OR 32341/548; OR 33401/264), and the 1994 Fourth Supplement (OR 8235/361). A search of the master's name in the Clerk's index from 23 March 2022 to 22 October 2026 found no later amendment, resolution or claim of lien by the master; it found Certificates of Compliance recorded with resales. Of the 2022 instrument's 49 pages, declaration pp. 15 and 17–28 were read only in outline and by-law pp. 40–44 were not read. Anything recorded after 22 October 2026 is not reflected here.

It also uses the master's website, woodfieldhoa.com (not recorded), viewed on 26 October 2026, for its manager and Neighborhood list, and the Club's website, woodfield.org (not recorded), viewed on 27 October 2026, for its membership terms. Nothing here replaces the estoppel certificates.