Kensington, Woodfield Country Club: sale approval, a transfer contribution and a two-year leasing wait

Yes, and then the master does. Since 22 March 2022 the master declaration has required that every sale, transfer or conveyance of a Woodfield lot, including a gift, devise or inheritance, be approved by the Neighborhood association within 30 days and then sent to the master for final approval, with a fee of at least $100 (Art. X § 19, OR 33401/264, pp. 29–30). That binds every Neighborhood whatever its own documents say, so a Kensington sale has needed approval since 2022. Kensington's own rules add to it since 21 July 2025. The 1995 declaration gave the association a right to approve sales and leases only if it chose to and recorded a notice (OR 8651/538, pp. 32–33). A 2019 amendment rewrote Art. XX but left that opening condition in place, so it did not itself make the election (OR 30463/231, p. 3; see below). The 2025 restatement made that choice: "The Association elects to exercise such rights, and the recording of this Amended and Restated Declaration ... shall serve as notice to that effect" (OR 35888/44, p. 58). We found no separate notice of election recorded from 1995 to 2026, and the 2024 preservation notice lists none (OR 35294/1089, pp. 1–2), so Kensington's own approval applies from 21 July 2025, the day the restatement was recorded.

• Who needs approval. "No Owner may dispose of his or her Lot ... by sale or lease (except to the spouse, parents or children of such Owner) without approval of the Association" (p. 59). A change of majority control of an entity that owns a lot counts as a sale (p. 21).
• Time. The association has 30 days to approve or disapprove, and failing to act is approval. Approval of a sale is "in writing and in recordable form, signed by any two (2) officers of the Association" (p. 59). The 1995 duty to supply a substitute purchaser, which the 2019 text kept for sales, is gone.
• Fee. An application fee set by the Board (p. 60).
• Grounds to refuse. They include unresolved violations, delinquency, sexual-predator listing, certain felonies within 10 years, a buyer financing more than 80% of the price (VA loans excepted), and a credit score under 680 (pp. 62–64).
• Lenders. A foreclosing institutional mortgagee need not be approved, if not disqualified, but the occupant who ends up in the home must be (p. 62).

The master's rule also needs its Certificate of Compliance; a 2022 certificate for a Kensington lot cites only the master declaration's Art. V § 6 (OR 33486/966). Club membership is required as well.

A transfer contribution to Kensington. "On each transfer of a Lot, each transferee Owner shall contribute ... a Contribution to the Association equal to the amount of the then most recent quarterly assessment of Common Assessments or such amount as may, from time to time, be determined by the Board of Directors in its sole discretion" (OR 35888/44, p. 20). The seller and buyer are jointly and severally liable for it, it can be secured by a lien, and transfers to immediate family and to a trustee-owner are exempt (pp. 20–21). From 2002 it was two-thirds of one quarterly assessment (OR 13746/1347, p. 2). The 2019 amendment struck "two thirds (2/3)" and added "the amount" and "or such other amount as may, from time to time, be determined by the Board of Directors in its sole discretion" (Art. V § 13, OR 30463/231, p. 7, deleted language overstricken and new language underlined). So since 2019 the contribution has been the most recent quarterly assessment, or what the Board sets.

The buyer also pays the master's resale working capital contribution. We take both amounts from the estoppels.

Yes, with Kensington's approval and the master's approval. The 2025 restatement says lease length and the number of leases a year "shall be governed by the rules and regulations of the Woodfield Association" (OR 35888/44, p. 59). It adds its own terms:

• Two-year wait. "A lot owner may not lease his lot until that owner has held title for two years", with exceptions for a divorcing spouse and heirs (p. 60).
• Long stays. An occupant staying more than 30 days in 90 is a tenant who needs approval (p. 60).
• Money. An application fee, a security deposit and an impact fee of up to "three months' maintenance assessment or some other amount", set by the Board and secured by a lien (pp. 60–61).
• Violations. A breach brings a two-year leasing moratorium and fines (p. 61).

Before 2025 the rule was no lease under 30 days and no more than two a calendar year (OR 8651/538, pp. 32–33). The restatement was adopted after 1 July 2021, so its new rental limits bind owners who took title after 21 July 2025 or who consented (Fla. Stat. § 720.306(1)(h)). Every buyer now takes title after it. Our working rule: we treat the 2025 rules as binding the buyer; how they apply to earlier owners does not change a sale, and any question on it is for underwriter and counsel sign off on the file.

The members amended the declaration in 2019, with the master's approval (OR 30463/231, recorded 8 March 2019). The 2025 restatement now governs; the 2019 text is history that explains where its terms came from, except the amendment vote, which the 2025 restatement keeps:

• Art. XX rewritten. 30 days to act on an intended sale or lease, approval or, for a sale only, an approved substitute purchaser, and silence as approval (pp. 3–4); no lease until the owner has held title for two years, with a two-year moratorium for a breach (pp. 4–5); an application fee on every sale or lease, and on a lease a security deposit and an impact fee of three months' assessment or another amount the Board sets (p. 4).
• Minimum qualifications. The Board could disapprove for unresolved violations, delinquency, sexual-predator listing, a violent or weapons felony within 10 years, or a buyer financing more than 80% of the price, VA loans excepted (§ 5, pp. 6–7).
• Still conditional. Art. XX's opening paragraph was not amended and still required a recorded notice of election before any of this applied (p. 3). The Clerk's index from 1995 to 2026 shows no separate notice of election, and the 2024 preservation notice lists none (OR 35294/1089); the 2025 restatement made the election itself.
• Amendment vote. Two-thirds of the voting interests present and voting at a meeting with a quorum, or by written consent, with a majority of the Board (Art. XXIII § 1, p. 8). That raised the 2003 threshold of a majority of all owners (OR 14935/1376, p. 1). The 2025 restatement keeps it: two-thirds of the voting interests present and voting at a duly noticed meeting with a quorum, or by written consent with at least a quorum casting ballots, "with (ii) the approval or ratification of a majority of the Board" (Art. XXIII § 1(a), OR 35888/44, p. 66). The Board alone may correct scrivener's errors (p. 67), and Art. XXIV keeps the declaration subject to the master declaration (p. 67).

• Lien. Assessments with interest, costs and fees are "a charge and a continuing lien upon the Lot", and a successor is "jointly and severally liable with any former Owner for any delinquent Assessments" (OR 35888/44, p. 17). Assessments are collected at least quarterly.
• Foreclosing lenders. Art. XIII of the 2025 restatement has no clause subordinating the association's lien to a first mortgage. Instead an Institutional First Mortgagee that takes title "shall be liable for Assessments pertaining to such Lot which became due prior to the acquisition of title, in accordance with Florida Statute 720.3085, (2024)", in "the lesser of" the 12 months' assessments before it took title or "One percent of the original mortgage debt" (OR 35888/44, pp. 46–47). That limit applies "only if the Institutional First Mortgagee filed suit against the parcel owner and initially joined the Association as a defendant in the mortgagee foreclosure action" (p. 47), and the article applies "notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained elsewhere in this Declaration" (p. 48). Whether it governs a given file is for underwriting; this is not legal advice.
• Fines. Up to $100 a violation and $100 a day, with "no limit to the aggregate amount"; fines of $1,000 or more are treated as a special assessment that can be liened and foreclosed (OR 35888/44, p. 58). We ask the estoppel for open fines.
• Exterior painting. Since the 2002 amendment the association paints exteriors (OR 13746/1347). We ask the estoppel for any special assessment.
• Name. The association's exact name is "Kensington at Woodfield, Inc.", from the signature block of the 2025 certificate (OR 35888/44, p. 1); the restatement's preamble calls it "The Kensington at Woodfield Homeowners Association" (p. 3). We use the corporate name on closing documents.
• Plat 2. We have not found an instrument that expressly brings the Plat 2 lots (Plat Book 77, Page 114) under OR 8651/538. A 1997 Clerk's certificate states only that Lot 73 of the first plat "has been replated and is now in KENSINGTON AT WOODFIELD COUNTRY CLUB PLAT TWO" (OR 9608/972); it certifies a replat and subjects no land to the declaration. The 1997 First Amendment deletes the Drainage Assessment, and its joinders add no land and do not mention Plat 2 (OR 9628/77). The 2025 restatement defines "Plat" as Plat Book 73, Pages 154–156 "as amended from time to time" (OR 35888/44, p. 9, Art. I § 28), and the image of its Exhibit A shows a slip sheet with no legal description (p. 2). Whether "as amended from time to time" reaches the Plat 2 replat is not settled by the record we read; the 1999 restrictions (OR 11057/1815) were not read for this. The lot count of 108 matches. Our working rule: the examiner treats Plat 2 lots as covered for approvals and estoppel, and raises an exception or seeks the underwriter's sign-off on coverage.