Not So Fast

I received a call this week from a worried Cocoa Beach condo owner. He had just been notified that his condo association was about to vote to change the rental minimum from one week to one month. The ability to do vacation rentals was the reason he bought the unit a few months ago. I've addressed this in the past and the segment below is from an old post. 

In short, if your condo allows weekly rentals, they can't limit your right to do so in the future without your affirmative vote on the change. Don't be bullied by a condo board trying to restrict your property rights. They often get away with these bluffs because owners don't know that the Board doesn't have that right.

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I've recently heard about two local condo associations trying to change rental restrictions via rule changes. As we found out in an outrageous incident a few years ago, an association can't merely add a new rule to change property use. That particular incident was a Cocoa Beach association that attempted to limit how many units a person could own by burying a new rule in the existing rules and regulations. It doesn't work that way. Property use can only be changed by a properly announced and voted amendment to the condo docs. Any properly administrated new amendment that changes property usage does not apply to owners who vote no or abstain from voting on the new rental restriction. The condo docs determine the process and majority required for such changes. As always, I am not a lawyer and unit owners should seek qualified legal counsel if they think their Board is operating outside the law. Rogue Boards are not an uncommon occurrence in the Sunshine State.

From the Florida Statutes:
The Florida Condominium Act, in Section 718.110(13), Florida Statutes, limits the ability of a condominium association to amend its documents to impose new rental restrictions. The statute states that “an amendment prohibiting unit owners from renting their units or altering the duration of the rental term or specifying or limiting the number of times unit owners are entitled to rent their units during a specified period applies only to unit owners who consent to the amendment and unit owners who acquire title to their units after the effective date of that amendment.”

I'm always interested to hear stories of condo association shenanigans. Feel free to send me an anonymous email of shady goings-on at your association. I can share them or not, your call.

“All art is unstable. Its meaning is not necessarily that implied by the author, There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings.” __David Bowie