leasing

Our Master Deed states:
The Property shall be used by Owners and Occupants and their families, guests, and tenants as private residential dwellings only, and not for transient, or hotel purposes, as described in and authorized the the Governing Documents and the Act.....................................

Any lease, rental or any other comparable arrangemen for the occupancy of an Apartment by a person or persons other that the Owner, whether for monetary consideration or otherwise, shall be a violation of the above use unless:
(i) such Apartment is leased, rented or otherwise occupied for a perion of ninety (90) days or more under a written lease, (ii) a true copy of such lease, in executed form, has been filed with the Secretary of the Association, (iii) the lease contains a clause or clauses previously approved by the Association which provide that the lessee and his or her family and quests shall be bound by and ovserve the provisions of the Governing Documents and that a failure of the lesse or his or her family or guests to comply with the Governing Documents shall be a default under the lease. (iv) there are no delinquent assesments or other charges against the leased Apartment or owner, and (v) the lease is for the entire Apartment.............

THE QUESTION
An owner is moving and a 62 (we are a retirement community) year old man wants to lease the unit. Are we required to allow this lease? Can we request a lease for a year? The way I read the document we can request a lease for a year.
Thanks for your input.

The bank can play a role in the length of a lease on a property. I had to have a year's lease before the bank would loan me money for another property. So the HOA isn't the only one with restrictions.

It looks like your HOA requires a copy of the year's lease to be given to the secretary of the association to keep in your files. The lease just can't be less than 3 months. This is a good thing as many HOA's don't have this requirement. It probably won't do much for the HOA to have it but atleast they will be aware the property is leased. After that, they have to hold the owner to the floor for any of the renter's rule violations. Which the leasie should be aware of the HOA and it's requlations by the owner. I'd suggest the owner put this in the lease for their protection as well.

To answer your questions:

"An owner is moving and a 62 (we are a retirement community) year old man wants to lease the unit."

"Are we required to allow this lease?" Yes, as long as it meets the requirements stated in your Master Deed.

"Can we request a lease for a year?" No. Your Master Deed requires that the lease be for 90 days or more. A lease of just 90 days meets this requirement.

I threw in the bank information for a purpose. A owner doesn't just have to deal with HOA's restrictions on leasing but they also have to deal with their mortgage company on the issue. There are loans out there that doesn't allow a person to lease property for a certain time period after purchase. Plus there are laws in regards to someone frequently purchasing properties and quickly leasing them within a certain time period.

A HOA should be aware there are these restrictions as they are the first line of defense in detecting unusual ownership situations. This may not be one of those situations but for future reference be aware owner's have multiple restrictions on leasing their property.

Bruce,
I see what you are saying. Interpretation is always different, depending on how the question or statement is worded. Thanks for posting it to me this way. I always appreciate that.