Florida Condo Assoc Amendment Timeline

Our condo association is being told that an amendment to our bylaws made in 1995 setting us up as a 55+ community was never filed and recorded. The amendment was passed, signed off on by officers and notarized. It has been being passed out to all new owners since that date. All believe we are a 55+ community. Is there a deadline to file or can we just file these documents now.

Cloyd,

There is a case from Arizona where the association tried to make the development 55+ by amending the bylaws instead of the declaration. The Arizona Court of Appeals held that this was improper as restrictions on how the property may be used must be stated in the declaration. Bylaws are just the rules for how the corporation operates and are not a substitute for recorded restrictions.

If your association amended its declaration and not its bylaws, there would be a serious legal issue due to the passage of 19 years. The amendment should have been recorded immediately upon its adoption, otherwise the new restrictions would not be binding on those who purchased. It is likely that a large percentage of those who voted in favor 19 years ago no longer own property in your association and, therefore, no longer have a right to decide what changes to approve. The recorded declaration is a notice to a buyer as to what he may or may not do with or on his property.

Simply recording the 1995 amendment 19 years later is going to open a can of worms that will cost you dearly in the end. Seek out legal advice before doing anything further.

BTW, there is also a body of common law adopted in some states and rejected in others that says you cannot adopt more restrictive covenants than were originally recorded. I do not know how the courts in Florida stand on this issue.