Florida Expired Deed Restrictions

When I spoke with the DEO they said they didn't have to hold a meeting and they could take as long as possible to collect signatures. I know when my neighborhood filed a revitalization they stated in a letter they required a majority in 30 days in order to not hold a meeting and file. My understand was that it was the majority of all affected parcels - not the attending membership.

Stay tuned to this issue. Reference the "majority" revitalization vote predicate to the application to the DEO: there are revitalizations in process and those owners who did NOT consent to revitalization are seriously considering a civil lawsuit-perhaps class action.

Apparently, there is not yet any FL case history challenging the Homeowner Act as regards covenants expiration. Many of these owners are homesteaded; the lawsuit may include only non-consenting homesteaders or perhaps ALL non-consenters.

We are a small HOA (14 votes) whose DR's have expired. The members are not interested enough to try to understand or to act toward revitalization. Two of the 3 Board Members (I was one of them.) wrote a new set of DR's and distributed them for approval to send into the state (FL). We got no response. It turns out that the 3rd Board Member had started a campaign to send in our old documents to the state to be reinstated instead of creating new ones. We are not sure what the motivation on her part is, but she is an attorney. There is no majority on either side of the issue, so we are in limbo.

Is the state likely to reinstate the old restrictions?

Since it is unlikely we would get enough support to dissolve the HOA, the two Board members who tried for the rewrite want to resign and drop out of the association. Is that possible? Are we entitled to any of the reserves that are in bank accounts?

Any creative ideas would be welcomed.

DEO will not approve the attorneys attempt to apply for revote because due process has not occured---per your description.

Dissolution is precisely described in FS 617 the not for profit statute.

After all corporate debts and liabilities are satisfied, any remaining funds can be distributed to l
HOA members. And NO the members cannot quit the association of membership is mandatory.

Do the 14 owners want a voluntary hoa and why?

Do you have much common property to maintain?
Y

My question was will the state approve the old documents that were recorded in 1979 with no changes?

Of course, we would have a meeting, OR, it is my understanding that a majority of members can agree to do that in writing, in lieu of a meeting, so long as it is certified by a court reporter or attorney before it is submitted to the state.

Is there someone we can call at the state?

[email protected]
This person is my only contact at DEO and while helpful, is very limited in disclosing important and more complex details. He refers such inquiries to staff attorney, Virginia Ponder.

It is my impression from my direct interactions and others' experiences that DEO is very limited in scope and represents the interests of HOA's and their sponsors.

I am not sure why a tiny HOA would want to go this route rather than just re-writing governing docs and going door to door to get as many signatures as possible. You could avoid the "majority" problem and avoid all the administrative rigamarole and also any legal challenges by non-consenting owners. Since your infrastructure is scant and non-essential, the management function of the HOA is minor.

As far as the payment of maintenance fees, my attorney has advised that under the doctrine of "equitable servitude", all members would be required to pay a fair share of expenses consumed even without Declaration of Covenants. However, one would have to use the justice system to compel non-payers to pay and the HOA would have to demonstrate that the member-owner was consuming services --for starters. That does not seem practical in your scenario. Once the corporation is dissolved, there is no more mandatory obligation to pay assessments because there is no more common property to be managed. However, the ownership falls to 14 owners who will have to assume premises liability due to the absence of corporate insurance.

The underlying authority of the corporate bylaws to assess/lien/foreclose is found in the Declaration. When that is gone, the authority is gone. Expiration only affects the "contract" i.e. the governing docs that run with the land. While expiration of CCR's guts the Bylaws, these corporate docs do not technically expire.

If I were in your shoes, I would start looking for an entity to accept a gift of some of your common property or ask a homeowner to accept title. The roads are a problem and will inevitably fall into disrepair and members will be have to accept that or pool some money to fix. The county does not have to accept roads but may cause their condition through taxation to be maintained in acceptable condition for emergency vehicles. Say goodbye to street lights. If weed growth becomes a health hazard, the county will step in and cure the defect and might establish a vehicle to maintain the grounds through a special taxing district.

I am not an attorney and the above should not be taken as legal advice.