HOA "takeover" by timeshare company

Any help on the following subject would be gratefully received by a concerned "Brit"

We are owners on a STR resort in Florida and, a timeshare company have closed on 106 of 599 homes. They are likely to close on a further 65 homes before the transition of the developer HOA in September.

The timeshare company have indicated that they want to occupy the majority of the board seats so as to control the HOA.

We as owners (and on the advisory committee to the current HOA) do not want this.

Our bylaws seem to suggest that only those named on the roster of owners can stand for the board. All the details in Polkpa show the corporation as the owner.

As an entity whose registered owner details are the "corporation" and not named individuals, how could they field 3 people for the board?

A "candidate" must be a "natural person". Can an entity be such?

This is a serious matter to us as, the corporation obviously has a completely different viewpoint on the HOA than owners would. We are also concerned about the potential for them controlling the budget to meet their needs and not that of the HOA per se.

I know that we can galvanise all other owners to try and outvote them but I am sure you all know how apathy prevails in cases such as this. To get the required 175 + votes for each of our 4 candidates would be difficult in the short timespan we now have available to "electioneer".

Best regards and thanks in anticipation of any help.

Richard Prior

Things have moved on a bit as we seem to be hitting another "murky" area.

I am posing these questions from the standpoint of being a member of the advisory committee to the current HOA board, as well as being a candidate for the upcoming election of the board of directors.

· our resort is located in Davenport FL. This is a zoned STR resort and is made up of 599 individually owned townhomes in blocks of 4,5 or 6 units.

· Of recent times, a timeshare company (A Nevada corporation) recently purchased 106 units for the purposes of marketing as a timeshare facility.

· Having met the qualifying clause of 90% of units sold, the developer has called an election to transfer the HOA from the developer (and Declarant) to Owners.

· The current Association is called “Regal Palms Owners Association” and is a Florida “not for profit” entity. (It is registered on Sunbiz.org)

· There is no mention in the bylaws, Articles of association or the Restrictions & Easements to suggest which statute the association is governed by.

This poses the following questions that I believe would benefit from your advice.

We need to ascertain whether the correct “association” for the resort would be covered under: -

FL statute 720 “Homeowners”
FL statute 718 “Condominium”
OR
FL statute 721 “Vacation plan and Timesharing Act”

From the viewpoint of a “layman”, we would seem to have a hybrid arrangement with both STR and timeshares being present on the same resort.

Would we therefore fall into a situation whereby the association would need to take into account two or more statutes?

I would value any guidance and advice in regard of this issue

Best regards,

Richard Prior