FL additonal HAO declaration

Several years ago our HOA purchased a club that had previously been owned by another entity but we had been required to be members of via a separate declaration. At that time the LLC that owned the club dissolved the declaration and the HOA purchased the property but not the LLC that recorded the declaration. No other documents were filed.

We were told that this would become common area. After some time it was discovered that a new declaration was filed by the board making a new entity, assigning the property to the club and making the HOA board the members of the Club board. This new entity is not an LLC or a corp. We have the same property that is common area and also a new "club" governed by a second declaration.

I'm having trouble determining what authority the board has to enact a declaration in this manner and quite frankly, it seems like a mess. This second declaration is not being included or revealed during sales from my understanding which could further compound matters. From the experts, how big of a problem is this and what can be done to fix this?

I concur with Melissa and think you need a good lawyer. From my limited understanding, taking on or disposing of real property in the form of "common property" may require a 100% vote of approval from the membership. And maybe the mortgage holders as well. An attorney can assist you in checking declarations, deeds, and other covenants that run with the land.

Depending on when the property was first deeded or placed under the "second declaraiton", MRTA could extinguish the deed restrictions after 30 years. You definitely need to talk to a lawyer. Maybe more than one since it sounds complicated and the abilities and expertise of laywes in Florida is, um... shall we say "questionable" in many respects. There are many good attorneys in Florida; the thing is there's no guarantee that you're going to find a good one right off the bat.