HOA is Revitalizing Unexpired Deed Restrictions

I've searched through this forum and found discussion on reviving expired restrictions but nothing about reviving unexpired restrictions so I'll ask my question...

I live in Florida. We have an HOA that was formed in 1978 and extended in 2000 (by a majority vote of the residents) with a current expiration of 01/01/2030. There have been two amendments since the extension was filed in 2000. HOA dues are voluntary.

I just received a package from the HOA and the first paragraph fo the cover letter states the following:

"Florida law provides a procedure for revitalization of Homeowners Association documents (Deed Restrictions). The Board of Directors has recommended proceeding with this revitalization process, in order to preserve the ability to enforce deed restrictions and maintain our property values and desirable community."

The cover letter goes on to state this revitalization process "may not and do not" contain and provisions that are more restrictive than in the previous declaration. I've read through all of the exhibits included and have again read through the restrictions provided and find no changes in the restrictions. I was the Chair of the DR Enforcement Committee for a number of years so I'm very familiar with the restrictions as written.

My question is what is the point of going through a revitalization process for a set of DR/PCs that don't expire for another 11 years?

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the quick response.

I would guess that any HOA attorney fees for advising on this effort would be minimal at best and the only other cost would be return postage. They will have to file paperwork anyway, after a successful majority vote, to amend the restrictions when they expire in 2030. That's why I'm curious as to the point behind doing anything today if the exact same documents have already been duly filed with the last amendment in 2015.

My next step is to reach out to the HOA Board. Without getting into details, the HOA Board has historically been dysfunctional, especially in DR enforcement, and my past queries to them on various matters have resulted in vague and confusing responses. I asked in this forum first thinking there may have been some legal benefit to going through a "revitalization" effort.

As far as that goes, it's correct that revitalized covenants and restrictions can be no more restrictive than the originals.

All of that, however, applies to EXPIRED covenants. Documents that have not expired CANNOT be "revitalized". They can, however, be PRESERVED by making some filings BEFORE they expire. It's a lot less of a hassle to preserve them before they expire, too.

Whoever is advising your board needs a refresher course on Preserving Unexpired Covenants vs. Revitalizing Expired Covenants. Either that, or perhaps your documents HAVE already expired and that fact is being kept hidden. Everything they're telling you is legit IF the documents HAVE expired, but if nothing has expired yet then they're way off base.

You might want to double check the dates on everything. MRTA acts to extinguish deed restrictions and covenants 30 years AFTER the root of title was recorded on the property. That happens on a lot-by-lot basis in many cases. You say your HOA was "extended in 2000". What does that mean? Doing that may NOT have reset the ticking 30-year clock for the older properties when it comes to their root of title date. I'm wondering if that's what's going on because the only way "revitalizing" has any effect on anything is if the original restrictions have already expired.

It sounds like the root of deed could date to 1978. If true, and this usually requires a title search across the development, then the MRTA could have occurred in 2008 ... this is why a revitalization may be required.

FS 720 and FS 712 are pretty clear on this.

Thanks! I'm going to read through those statutes.

Be careful with this, too. "Expiration" dates in your governing documents are internally applicable to your association, but the MRTA dates are completely separate from any language in your own documents. Amending the language in your documents to extend the lifetime of the association probably does not affect the MRTA 30 year period at all.

Example: The association was formed in 2000 and the developer filed the CC&Rs and sold the lots after building homes on them. The Covenants say the Association shall exist for 20 years. In 2019 the association amends the language in the covenants to "extend" the life of the association for an additional 20 years. MRTA will still begin to extinguish your covenants in 2030 unless a very specific preservation filing is made. MRTA doesn't care about what the CC&Rs say about the length of time for the association to exist. The 2 deadlines are independent of each other.

OP,

It sounds like you need to be certain a full discovery, to determine the root, has been completed.

Given the complicated beginnings of your community, and the risk, it would be a reasonable course of action.