Membership or ownership ?

Good day group-- Onca again I find myself in need of some advice and input.. We are having our fourth Declaration Amending Committee meeting on Saturday and the buzz has been from neighbors as to what constitutes 2/3 of the vote........Ownership or Membership for the count....I will be brief and precise as possible-

Wording in Bylaws- All owners of Residential Lots shall automatically become members of the Club.

MEETINGS OF MEMBERS: SECTION 5 - At every such meeting (special or annual) each OWNER of a Residential Lot shall be entitled to cast one vote for each Residential Lot owned.Votes may be cast either in person or proxies.

SECTION 6 - The vote alloted to each residential lot may be cast for as many persons as there are directors to be elected.Voting rights are non-cumulative.If a residential lot is held jointly by a husband and a wife,only the husband is authorized to cast the vote for such residential lot.

QUESTION---- Do you read this to mean that to vote for the BOD only one vote per lot OR one vote for each OWNER? 2 votes total per Lot.....

PART TWO OF MY POST: Some of us here are now questioning the total votes for the First Restated Amended Dec's
We were led to believe that it was 2/3 vote of 299 Residential Lots = 200 votes..

Now we are being told that it is 2/3 of the MEMBERSHIP and if each lot has 2 owners times 299 residential lots equals 598 and 2/3 would be 399... We are all totally confused and we are not getting any straight answers and I offered to seek guidance ......HELP PLEASE........All replies will be greatly appreciated.Thanks Bunches as always Linda C

PaulH3-- Thank you--- No stab at Part two of the post ????

As for Bylaws wording .... well you are talking to Gloria Steinham....LOL.... No seriously---- Thats the weird part.....They DON'T abide by that section out here---

Before the Annual membership meeting they send out a voting certificate and the owners name /names (Husband and Wife) are placed on the certificate.Then both owners sign their names as they are on the warranty deed....
Then you have a place where you select ONE of the owners giving him/ her the ability to cast the ONE vote alloted per residential lot...

Now mind you that as a proactive Member here and wanting to do the right thing and abide by the wording of our By laws regardless how antiqated and gender biased they are ----I always had my HUSBAND have the alloted vote.....WELLLLl when I inquired about when would/could we think about "UPDATING" the By laws that were WRITTEN IN 1973....I get the typical response--Why would I want to even go there and exactly what am I up to ?? I am now treated as a possible hostile- wanting to change everything out here- you know the rest of the story....

I am not the only Member who is asking questions or has these feelings- I am the only attempting to rectify it..Thats why PART TWO of my post is so important also.....Thanking you again Linda C

Linda, first you need to clarify owner and member. An Owner is one or more persons who hold or are in control of a residential lot. A member is an owner of a residential lot. Members are allowed one vote per lot which may be cast by any owner. Remove any reference to husband or wife (and other owners of a lot) as this discriminates since any owner may cast a vote or provide a proxy.

Regarding part two: To amend the Declaration it is 2/3 of the OWNERS who must approve amendments to the Declaration. That is because the Declaration provides restrictions tied to the OWNER'S deed who are not technically the same as an association MEMBER. In other words, the association has members who can change the By-laws of their association but members can not change Deed restrictions.

Many Declarations are not clear as to whether amendments require 2/3 approval of only one Owner of the lot or if it requires approveal of every Owner of a lot. If amending requires approval of every owner of the lot this would include every person on the deed. Most Declaration define an Owner as stated above. And complicating matters further - some Declarations also require approval of mortgagees (sometimes qualified to be required only when it is a significant change, such as annexing, terminating, etc.).

Linda - "In cases of multiple ownership of a single Residential Lot, until such time as the multiple OWNERS of that Residential Lot have filed such designation,the Club SHALL NOT COUNT THE VOTE of such multiple OWNERS for any purpose...." That's pretty powerful stuff when multiple owners (like husband & wife) must file a designation as to who can cast the vote for their property. Is this enforced? I wonder if that is legal? Harold

Good early morning Group--- A great Deed Restriction Meeting yesterday indeed- It was a Master Card commercial --PRICELESS--- when the management chairperson actually in an open meeting admitted that whoevers name was on the DEED did in fact EACH cast a VOTE for the Amended Declarations last time...ya could've heard a cricket chewing grass in the room.... The attorneys who are Board Members had the BEST look on their faces ....like PLEASE SAY IT ISN'T SO..that everyone whos name is on the deed DIDN'T cast a vote...............So,those of us who have had for months suspected that this is what indeed happened and we all know that it is ONE VOTE PER LOT per By Laws- per Declarations - per the Attorney -to approve the Amended Decs are indeed correct.. And with this knowledge and the fact that some of us here recounted the votes allowing for the one vote per lot and find that THEY DID NOT have the correct amount of votes to AMEND the Decs..............we are stumped as to what the next course of action is or should be....Going to the board with this info is not an option .......Any input would be appreciated....At our neighborhood pot luck last night some folks are asking if the Decs are valid if not enough approval votes were cast......Told them I don't know- Do not know what the legal ramifications are as a result of our findings.....This is not something that took a day or two to do (the recount) It took at least no less than 30 hrs to cross reference names to list supplied by property appraiser office for legal owners ,and research thru Clerk of Courts... We found by accident releases of liens for people who had voted so that brought up more questions as to whether they verified that the Lot who cast a vote was indeed in good standing in order to cast that vote.....It was not approached lightly....So any input or suggestions from the group would be so appreciated and we are located in Florida.......Last night was my first OFFICIAL campaign speech for a seat on the BOD and it was scary at first but the group made me feel comfortable and off I went..It was GREAT......LINDAC