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Lisa, Thank you for the article on Ignoring Archectiural Control provisions can be costly. I have a question regarding this. I sent an application to the HOA which is still headed up by the developer. My application was partially approved.The part that wasn't approved were two trees I wanted to plant in the curb strip(swale) I met with the HOA president who is an employee of the developer and she gave me a verbal go ahead in front of other home owners to plant the trees in the curb strip.Within 10 days of receiving the verbal approval the trees were planted. A month after one homeowner questioned her decision to allow me to plant the trees. She than had the management company for our community send me an email to remove the trees. I also received a violation from the management company. I went before the fining committee and supplied statements from the witnesses that heard the HOA president give me the go ahead. The fining committee stated that I had two credible witnesses and that they would not fine me. I recently received an email from the management company stating that I was removed from all committee's and that the trees need to be removed with 15 days. Do you think that the court will look at the verbal agreement witnessed by other homeowners that have provided written statements as a contract that will hold up in court or do the covenents supercede .
Thanks for listening
Sal
Response: This type of dispute is likely subject to mandatory arbitration, which you can demand. It may be worthwhile for you to read the Curci Village Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Maria, 34 Fla. L. Weekly D1228 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009) case. The Court reversed a ruling in favor of a homeowner that modified limited common elements by installing landscape improvements. The owner claimed she was given approval to make modifications.
Re: HOA Master Board
Can you please explain the role of the developer and the rights of unit board members in an HOA where there at 4 unit owners on the board and the Developer. There will be 462 units and now 382 are built. It has taken the Developer over 30 years to gradually build this community and he still has control. He claims that he set up the Board so that the Unit owners can be involved, but that he still has total control. The unit owners vote on the Master Board Members and conduct meetings according to the Sunshine Law. They collect fees every month from all unit owners.
I'm asking this question because it appears that the Developer is using the HOA to collect money to pay for his entire development and although there are 4 unit owners on the Board, they do NOT have the majority approval. The current action by the developer is that he owns a unit in one of the buildings. Because of the housing market he has not been able to rent it or sell it. He is requesting that the management staff that he hired for the Master Association --- paid for totally by unit owners -- move the operation into the Developer's owned unit and pay the Developer rent.
The Developer also charges the unit owners a fee and calls it "consulting" to pay himself a salary.
Can you please explain what are the Developer's rights and what are the unit owners rights?
How many years can a Developer drag out his building before the unit owners can totally take over the HOA?
Is it the responsibility of unit owner's to pay for the up keep of an entire community even though only a portion of the community is built. This includes landscaping,insurance, etc. on the not built section.
Does the Developer have the legal right to put a consulting fee for himself into the Budget for the HOA Master Association?
Thank you.
Please add this to my comments. There is a discussion in my community going on regarding the Developer forcing the unit owners to rent one of his units.
This is taken from one of the emails: a copy of the Master Association by-laws. If you don't have them and want them let me know. You will find that we unit owners have no power or authority at this stage of TCC development.
Tuesday morning I attended the Board meeting and was informed that the lease has already been signed. If the lease is legal it could be an uphill battle to negate this decision. But think about this. The developer, who has an “absolute right” over all directors, has in essence signed a lease with himself to transfer our money to him. That's strange. I wonder if it’s legal?