Community Update

New in 2025: Submitting Condominium Ballots By Email

By: Bryony G. Swift

New changes to the condominium electronic voting statute, effective July 1, 2025, create a new framework for condominium voting by allowing owners to submit signed ballots by email. The new statutory changes are far from clear, and practitioners are currently debating the best way to interpret when and how this new voting method is to be used. What is clear is that those condominium associations that have adopted electronic voting are not required to offer the new voting method or to accept signed ballots that owners have submitted via email. The new voting method is codified in revisions to the electronic voting statute that allow an owner to waive the privacy of their ballot by casting an emailed ballot. 

Click here to read more!

Associations Beware: Are Your Payroll Practices Setting You Up for a Lawsuit?

By: Jamie B. Dokovna

Running a successful community association involves juggling many responsibilities – ensuring residents are happy, maintaining common areas, and keeping operations running smoothly at all times. But one crucial area that often gets overlooked and could be a significant source of risk is wage and hour compliance. Getting it wrong when it comes to association staff can lead to costly lawsuits, government investigations, and significant financial penalties. Note that this article is intended for those associations with personnel/employees who are directly employed by the association. If the personnel/employees are employed by the association’s management company, the management company will be responsible for compliance with wage and hour laws.

Click here to read more!

Can We Ban Short-Term Rentals in Our Condominium?

By: Jay Roberts

With the rise of vacation rental websites such as Airbnb and VRBO, many condominium association leaders wonder what they can do to limit, or prohibit, short-term rentals in their building. The answer is straight forward, but there is a catch. The association must amend its condominium documents to prohibit short-term rentals.

This issue was the subject of a Florida Supreme Court case called Woodside Vill. Condo. Ass’n v. Jahren, 806 So.2d 452, 456 (Fla.2002). In Woodside, the condominium association membership voted to amend the declaration of condominium to restrict leasing of units to not more than nine months during any twelve-month period.

Click here to read more!

Huck v. Kenmare Commons Homes Association, Inc.
382 So.3d 759 (2023)

By: Joseph B. Markovich

The central issue in THIS CASE revolves around the enforceability of homeowners’ association covenants, specifically those related to street parking. Edward and Linda Huck, residents of the Kenmare Commons neighborhood in Tallahassee, faced legal action from their homeowners’ association and several neighbors. The dispute arose because the Hucks’ in-home caregiver regularly parked on the street in front of their home, allegedly violating a street-parking limitation found in the neighborhood’s recorded covenants and restrictions. The trial court ruled against the Hucks, granting summary judgment and barring them and their guests from parking on the street for “sustained, permanent, or regular periods of time.” The Hucks appealed, challenging the enforceability of the parking restriction against them.

The appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision, highlighting a critical fact: the developer had deeded the street in front of the Hucks’ home to the City of Tallahassee while the street was unencumbered and before the declaration of covenants and restrictions was recorded. The developer’s later recording of the declaration did not cause the street to become encumbered by the declaration’s parking restrictions because the developer could not submit lands it no longer owned to restrictions. The court also emphasized that the streets are separate from the Hucks’ property, and the declaration’s street parking restriction could therefore not be considered a covenant running with the Hucks’ property. The street parking restriction was therefore unenforceable against the Hucks, and the association and neighbors had no legal basis for their complaint.

So why does THIS CASE matter? It underscores the importance of timing and ownership in the creation of enforceable covenants. This appellate decision serves as a cautionary tale and reminder for associations to scrutinize the legal foundation of any restriction before pursuing enforcement. Associations should review their governing documents and the history of property conveyances to understand the true scope of enforceable restrictions. If there are concerns about the enforceability of covenants, consulting with legal counsel can help clarify and reduce the likelihood of negative enforcement outcomes.