A Landlord must return a Tenant’s security deposit, together with interest if otherwise required, to the Tenant no more than 15 days after the Tenant leaves the leased property. The Landlord may claim all or a portion of the security deposit only after giving the Tenant written notice, by certified mail to the Tenant’s last known mailing address, of the Landlord’s intention to keep the deposit and the reason for keeping it. The Landlord
How much can a Florida Condominium Association charge for Estoppell Certificate(s)?
This is usually a shocker to the Seller at Closing. The Seller is required to convey clear title and thus the Closing Agent requests “estoppels” from the Condominium Association. These basically show that the Seller is (or is not) current on their monthly fees, if a balance is due as a condition of the required association approval of the sale and so forth.
As of July 1, 2017, there is a cap on the amount an association can charge for an estoppel certificate on the property. An association can charge up to $250 to unit owners who are current in their assessments. They can charge an additional $100 for “expedited” estoppel certificates (delivered within three business days), and another $150 to owners who are delinquent in their assessments. This is a maximum of $500 for an expedited, delinquent estoppel certificate. The new law also requires certificates to be delivered within 10 business days and remain valid for 30 days. It also standardizes the information each certificate must include so that each estoppel contains the same information.
When must the Seller of a condominium deliver the requested association documents to the Buyer?
First, this is for Condomiuns NOT Home Owners Associations. And the Contract Condominium Rider must have the correct box cheched “requesting” the following documents from the Seller. That said, the short answer is…there is no specified time for the Seller to provide these to the Buyer. BUT…
According to the rider, and state laws, the Seller must provide: CURRENT declaration of condominium, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules of the association, and a copy of the most recent year-end financial information, and the frequently asked questions and answers document. It is best to get these from the association or management company as if they are not complete the the Buyer could have an “out”. Also, the statute does NOT specify the format of these documents. If the Buyer accepts an electronic copy then great. Otherwise it must be a printed hard copy. And in either case get a Receipt of Condominium Documents form signed by the Buyer. Because…
The Seller of residential condominium resale does NOT have a set amount of time in which to provide condominium documents to the buyer. HOWEVER, note that the Buyer’s three-day right to cancel BEGINS once the Buyer has received a FULL and COMPLETE set of the documents, so it is in the best interest of the seller to provide these documents as soon as possible. And, make cure everything is up to dat and complete.
What happens to short term occupancy licensing of a property (not rental) like VRBO or AirBnB after sale in Florida?
This came up on a recent sale. The Seller had the property listed for short term occupancies on AirBnB and VRBO and had taken reservations. The Buyer intended to be an owner occupant and live there. Thus, they did ot see the bookings as posative attribute. The question came up as to what happens to those after the sale?
First, we should know the difference between a “rental” and a “licensing” of a property. A “rental” NO MATTER WHAT THE DURATION is an assignment of property rights, the right to EXCLUSIVLY use and enjoy the property, for a defined period of time. And in Florida a residential lease, a rental, DOES survive a sale…
Note that it looks like there was an attempt at the last revision to include “short term vacation rentals” but a licensing of a property is very different from a rental. If the occupancy is a rental then it would require a court order to forcibly remove a person.
A licensing of a Property on the other hand is an agreement in which the owner ALLOWS certain actions, such as staying at the property for a day or a week or whatever, to occur on the property BUT they continue to own and have full control over. Think about a hotel, as that is a licensing. If you act up in the middle of the night they can revoke the license and thow you out. There is no need to go to court to have you “evicted”.
Here’s where the answer gets a bit “cloudy”. Florida Staute does define a Vacation Rental – “Vacation rental.
January 2023 Jupiter and Palm Beach Gardens housing sales numbers
The Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches just released the January housing sales numbers and the numbers, as compiled, do not show the complete picture, IMO. I say this as they are comparing Jan 2022 with Jan of 2023 and we are in a very different market. The one stat that is interesting is the current Months Supply of Inventory. In my experiance, for this area, a 3.X months supply of inventory is a ‘balanced market’ and we see this is the case for all EXCEPT single family homes in Palm Beach Gardens.
Waterview Towers litigation is FINALLY over
The following was marked as an “OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION” from the Waterview Towers Condominium Association, Inc.
February 15, 2023
- Contrary to rumors circulating, ALL LITIGATION between The Waterview Towers Association and Leisure Resorts (aka Palm Harbor Marina / Chase) HAS BEEN SETTLED.This is a major achievement for all unit owners.To confirm this, we have attached court orders, called “Orders of Dismissal with Prejudice” that have been signed and filed by the judge.The phrase “With Prejudice” means that these claims cannot be filed again.
- Attached are artist renderings for the Yacht Club to be built on the C-2 property south of the building.Under the settlement agreement each unit will have a free membership.
This is a short update on litigation matters.
Following the January 31st Board Meeting, the Settlement Agreement with Leisure Resorts, LLC (“Leisure”) was fully executed by the Association and Leisure. Shortly thereafter, counsel for Leisure and the Association executed stipulations for dismissal with prejudice and filed the stipulations in all the pending cases where the Association was in litigation with Leisure and its affiliates.
In the “Marina Case”—involving claims involving the expansion of the Marina and counterclaims against the Association for breach of an estoppel agreement—the judge signed an Order of Dismissal With Prejudice of all claims between the Association and Leisure. A copy of the order is attached. An Order of Dismissal With Prejudice is a final conclusion of all claims between the parties. In this case, the Order of Dismissal With Prejudice is a final conclusion of all claims between Leisure and the Association relating to the marina.
A judge has also entered an Order of Dismissal With Prejudice in the “Directors’ Case”, wherein Leisure was seeking a declaration that the Association Board should be comprised of four representatives of the residential units and four representatives of the commercial units. A copy of the Order of Dismissal in the Directors’ Case is also attached. Of course, the Settlement Agreement with Leisure confirms that the Board will henceforth function with five residential unit representatives and four commercial unit representatives. In addition, please find the Order of Dismissal of the Hotel Case. We anticipate that similar Orders of Dismissal will be entered in the remaining cases in the next few days.
On Thursday, February 2, 2023, a hearing was held on a motion filed by Mr. Waldman to extend a stay in the Marina Case. Since the Settlement Agreement resolved all claims between Leisure and the Association in the Marina Case, the Association’s attorneys opposed Mr. Waldman’s motion, and Mr. Waldman’s motion was denied. The Court entered the proposed order submitted by the Association’s counsel, and a copy is attached for your review.
There should be no doubt that the Settlement Agreement and the Orders of Dismissal resolve all litigation between the Association and Leisure and its affiliates. There is no ambiguity or uncertainty about this point.
As most of you are aware, virtually all of the litigation cost over the last four years has arisen in response to the defamation lawsuit filed by Mr. Waldman and the declaratory judgment lawsuit filed by Mr. Waldman, Ms. Priscilla, Mr. Kolligian, and Ms. Bennett, along with the counterclaim filed in that case by the Association. Those cases are still pending. On Tuesday, February 8, 2023, the Court granted our motion to compel certain documents from Mr. Waldman in the defamation case. The next hearing in the defamation case is on February 28 on a motion relating to Mr. Atkinson.
The documents filed in the court files of both cases can be reviewed online by searching court records on the website of the Palm Beach County Clerk of Court at www.mypalmbeachclerk.com. The defamation case filed by Mr. Waldman is Waldman v. Waterview Towers, Case No. 2019-CA-000648. The declaratory action and counterclaim case is Waldman, et. al. v. Waterview Towers, Case No. 2019-CA-003329. As always, the Board encourages anyone interested in learning about these cases to review the actual online court file, and to be aware that it can be misleading to review short and partial excerpts that are not read in context of a complete document and the response thereto on a given issue.
Thank you for your consideration of the foregoing and the attached.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- …
- 147
- Next Page »
