Who pays the Condominium ‘Transfer Fee’?
First, how much can they charge? Basically $100 for each applicant over 18 but a married couple is considered one applicant under this statute…
718.112 reads in part…
“(i)Transfer fees.—No charge shall be made by the association or any body thereof in connection with the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease, or other transfer of a unit unless the association is required to approve such transfer and a fee for such approval is provided for in the declaration, articles, or bylaws. Any such fee may be preset, but in no event may such fee exceed $100 per applicant other than husband/wife or parent/dependent child, which are considered one applicant. However, if the lease or sublease is a renewal of a lease or sublease with the same lessee or sublessee, no charge shall be made. The foregoing notwithstanding, an association may, if the authority to do so appears in the declaration or bylaws, require that a prospective lessee place a security deposit, in an amount not to exceed the equivalent of 1 month’s rent, into an escrow account maintained by the association. The security deposit shall protect against damages to the common elements or association property. Payment of interest, claims against the deposit, refunds, and disputes under this paragraph shall be handled in the same fashion as provided in part II of chapter 83.”
And who pays for this? In the standard FAR/BAR As-Is (Rev 04/17) line 142 has the the Buyer paying “HOA/Condominium Association application/transfer fees”. In short, the Buyer.
But what about when the Buyer pays the $100 application fee when making application, which it typically required within 5 days of the Effective Date, and then the association puts a ‘transfer fee’ to be collected at Closing on the Estoppels Letter sent along to the Closing Agent to be collected at Closing? Here’s the problem. The application fees were a nice source of income for the managers. They were dead set against this change in the law which was made fairly recently. So the first attempt is to use an old application that states the application fee is something more than $100. Some people pay this and some people will call foul. The next try is to place a ‘transfer fee’ on the Estoppels Letter. Since this is only seen when buyer looks at the closing statement and after they are typically fully committed to purchasing the Property. If the Buyer questions it then the Closing Agent simply sais 1) If we change anything then it will delay the Closing, because 2) I’m just a Closing Agent so I have to collect whatever is on the Estoppels. You, the Buyer will need to take this up with them. After the Closing no one sues anyone over $100 and now the Buyer lives in that community.
