Saturday, August 23, 2008

Where in 718 ?

Page two...UCO Reporter...September 2008...." No person shall be permitted to occupy a unit without a certificate of approval per Florida statute 718 "

Anyone, please tell me where in Florida Statutes 718 I can find this statement.

Thanks in advance.

2 comments:

UCO President said...

Hi Rosa,

I assume your query is rhetorical; as you are well aware, no such language appears anywhere in FS 718.

This sort of stuff must appear in the Declaration, Articles and Bylaws in order to be applicable.

The basis of it all may be extrapolated from the following language in FS 718:

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(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.

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A bit nebulous, but this is where it all originates.

Dave Israel

Anonymous said...

Hi Dave,                        The difficulty I have with the wording in the UCO Reporter is that it is mis-information. If the editors of the UCO Reporter feel they have to remind the people of the fact that no one can reside in a unit without approval, then they should refer to the document that applies. The applicable document is the declaration.             The people are entitled to the truth. The State law sanctions a "fee" but does not require an approval. When it comes to "legal", accuracy counts and the people are entilted to accuracy.                        As always, you are displaying your integrity and I thank you.