THE TROPICANA CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
TROPICAL CONDOMINIUM, LLC, ETC., ET AL., APPELLEES
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The Tropicana Condominium Association sought to terminate the condominium's status by amending its declaration to adopt provisions of Florida's 2007 amendments to section 718.117, but lacked required unanimous approval. The court affirmed that retroactive application of the statute would impermissibly impair unit owners' veto rights but reversed the finding that a two-unit ownership restriction unreasonably restrains alienation.
The court held that the Association failed to properly amend its Declaration because the termination provision amendments were not approved unanimously as required by section 14.5. The retroactive application of section 718.117 would impermissibly impair unit owners' contractually protected veto rights and thus violates the Florida Constitution. The two-unit ownership restriction does not unreasonably restrain alienation because it was adopted in response to financial difficulties caused by foreclosures, affects only a negligible class of purchasers, and has minimal impact on marketability in the Tropicana's market.
[1] A condominium declaration lacking "Kaufman" language, which specifies "as amended from time to time," does not automatically incorporate subsequent legislative amendments…
[2] Retroactive application of a statutory amendment to a condominium act is impermissible if it works a severe, permanent, and immediate change in the contractual relationsh…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Absent Kaufman language, an amendment to the Condominium Act will not have retroactive application to a condominium's Declaration if it impairs contractual obligations.”
Establishes the legal standard for determining whether statutory amendments to the Condominium Act automatically apply to declarations lacking 'as amended from time to time' language.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Tropicana Condominium, established in 1983 with 48 units, had a Declaration lacking 'Kaufman language' that would automatically incorporate legisl…
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Appellant, the defendant below, The Tropicana Condominium Association, Inc. (the “Association”) appeals an order of the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court granting summary judgment to Appellee, the plaintiff below, Tropical Condominium, LLC (“Tropical”). We affirm in part and reverse in part.
I. Facts
The 2007 Florida Legislature amended section 718.117 of the Condominium Act to facilitate the termination of condominiums. In particular, the amendment provided that a condominium could be terminated upon an approval vote of eighty percent of unit owners, so long as not more than ten percent of the unit owners opposed the termination. § 718.117(3), Fla. Stat. (2013). This amendment also provided that “[t]his section applies to all condominiums in this state in existence on or after July 1, 2007.” § 718.117(1), Fla. Stat. (2013).
For economic benefits to accrue to its unit owners, the Association sought to take advantage of amended section 718.117 and to terminate the condominium status of the forty-eight unit Tropicana Condominium, located in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida. This condominium, established in 1983, was governed by a Declaration of Condominium that lacked “Kaufman” 1 language, meaning that, when referencing Florida’s Condominium Act, the Declaration did not contain the words “as amended from time to time.” Absent this language in a Declaration, any changes made by the Legislature to the Condominium Act subsequent to the effective date of the Declaration do not become a part of the Declaration automatically.
In 2012, the Association’s board submitted to the unit owners a series of amendments to the Declaration. Among these amendments was one that responded inadequately to the 2007 amendment to section 718.117: it reduced from one hundred percent to sixty-five percent the vote required to consent to a termination of condominium. A second attempt occurred in March *757of 2013, which changed the consent threshold to eighty percent of unit owners, a percentage that aligned with section 718.117(3). Neither these first nor second Declaration amendments included the condition set forth in section 718.117(3), allowing for an eighty percent approval of unit owners so long as not more than ten percent did not object to termination.
A majority of Tropicana unit owners approved the Association’s amendments. Section 14.5 of the Declaration, however, requires the unanimous approval of unit owners to alter the Declaration’s termination provision.2 The Association had not pursued a simultaneous amendment of section 14.5’s requirement of a unanimous vote.
The Association submitted additional amendments to the unit owners during this 2012-13 time period.3 Among those was a restriction on unit ownership that limited unit owners from obtaining any kind of real estate interest in more than two units in the Tropicana Condominium. A majority of unit owners also voted to approve this amendment.
Tropical is composed of five unit owners who appear to oppose condominium termination (and who represent more than ten percent of unit owners who may object and halt a termination effort). The Association alleges that the Tropical owners are associated with the developer of an adjacent condominium tower, who does not favor a re-development of the Tropicana Condominium. In January of 2015, Tropical filed a complaint for declaratory relief, seeking a declaration that the Association’s amendments are invalid because: (1) the amendments relating to condominium termination were not approved by the required unanimous vote; and (2) the prohibition on having an ownership interest in more than two units represented an unreasonable restraint on alienation.
On August 31, 2015, the trial court granted summary judgment on all counts in favor of Tropical. After first finding that the Association failed to comply with its own Declaration’s requirement of unanimous consent of unit owners in order to terminate condominium status, the trial court then found that the Legislature’s 2007 amendments to section 718.117 could not be retroactively applied without causing a constitutional impairment of contract. The trial court also determined that the Association’s attempt to prevent a unit owner from having an ownership interest in more than two units constituted an unreasonable restraint on alienation. Accordingly, on September 10, 2015, the trial court entered final judgment on Tropical’s complaint for declaratory relief. The Association’s appeal ensued.
II. Analysis4
A The Retroactive Application of Section 718.117
We agree with the trial court that the Association failed to amend its Deela-*758ration properly by accepting amendments that were not approved unanimously. On appeal, the Association argues that its effort to amend its Declaration was unnecessary and without import because the Florida • Legislature’s intent was that its 2007 amendment to section 718.117 had retroactive application to Tropicana, notwithstanding an absence of Kaufman language in its Declaration. The issue on appeal thus becomes whether a retroactive application of the statute exists to override the procedural defect of the Declaration amendments; and, if so, whether such retroactive application is constitutional.
Absent Kaufman language, an amendment to the Condominium Act will not have retroactive application to a condominium’s Declaration if it impairs contractual obligations. Cohn v. Grand Condo. Ass’n, Inc., 62 So.3d 1120, 1121-22 (Fla. 2011) (holding that an amendment to section 718.404(2) of the Florida Statutes, which altered voting rights for mixed-use condominium boards, constituted an impairment of contract under Article 1, section 10 of the Florida Constitution). Tropicana’s Declaration, established in 1983,5 sought to protect unit owners from any undesired effort to terminate condominium status. As a result, the condominium unit owners had a vested right in this contractual provision; indeed, the Declaration bestows this veto right on every unit owner. To what extent will impairment of this right be tolerated?
The question of tolerating impairment was examined in Pomponio v. Claridge of Pompano Condo., Inc., 378 So.2d 774, 780 (Fla.1979) (“To determine how much impairment is tolerable, we must weigh the degree to which a party’s contract rights are statutorily impaired against both the source of authority under which the state purports to alter the contractual relationship and the evil which it seeks to remedy.”). In Pomponio, the Florida Supreme Court adopted a three-prong balancing test to determine whether a statutory change in the Condominium Act can be applied retroactively without running afoul of Florida’s Constitution. Id. at 779. The third prong is relevant in this case: “Does the law effect a temporary alteration of the contractual relationship of those within its coverage, or does it work a severe, permanent, and immediate change in those relationships irrevocably and retroactively?” Id 6
The Association argues that the third Pomponio prong is satisfied because the 2007 amendment to section 718.117 effects only “a temporary alteration of the contractual relationship.” Id. The Association argues that section 718.117 should be retroactively applied because it expands the contractual right of condominium unit owners to terminate their condominiums; and further, the 2007 amendment increases op*759tions and creates a more equitable situation because of the difficulty of achieving unanimous consent. This argument, however, loses focus on whether the 2007 amendment impairs contractual rights.
The trial court correctly determined that, irrespective of Tropical’s motives, the 2007 amendment, if retroactively applied, would eviscerate the Tropical owners’ contractually bestowed veto rights. According to Pomponio’s third prong, the amendment would “work a severe, permanent, and immediate change” in those unit owners’ safeguards against condominium termination that are built into the Declaration. Id.
Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s ruling that the retroactive application of section 718.117 is impermissible, and that the Association’s amendment to section 14.1 of the Declaration is invalid.
B. The Restraint on Alienation
On October 17, 2012, prior to the individual Tropical owners’ acquisitions of their five units, the Association amended the Declaration to add a new section 13.107 in order to limit a unit owner from owning more than two Tropicana Condominium units at any given time. The trial court determined that this provision constituted an unreasonable restraint on alienation.
The Condominium Act allows a Declaration to establish restrictions on the transfer of units. § 718.104(5), Fla. Stat. (2013). Courts have acknowledged that condominium associations may impose restrictions on unit owners’ ability to transfer their units, either by lease or sale. Woodside Vill. Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v. Jahren, 806 So.2d 452 (Fla.2002); White Egret Condo., Inc. v. Franklin, 379 So.2d 346 (Fla.1979). Due to the uniqueness of condominium living, condominium associations have a degree of control over the ownership of units and, concomitantly, individual owners tolerate a degree of intrusion into their property ownership. Hidden Harbour Estates, Inc. v. Norman, 309 So.2d 180 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). While a restriction on alienation of a condominium might be permissible, it still must be reasonable. Id. at 182; Seagate Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v. Duffy, 330 So.2d 484, 486 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976) (“The test which our courts have adopted and applied with respect to restraints on alienation and use is reasonableness.”). Properly enacted condominium Declaration restrictions are presumed valid, and the challenger of such restrictions has the burden to establish arbitrariness, unreasonableness or violation of law. Woodside Vill. Condo. Ass’n, Inc., 806 So.2d at 457.
We disagree with the trial court’s determination that Tropical met its burden of establishing that the ownership restriction is unreasonable. The record reflects that the majority of unit owners approved the restriction after a fellow owner, who owned six units in the building, allowed all six units to go into foreclosure. Given the relatively small size of Tropicana — forty-eight units — multiple foreclosures caused by a single owner’s financial circumstances, could have a significant, detrimental financial impact on the Association.8
An additional and important consideration in our evaluation of the Association’s *760limit of not more than two units per owner is whether such a restriction impedes the improvement or marketability of a property. Aquarian Found., Inc. v. Sholom House, Inc., 448 So.2d 1166, 1168 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (citing Iglehart v. Phillips, 383 So.2d 610 (Fla.1980)).
Again, given the relatively small size of the Tropicana Condominium, in an area of Sunny Isles Beach that in recent decades has seen abundant development of large condominium buildings, the restriction will have a negligible effect on marketability. Tropicana unit owners are free to sell their units to the public at large (subject to the ordinary condominium association approval process), and are excluded only from selling to a tiny, almost inappreciable class of persons who already own two Tropicana units.
For these reasons, we reverse the trial court’s ruling that section 13.10 of the Declaration unreasonably restrains alienation of Tropicana units and remand to the trial court for entry of an amended judgment consistent herewith.
III. Conclusion
For the reasons stated above, we affirm the trial court’s invalidation of the Association’s amendment to section 14.1 of the Declaration. We reverse the trial court’s ruling that declared the Association’s amendment to section 13.10 of the Declaration an unreasonable restraint on alienation.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part. Remanded with instructions.
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DE Soleil S. Beach Residential Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. DE Soleil S. Beach Ass'n, Inc. (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)…inium Act, Ch. 718, Florida Statutes, do not apply retroactively without express statutory intent. See Dimitri v. Com. Ctr. of Miami Master Ass'n, Inc., 253 So. 3d 715, 719 (Fla 3d DCA 2018); Tropicana Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Tropical Condo., LLC, 208 So. 3d 755, 758 (Fla 3d DCA 2016) (retroactive application of amendment to Condominium Act "impermissible" because it would alter and thereby detract from unit owner rights). 2) The Declaration of Condominium here does not contain Kaufman language, i.e.,…
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DE Soleil S. Beach Residential Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. DE Soleil S. Beach Ass'n, Inc. (Fla. 3d DCA 2021)…dominium Act, Ch. 718, Florida Statutes, do not apply retroactively without express statutory intent. See Dimitri v. Com. Ctr. of Miami Master Ass'n, Inc., 253 So. 3d 715, 719 (Fla 3d DCA 2018); Tropicana Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Tropical Condo., LLC, 208 So. 3d 755, 758 (Fla 3d DCA 2016) (retroactive application of amendment to Condominium Act "impermissible" because it would alter and thereby detract from unit owner rights). 2) The Declaration of Condominium here does not contain Kaufman language, i.e., the “…
Authorities Cited
- Pomponio v. The Claridge OF Pompano Condo., Inc., 378 So. 2d 774 (Fla. 1979)
- White Egret Condo., Inc. v. Franklin, 379 So. 2d 346 (Fla. 1979)
- Iglehart v. Phillips, 383 So. 2d 610 (Fla. 1980)
- Kaufman v. Shere, 347 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
- Hidden Harbour Ests., Inc. v. Bradford E. Norman and Evelyn E. Norman, 309 So. 2d 180 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
- Seagate Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Duffy, 330 So. 2d 484 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)
- Woodside Vill. Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Adolph S. Jahren and Gary M. McClernan, 806 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 2002)
- Cohn v. The Grand Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 62 So. 3d 1120 (Fla. 2011)
- Aquarian Found., Inc. v. Sholom House, Inc., 448 So. 2d 1166 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
- Courvoisier Courts, LLC v. Courvoisier Courts Condo. Ass'n, Inc., 105 So. 3d 579 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012)