THE CONDOMINIUM ACT

1 Department of Business and Professional Regulation CHAPTER 718 FLORIDA STATUTES THE CONDOMINIUM ACT Includes laws enacted through the 2015 Legislative Session Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, And Mobile Homes Northwood Centre 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1030 NOTICE TO RECIPIENT Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, also known as The CONDOMINIUM Act, is a chapter of law that governs condominiums in the State of Florida. The CONDOMINIUM Act should be read in conjunction with Chapters 61B-15 through 25, 45 and 50, Florida Administrative Code. The administrative rules are promulgated by the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes to interpret, enforce, and implement Chapter 718, Florida Statutes. Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Northwood Centre 1940 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1030 (850) 488-1122 (800) 226-9101 This publication was undertaken expressly for the convenience of those who frequently refer to The CONDOMINIUM Act, and is not in any way intended to be an official published version of the law.

2 Editor's note: To aid the user of this booklet, the references in the upper left hand corner on each page are to the first section or subsection on that page, while the references in the upper right hand corner on each page are to the last section or subsection shown on that page. CHAPTER 718 CONDOMINIUMSPART I GENERAL PROVISIONS (ss. )PART II RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF DEVELOPERS (ss. , )PART III RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF ASSOCIATION (ss. )PART IV SPECIAL TYPES OF CONDOMINIUMS (ss. )PART V REGULATION AND DISCLOSURE PRIOR TO SALE OF RESIDENTIAL CONDOMINIUMS ( )PART VI CONVERSIONS TO CONDOMINIUM (ss. )PART VII DISTRESSED CONDOMINIUM RELIEF (ss. )PART IGENERAL Short Power of attorney; compliance with of condominiums; contents Timeshare estates; limitation on Recording of parcels; appurtenances;possession and Restraint upon separation and partition ofcommon Common Certain regulations not to be Legal description of CONDOMINIUM Amendment of declaration; correction oferror or omission in declaration by The Failure to fill vacancies on board of admin-istration sufficient to constitute a quorum;appointment of receiver upon petition ofunit Maintenance; limitation upon improvement;display of flag; hurricane shutters andprotection; display of religious Association Common expenses and common ; liability; lien and priority;interest; Termination of Equitable Limitation of Separate taxation of CONDOMINIUM parcels.

3 Survival of declaration after tax sale;assessment of timeshare Unconscionability of certain leases; rebut-table Prohibition against SLAPP CONDOMINIUM and CooperativeAbuse Relief Act of 1980; Right of owners to peaceably Cable television service; resident s right toaccess without extra Limitation on actions by Attorney s dispute resolution; voluntarymediation; mandatory nonbinding arbi-tration; legislative Condominiums as residential Association emergency Receivership Electronic Short title. This chapter shall be knownand may be cited as the CONDOMINIUM Act. History. s. 1, ch. Purposes. The purpose of this chapteris:(1) To give statutory recognition to the condominiumform of ownership of real property.(2) To establish procedures for the creation, sale,and operation of CONDOMINIUM created and existing in this stateshall be subject to the provisions of this s.

4 1, ch. Definitions. As used in this chapter, theterm:(1) Assessment means a share of the funds whichare required for the payment of common expenses,which from time to time is assessed against the 2015 CONDOMINIUMSCh. 7181(2) Association means, in addition to any entityresponsible for the operation of common elementsowned in undivided shares by unit owners, any entitywhich operates or maintains other real property in whichunit owners have use rights, where membership in theentity is composed exclusively of unit owners or theirelected or appointed representatives and is a requiredcondition of unit ownership.(3) Association property means that property, realand personal, which is owned or leased by, or isdedicated by a recorded plat to, the association forthe use and benefit of its members.(4) Board of administration or board means theboard of directors or other representative body which isresponsible for administration of the association.

5 (5) Buyer means a person who purchases acondominium unit. The term purchaser may be usedinterchangeably with the term buyer. (6) Bylaws means the bylaws of the association asthey are amended from time to time.(7) Committee means a group of board members,unit owners, or board members and unit ownersappointed by the board or a member of the board tomake recommendations to the board regarding theproposed annual budget or to take action on behalf ofthe board.(8) Common elements means the portions of thecondominium property not included in the units.(9) Common expenses means all expenses prop-erly incurred by the association in the performance of itsduties, including expenses specified in s. (10) Common surplus means the amount of allreceipts or revenues, including assessments, rents, orprofits, collected by a CONDOMINIUM association whichexceeds common expenses.

6 (11) CONDOMINIUM means that form of ownership ofreal property created pursuant to this chapter, which iscomprised entirely of units that may be owned by one ormore persons, and in which there is, appurtenant toeach unit, an undivided share in common elements.(12) CONDOMINIUM parcel means a unit, togetherwith the undivided share in the common elementsappurtenant to the unit.(13) CONDOMINIUM property means the lands, lea-seholds, and personal property that are subjected tocondominium ownership, whether or not contiguous,and all improvements thereon and all easements andrights appurtenant thereto intended for use in connec-tion with the CONDOMINIUM .(14) Conspicuous type means bold type in capitalletters no smaller than the largest type, exclusive ofheadings, on the page on which it appears and, in allcases, at least 10-point type. Where conspicuous typeis required, it must be separated on all sides from othertype and print.

7 Conspicuous type may be used in acontract for purchase and sale of a unit, a lease of a unitfor more than 5 years, or a prospectus or offeringcircular only where required by law.(15) Declaration or declaration of CONDOMINIUM means the instrument or instruments by which acondominium is created, as they are from time to timeamended.(16) Developer means a person who creates acondominium or offers CONDOMINIUM parcels for sale orlease in the ordinary course of business, but does notinclude:(a)An owner or lessee of a CONDOMINIUM orcooperative unit who has acquired the unit for his orher own occupancy;(b) A cooperative association that creates a condo-minium by conversion of an existing residential coop-erative after control of the association has beentransferred to the unit owners if, following the conver-sion, the unit owners are the same persons who wereunit owners of the cooperative and no units are offeredfor sale or lease to the public as part of the plan ofconversion;(c) A bulk assignee or bulk buyer as defined in ; or(d) A state, county, or municipal entity acting as alessor and not otherwise named as a developer in thedeclaration of CONDOMINIUM .

8 (17) Division means the Division of Florida Condo-miniums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the De-partment of Business and Professional Regulation.(18) Land means the surface of a legally describedparcel of real property and includes, unless otherwisespecified in the declaration and whether separate fromor including such surface, airspace lying above andsubterranean space lying below such surface. However,if so defined in the declaration, the term land maymean all or any portion of the airspace or subterraneanspace between two legally identifiable elevations andmay exclude the surface of a parcel of real property andmay mean any combination of the foregoing, whether ornot contiguous, or may mean a CONDOMINIUM unit.(19) Limited common elements means those com-mon elements which are reserved for the use of acertain unit or units to the exclusion of all other units, asspecified in the declaration.

9 (20) Multicondominium means a real estate devel-opment containing two or more condominiums, all ofwhich are operated by the same association.(21) Operation or operation of the CONDOMINIUM includes the administration and management of thecondominium property.(22) Rental agreement means any written agree-ment, or oral agreement if for less duration than 1 year,providing for use and occupancy of premises.(23) Residential CONDOMINIUM means a condomin-ium consisting of two or more units, any of which areintended for use as a private temporary or permanentresidence, except that a CONDOMINIUM is not a residen-tial CONDOMINIUM if the use for which the units areintended is primarily commercial or industrial and notmore than three units are intended to be used for privateresidence, and are intended to be used as housing formaintenance, managerial, janitorial, or other operationalstaff of the CONDOMINIUM .

10 With respect to a condomin-ium that is not a timeshare CONDOMINIUM , a residentialunit includes a unit intended as a private temporary orpermanent residence as well as a unit not intended forcommercial or industrial use. With respect to a time-share CONDOMINIUM , the timeshare instrument as de-fined in s. (35) shall govern the intended use ofCh. 20152each unit in the CONDOMINIUM . If a CONDOMINIUM is aresidential CONDOMINIUM but contains units intended tobe used for commercial or industrial purposes, then,with respect to those units which are not intended for orused as private residences, the CONDOMINIUM is not aresidential CONDOMINIUM . A CONDOMINIUM which con-tains both commercial and residential units is a mixed-use CONDOMINIUM and is subject to the requirements ofs. (24) Special assessment means any assessmentlevied against a unit owner other than the assessmentrequired by a budget adopted annually.