Englewood Golf, Inc. v. Englewood Golf Condominium Villas Ass'n

547 So. 2d 1050, 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2004, 1989 Fla. App. LEXIS 2878, 1989 WL 99556
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 25, 1989
DocketNo. 88-00562
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 547 So. 2d 1050 (Englewood Golf, Inc. v. Englewood Golf Condominium Villas Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Englewood Golf, Inc. v. Englewood Golf Condominium Villas Ass'n, 547 So. 2d 1050, 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2004, 1989 Fla. App. LEXIS 2878, 1989 WL 99556 (Fla. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

REVISED OPINION 1

SCHEB, Acting Chief Judge.

This appeal addresses some of the problems which occurred in a residential development, composed of condominiums, single-family homes and undeveloped parcels, regarding common area maintenance responsibilities.2 The appellants are: Englewood Golf, Inc. (Developer); Englewood Golf Property Owners Association, Inc. (Homeowners Association); and Englewood Golf Common Property Management, Inc. (Management Company). The appel-lees/cross-appellants are: Englewood Golf Condominium Villas Association, Inc. (Condominium Association) and Englewood Condominium Association, Inc. (Villa XI Condominium Association).

The Developer, the Homeowners Association, and the Management Company challenge the trial court’s declaratory judgment. The judgment denied enforcement of an unrecorded agreement between the Homeowners Association and the Condominium Association, and declined to reform certain condominium documents to include newly built homes, in addition to condominiums, into the maintenance payment scheme. The Condominium Association raises related issues on cross-appeal. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

FACTS

In 1972, the Developer began construction of a “first-class” condominium community, to be composed of 900 units, on a 210 acre tract of land adjacent to State Road 775 near Englewood. The Developer grouped several of the planned condominium units together in areas known as “villas.” The proposed units resembled freestanding single-family homes more than traditional condominiums units.

After the units in Villa I were completed, the Developer recorded a declaration of condominium for that villa, which provided for the creation of a Condominium Association. Construction of additional villas followed. As each new villa was completed, a declaration of condominium, identical to the declaration of condominium for Villa I, was recorded.3

At the outset, we clarify several terms which are referenced in the declarations of condominium and whose proper definition is crucial to this opinion. We refer to “common elements,” “common areas,” and “undeveloped areas.”

Section 4.4(a), (b), and (c) of the recorded declarations speak extensively about “common elements,” i.e. those areas over which the Condominium Association was to exercise control and maintenance of which was to be paid proportionately by the unit owners through the Condominium Association:

4.4. Common Expenses
(a) Common expenses, which are also otherwise herein defined, shall include the condominium’s proportionate share of the cost and expense of maintaining, [1053]*1053servicing, repairing and replacing all streets, sidewalks, utility installations of all kinds, drainage facilities and other structures, facilities, improvements, including boundary walls, and area of any kind located on any easements of or through the condominium and on any part of the common elements and limited common elements4 of the condominium and on other property or condominiums in the vicinity, i.e., in the vicinity of En-glewood Golf Course for purposes to serve this condominium as well as other condominiums developed or being developed or to be developed there by Developer, such common expenses to also include taxes assessed against such property. The proportionate share to be borne by this condominium of such common expenses for purposes which serve this condominium and other condominiums shall be a fraction of which the numerator shall be the number of units in this condominium which have been completed and the denominator shall be the total number of completed units in this and such other condominiums. Within the meaning of the foregoing, a dwelling will be considered completed when a certificate of occupancy thereof has been issued by the Sarasota County Building Department, or its equivalent, following final inspection.
(b)Such common expenses shall include the cost and expense of repairing and maintaining in good condition the roadway known as Golf View Drive which provides this condominium with access from and to State Road 775, and the land adjacent to said roadway and not within this condominium or any other condominiums, to the extent said roadway runs adjacent to this condominium, it being understood that such cost and expense, which shall be paid by the Association to Developer which shall so maintain and repair said property, shall not include monetary profit to, or recovery of investment by, Developer and shall only in-elude such sums as necessary to so maintain and repair said drive and that such common expenses shall also include taxes assessed against said roadway and ' said land adjacent thereto.
(c) Common expenses shall, in addition, include payment by each unit, and its owner, of the fee applicable to a unit pursuant to the contract between the Association and the Developer, or its assigns, for sewage and sewage treatment services, it being understood that, although such fee is initially payable only in such amount by a particular unit owner, all such fees payable under said contract are common expenses of the condominium collectible by the Association from all units by assessment and that, therefore, if one unit owner does not pay the said fee applicable to his unit, said fee is nonetheless owed by the Association to the Developer, payable by all other units to the Association, and collectible by the Association from the defaulting unit owner through methods of collection available as otherwise provided in this Declaration and in the By-Laws in connection with unpaid assessments.

Section 4.4(d) and (e) list various areas in the development to which the Developer retained title and over which it maintained all rights of fee simple ownership except that the unit owners had the right to use these areas. This property is referred to as “common areas”:

(d) In the event a swimming pool or swimming pools or other recreational facilities is or are provided by Developer in the vicinity of the condominium or in the vicinity of, but not on the premises of, the Englewood Golf Course, each Unit Owner shall have the right to use same, and the cost and expense of maintaining and repairing same after their completion (not including any profit to, or recovery of investment by, Developer), and taxes assessed against same, shall be a common expense and shall be paid by the Association to Developer, which shall so [1054]*1054maintain and repair said facilities, provided, however, that the Association shall and does have the option, exercisable at any time by Resolution duly adopted by two-thirds (%) of Unit Owners, to cancel the obligation of the Association and Unit Owners to so pay said costs and expense, at which time said right of use shall also terminate.
(e) At any time and from time to time Developer may, at its option, convey to the Association all of its right, title and interest in and to all or any of the following which may serve this condominium as well as such other condominiums: Said Golf View Drive, sewage treatment plant facilities and premises, and any swimming pool or pools and other recreational facilities.

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547 So. 2d 1050, 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2004, 1989 Fla. App. LEXIS 2878, 1989 WL 99556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/englewood-golf-inc-v-englewood-golf-condominium-villas-assn-fladistctapp-1989.