Bill Text: FL S1172 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Termination of a Condominium Association

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (? 3-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-27 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/CS/CS/HB 643 (Ch. 2015-175) [S1172 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S1172-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                                    SB 1172
       
       
        
       By Senator Latvala
       
       
       
       
       
       20-00783A-15                                          20151172__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to condominiums; amending s. 718.117,
    3         F.S.; providing and revising procedures and
    4         requirements for termination of a condominium
    5         property; providing requirements for the rejection of
    6         a plan of termination; providing a definition;
    7         providing applicability; providing requirements
    8         relating to partial termination of a condominium
    9         property; revising requirements relating to the right
   10         to contest a plan of termination; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Subsections (3), (4), and (16) of section
   16  718.117, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   17         718.117 Termination of condominium.—
   18         (3) OPTIONAL TERMINATION.—Except as provided in subsection
   19  (2) or unless the declaration provides for a lower percentage,
   20  and subject to the limitations in paragraph (b), the condominium
   21  form of ownership may be terminated for all or a portion of the
   22  condominium property pursuant to a plan of termination approved
   23  by at least 80 percent of the total voting interests of the
   24  condominium if no more than 10 percent of the total voting
   25  interests of the condominium have rejected the plan of
   26  termination by negative vote or by providing written objections.
   27  Total voting interests of the condominium include all voting
   28  interests for the purpose of considering a plan of termination,
   29  and a voting interest of the condominium may not be suspended
   30  for such consideration. If more than 10 percent of the total
   31  voting interests of the condominium reject the plan of
   32  termination, a plan of termination pursuant to this subsection
   33  may not be considered for 36 months after the date of the
   34  rejection. This subsection does not apply to condominiums in
   35  which 75 percent or more of the units are timeshare units. This
   36  subsection also does not apply to any condominium created
   37  pursuant to part VI until 7 years after the recording of the
   38  declaration of condominium for the condominium and thereafter is
   39  applicable to the condominium pursuant to paragraph (b).
   40         (a)1. If the plan of termination is voted on at a meeting
   41  of the unit owners called in accordance with subsection (9), any
   42  unit owner desiring to reject the plan must do so by either
   43  voting to reject the plan in person or by proxy, or by
   44  delivering a written rejection to the association before or at
   45  the meeting.
   46         2. If the plan of termination is approved by written
   47  consent or joinder without a meeting of the unit owners, any
   48  unit owner desiring to object to the plan must deliver a written
   49  objection to the association within 20 days after the date that
   50  the association notifies the nonconsenting owners, in the manner
   51  provided in paragraph (15)(a), that the plan of termination has
   52  been approved by written action in lieu of a unit owner meeting.
   53         (b) Seven years after the recording of a declaration of
   54  condominium for a condominium created pursuant to part VI, this
   55  subsection may be used to terminate the condominium. If, at the
   56  time of recording of the plan of termination, at least 80
   57  percent of the total voting interests are owned by a bulk buyer
   58  or assignee or a related entity which would be considered an
   59  insider under s. 726.102, and no sale of the terminated
   60  condominium property as a whole to an unrelated third party is
   61  contemplated in the plan of termination, the plan of termination
   62  is subject to the following conditions and limitations:
   63         1. After the termination, if the former condominium units
   64  are offered for lease to the public, each unit owner in
   65  occupancy immediately before the date of recording of the plan
   66  of termination may lease his or her former unit and remain in
   67  possession of the unit for 12 months after the effective date of
   68  the termination on the same terms as similar unit types within
   69  the property are being offered to the public. In order to obtain
   70  a lease and exercise the right to retain exclusive possession of
   71  the unit owner’s former unit, the unit owner must make a written
   72  request to the termination trustee to rent the former unit
   73  within 90 days after the date the plan of termination is
   74  recorded. Any unit owner who fails to timely make such written
   75  request and sign a lease within 15 days after being presented
   76  with a lease is deemed to have waived his or her right to retain
   77  possession of his or her former unit and shall be required to
   78  vacate the former unit upon the effective date of the
   79  termination, unless otherwise provided in the plan of
   80  termination.
   81         2. Any former unit owner whose unit was granted homestead
   82  exemption status by the applicable county property appraiser as
   83  of the date of the recording of the plan of termination shall be
   84  paid a relocation payment in an amount equal to 1 percent of the
   85  termination proceeds allocated to the owner’s former unit. Any
   86  relocation payment payable under this subparagraph shall be paid
   87  by the single entity or related entities owning at least 80
   88  percent of the total voting interests. Such relocation payment
   89  shall be in addition to the termination proceeds for such
   90  owner’s former unit and shall be paid no later than 10 days
   91  after the former unit owner vacates his or her former unit.
   92         3. For their respective units, all third-party unit owners
   93  must be compensated at least 100 percent of the fair market
   94  value of their units as of a date that is no earlier than 90
   95  days before the date the plan of termination is recorded as
   96  determined by an independent appraiser selected by the
   97  termination trustee. Notwithstanding subsection (12), the
   98  allocation of the proceeds of the sale of condominium property
   99  to owners of units dissenting or objecting to the plan of
  100  termination shall be 110 percent of the purchase price, or 110
  101  percent of fair market value, whichever is greater. For purposes
  102  of this subparagraph, the term “fair market value” means the
  103  price of a unit that a seller is willing to accept and a buyer
  104  is willing to pay on the open market in an arms-length
  105  transaction based on similar units sold in other condominiums,
  106  including units sold in bulk purchases but excluding units sold
  107  at wholesale or distressed prices. The purchase price of units
  108  acquired in bulk following a bankruptcy or foreclosure shall not
  109  be considered for purposes of determining fair market value.
  110         4. A plan of termination is not effective unless the
  111  outstanding first mortgages of all third-party unit owners are
  112  satisfied in full before, or simultaneously with, the
  113  termination.
  114         (4) EXEMPTION.—A plan of termination is not an amendment
  115  subject to s. 718.110(4). In a partial termination, a plan of
  116  termination is not an amendment subject to s. 718.110(4) if the
  117  ownership share of the common elements of a surviving unit in
  118  the condominium remains in the same proportion to the surviving
  119  units as it was before the partial termination. An amendment to
  120  a declaration to conform the declaration to this section is not
  121  an amendment subject to s. 718.110(4) and may be approved by the
  122  lesser of 80 percent of the voting interests or the percentage
  123  of the voting interests required to amend the declaration.
  124         (16) RIGHT TO CONTEST.—A unit owner or lienor may contest a
  125  plan of termination by initiating a summary procedure pursuant
  126  to s. 51.011 within 90 days after the date the plan is recorded.
  127  A unit owner or lienor may only contest the fairness and
  128  reasonableness of the apportionment of the proceeds from the
  129  sale among the unit owners, that the first mortgages of all unit
  130  owners have not or will not be fully satisfied at the time of
  131  termination as required by subsection (3), or that the required
  132  vote to approve the plan was not obtained. A unit owner or
  133  lienor who does not contest the plan within the 90-day period is
  134  barred from asserting or prosecuting a claim against the
  135  association, the termination trustee, any unit owner, or any
  136  successor in interest to the condominium property. In an action
  137  contesting a plan of termination, the person contesting the plan
  138  has the burden of pleading and proving that the apportionment of
  139  the proceeds from the sale among the unit owners was not fair
  140  and reasonable or that the required vote was not obtained. The
  141  apportionment of sale proceeds is presumed fair and reasonable
  142  if it was determined pursuant to the methods prescribed in
  143  subsection (12). The court shall determine the rights and
  144  interests of the parties in the apportionment of the sale
  145  proceeds and order the plan of termination to be implemented if
  146  it is fair and reasonable. If the court determines that the
  147  apportionment of sales proceeds plan of termination is not fair
  148  and reasonable, the court may void the plan or may modify the
  149  plan to apportion the proceeds in a fair and reasonable manner
  150  pursuant to this section based upon the proceedings and order
  151  the modified plan of termination to be implemented. If the court
  152  determines that the plan was not properly approved, it may void
  153  the plan or grant other relief it deems just and proper. Any
  154  challenge to a plan, other than a challenge that the required
  155  vote was not obtained, does not affect title to the condominium
  156  property or the vesting of the condominium property in the
  157  trustee, but shall only be a claim against the proceeds of the
  158  plan. In any such action, the prevailing party shall recover
  159  reasonable attorney attorney’s fees and costs.
  160         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.