Question: There are 10 homes in our community. The declaration of covenants provides that it can be amended by a majority of the voting interests. It also provides that homes 1 through 9 each get one vote and home 10 gets 10 votes. An amendment is approved 10 to 9, with the 10 yes votes coming from home 10. Homes 1 through 9 all voted no. It does not seem right that one homeowner can determine whether an amendment passes or does not. Would the courts agree a majority of the “voting interests” of this association wanted this amendment to pass, even though only 1 out of 10 members voted yes? S.C. (via e-mail)
Answer: Yes. The term “voting interest” is defined rather broadly in the Florida Homeowners’ Association Act (Chapter 720, Florida Statutes) to mean the voting rights distributed to the members of the homeowners’ association, pursuant to the declaration of covenants. Although I have never seen a declaration with such a provision, if the declaration as originally recorded specifically apportions voting rights by providing one homeowner with more votes than another, a court would likely agree that the amendment was approved as required by the declaration.
If the home has 10 votes because it is still owned by a developer, the result may be different. In general, both the statute and the case decisions places more limits on amendments passed by preferential developer voting rights than amendments that are subject to a democratic vote of non-developer amendments.
Written by Joseph Adams at Florida Condo & HOA Law Blog