Pursuant to section 83.683 of the Florida Statute, if an applicant for lease is a servicemember ALL Florida community associations must, within a seven-day period, notify the servicemember in writing of an application approval or denial and, if denied, the reason for denial. Absent a timely denial of the rental application, the landlord must lease the rental unit to the servicemember if all other terms of the application and lease are complied with. This requirement is not waivable under any circumstances whatsoever – even by the parties themselves! A “servicemember” is defined as “any person serving as a member of the United States Armed Forces on active duty or state active duty and all members of the Florida National Guard and United States Reserve Forces.”
On a different note, Florida law is very specific in terms of a condominium association’s ability to charge an application fee to prospective owners and tenants. As of late, the news is reporting that, as to those condominium associations and management companies that have been charging more than allowable fee, they could find themselves a named defendant in a class action lawsuit in the not-too-distant future. Here is what you need to know.
Apparently, more than a few condominium associations believe that they can charge additional fees for such things as, to name just a couple, credit reports and criminal background checks. Even certain management companies, acting as the agent of the condominium association, believe that they can charge a separate fee, too. This is simply not the case, and such action violates Florida law.
Section 718.112(i) of the Florida Statutes is patently clear. No charge shall be made by a condominium association in connection with the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease, or other transfer of a unit unless i) the association is required to approve such transfer and ii) a fee for such approval is provided for in the declaration, articles, or bylaws. Any such fee may be preset, but in no event may such fee exceed $100 per applicant other than husband/wife or parent/dependent child, which are considered one applicant. However, if the lease or sublease is a renewal of a lease or sublease with the same lessee or sublessee, no charge shall be made. In addition, the condominium association may, if the authority to do so appears in the declaration or bylaws, require that a prospective lessee place a security deposit, in an amount not to exceed the equivalent of one month’s rent, into an escrow account maintained by the association.
If the condominium association’s expenses in obtaining credit and criminal history reports exceeds the $100.00, the association bears the additional expense. Adding insult to injury, some management contracts provide that any fee charged by the association in connection with the sale or lease application is fully earned by the management company. In those instances, the condominium association does not even gain the benefit of the $100.00 fee to offset its expenses. What does your association’s management contract provide?