Terms Used In Florida Statutes 720.403

  • association: means a Florida corporation responsible for the operation of a community or a mobile home subdivision in which the voting membership is made up of parcel owners or their agents, or a combination thereof, and in which membership is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership, and which is authorized to impose assessments that, if unpaid, may become a lien on the parcel. See Florida Statutes 720.301
  • community: includes all real property, including undeveloped phases, that is or was the subject of a development-of-regional-impact development order, together with any approved modification thereto. See Florida Statutes 720.301
  • declaration: means a recorded written instrument or instruments in the nature of covenants running with the land which subject the land comprising the community to the jurisdiction and control of an association or associations in which the owners of the parcels, or their association representatives, must be members. See Florida Statutes 720.301
  • Department: means the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. See Florida Statutes 720.301
  • Governing documents: means :
    (a) The recorded declaration of covenants for a community and all duly adopted and recorded amendments, supplements, and recorded exhibits thereto; and
    (b) The articles of incorporation and bylaws of the homeowners' association and any duly adopted amendments thereto. See Florida Statutes 720.301
  • Parcel: means a platted or unplatted lot, tract, unit, or other subdivision of real property within a community, as described in the declaration:
    (a) Which is capable of separate conveyance; and
    (b) Of which the parcel owner, or an association in which the parcel owner must be a member, is obligated:

(1) Consistent with required and optional elements of local comprehensive plans and other applicable provisions of the Community Planning Act, property owners are encouraged to preserve existing residential and other communities, promote available and affordable housing, protect structural and aesthetic elements of their community, and, as applicable, maintain roads and streets, easements, water and sewer systems, utilities, drainage improvements, conservation and open areas, recreational amenities, and other infrastructure and common areas that serve and support the community by the revival of a previous declaration of covenants and other governing documents that may have ceased to govern some or all parcels in the community.
(2) In order to preserve a community and the associated infrastructure and common areas for the purposes described in this section, the parcel owners in a community that was previously subject to a declaration of covenants that has ceased to govern one or more parcels in the community may revive the declaration and the association for the community upon approval by the parcel owners to be governed thereby as provided in this act, and upon approval of the declaration and the other governing documents for the association by the Department of Economic Opportunity in a manner consistent with this act.
(3) This part is intended to provide mechanisms for the revitalization of covenants or restrictions for all types of communities and property associations and is not limited to residential communities.