Woodside Village Condominium Association, Inc. v. Jahren
Woodside Village Condo. Ass'n, Inc. v. Jahren, 806 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 2002)
A condominium association may validly amend its declaration to impose leasing restrictions binding on all unit owners — including owners who purchased their units before the amendment was adopted. The Florida Supreme Court (Anstead, J., for a unanimous court; Quince, J., concurring specially) held that unit purchasers acquire their property subject to the declaration's own amendment provisions, and restrictions in declarations "are clothed with a very strong presumption of validity which arises from the fact that each individual unit owner purchases his unit knowing of and accepting the restrictions to be imposed." When an amendment is adopted by the two-thirds vote required by Fla. Stat. §718.110 and the declaration's own procedures, it binds all owners so long as the restriction does not violate public policy or constitutional rights. The nine-month minimum lease term at issue was upheld as a reasonable exercise of condominium governance aimed at promoting owner-occupancy.
Foundational Florida Supreme Court authority on enforceability of post-purchase amendments to a condominium declaration and on the presumption of validity that attaches to recorded restrictions. Frequently cited whenever an owner challenges a new leasing, occupancy, or use restriction imposed by amendment. Should be read together with §718.110's amendment procedure and Cohn v. Grand Condominium (Fla. 2011) on the constitutional outer limit when a declaration fixes itself to a specific era of the Condominium Act.