For years an association allowed a South Florida couple to rent their townhouses, then abruptly said, ‘not anymore,’ leaving them in a big mess. Can a board do that? It’s tonight’s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.

When some people hear the word landlord, they wanna scream. Not Ana’s tenants. Tenant: “She is one of, well, the best landlord I’ve ever had.” Ana Henriques: “I like my tenants. It’s like if I’m talking to a friend.” If her tenants are friends, Ana and her husband once had a lot of them at The Groves at Venetia. Ana Henriques: “We started buying in 2009. We have 16 units.” Buying the 16 townhouses over the course of a decade was part of their plan to have income to retire.

Ana Henriques: “All the units were, like, rented and I didn’t have any problems.”

No problems and then it all changed.

Ana Henriques: “I got a call from the president of the association. ‘As you are owner, you can only rent one unit. You cannot have more than one unit to rent.'”

In 2023, the board decided they were going to start enforcing an old bylaw written in 2006 that said, “if a property owner has more than one house, the homeowner may only lease one of those homes at a time.”

Ana Henriques: “I went crazy and my first action was start praying and calling the tenants and telling them that they were, like, they had to move on.”

Ana didn’t know about the old clause from 2006 that said you could only rent one unit and was surprised by the board’s move because they had approved each tenant before they moved in.

Ana Henriques: “Because since 2009, we’ve been renting.”

Ana has tried to fight back but 12 tenants have had to vacate. Only four are left and under the bylaws, Ana has to pick which one can stay.

Ana Henriques: “And I don’t want my tenants to, to move, they have kids too.”

Twelve townhouses are empty. No rent money coming in as Ana has to pay thousands each month for association fees, taxes and insurance.

Ana Henriques: “I cannot pay my bills. How am I going to be living, paying my bills?”

Not much income but a lot of stress for her family.

Ana Henriques: “I’m with high blood pressure. My husband is with panic attacks all the time. It’s hard, I don’t even know what’s gonna happen.”

Well Howard, the board allowed Ana to rent her units for 14 years and it’s why she bought there. Can they now say ‘not anymore?’

Howard Finkelstein: “It doesn’t seem right, but legally, the board probably can do it. Ana can argue what the law calls ‘detrimental reliance,’ meaning she relied on the prior board’s approval of her tenants and a new board changing their mind to enforce old rules will cost her tens of thousands of dollars. It would be a good lawsuit but I think Ana will have a tough time winning.”

I spoke to the association’s attorney who provided all the documents to back the board’s decision.

Jose Torres added prior administrations did not strictly enforce the leasing restrictions, however the current administration notified all homeowners it would recommence strict enforcement.

He added, “Mrs. Henriques was responsible for reviewing the association’s governing documents prior to purchasing property in the community.”

Ana Henriques: “I don’t even know what I’m going to do.”

Ana now faces several hurdles. First, she has no money coming in and selling all these units will not be easy.

Ana Henriques: “It takes time. And its not only one or two, it’s 16.”

And right now, not a lot of people are buying real estate. Imagine having to pay thousands a month in expenses for rental units you can’t rent or cannot sell. No wonder Ana is so distressed.