Long battle with Jupiter Bay condo association ends
Article Courtesy of The Jupiter Courier

 
By James Russell Staff Writer
September 18, 2002

An 11-year battle between condo owners and the Jupiter Bay Condominium Association ended Aug. 26 as an arbitrator with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled that the association's board of directors has been illegally charging application fees and attempting to control property owners' rights to lease their condos. 

Peter J. Marrano, manager of Jupiter Bay Rentals & Sales Inc., said the ruling returns the 353 South U.S. 1 condominiums to the state they were intended to be insince their development by his family in the early 1980s. 

Marrano, who under Jupiter Bay Rentals & Sales is hired by condo owners to manage their properties, said the Jupiter Bay Condominiums were originally built and marketed as vacation homes that could be rented out in the owners' absence. 

"The research that we did showed that there were no condominiums in Jupiter at the time that didn't have restrictions on the owners being able to lease their properties out," Marrano said. "Jupiter Bay was built to fill that gap in the market." 

Following the completed development of the community in 1990, the homeowners' board took over from developers and within a year suggested amending the condominiums' declarations to restrict the rental rights of property owners, he said. 

With any changes to the declarations requiring the approval of 75 percent of homeowners, a vote was conducted in 1991 and the board of directors claimed that the amendment had passed, Marrano said. 

"They said it passed, but, in truth, it never really passed," he said. "The 1991 board lied to the homeowners." 

What actually happened, Marrano said, was that the board amended the condominium association's by-laws in May 1991 and recorded the change in the courts of Palm Beach County. The amendment gave the board the power to dictate rentals at Jupiter Bay, he said. 

According to Florida State law dealing with condominium regulations, declarations are the highest order of condominium rules, holding more power than by-laws, articles of incorporation and rules and regulations. 

Although the board's change in the by-laws did give it some control over leasing restrictions, the declarations stated that there were no restrictions to renting units. 

Marrano said the board's methods bordered on "Gestapo tactics" and included charging $75 application fees to renting tenants, fining homeowners hundreds of dollars for renting their units against the board's rental policy, and even having some tenants' cars towed off the property. 

"All this changed as of Aug. 26. Jupiter Bay's board of directors no longer has the power to control, regulate, restrict and charge application fees for rentals," Marrano said. "The truth is, what the board has done over the past years to the owners and tenants alike has been illegal." 

Calls to the Jupiter Bay Condominium Association were not returned as of press time. 

However, an Aug. 30 letter to Jupiter Bay unit owners from the board of directors stated that the board has "decided not to pursue any further appeals" in the case. 

"Any appeals would undoubtedly be costly and protracted and would deter us from efforts to focus on our previously announced initiative of scheduling an owners vote to amend the declaration," the letter stated. 

According to the letter, the loss of lease term restrictions and lease application fees will cause Jupiter Bay to lose a substantial amount of operating income and possibly face an increase in general liability insurance rates, costs for maintenance and security of the property.