[Janet]

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Our HOA/POA is looking into being able to collect part of the sales commission for property which is listed with licensed Real Estate Agents. We
are in the State of Florida. How is this legal? I also own property in Sun City Center Floria and our Community Association charges
what they call a standard ‘Capital Funding Fee’ of $3000 which a buyer is responsible to pay when they purchase a property if they have
not owned a residence within 3 years of the date of closing. That is legal. Now to point out, owners of the HOA/POA this question is about,
does charge each owner an annual assessment of $5,000 per property but has not been vigilant with special assessments to pay for major capital
improvement projects. Comments?

[melinda_s]

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Capital funding is actually a pretty common fee that many new homeowners have to pay. Don’t see the problem with that.

[rebecca086]

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Hey, OP. I don’t live in Florida but here is what I found:

*Condominium associations can’t charge any fees for the sale, mortgage, lease, sublease or other transfer of a unit unless the association is required to approve such transfer and a fee for such approval is provided for in the declaration, articles or bylaws. 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. These fees are to be used for screening and transfer approval only, not for capital contributions. (Section 718.112(2)(i), Florida Statutes).

*Homeowners Associations (HOAs) do not have this restriction. Many developers charge a one-time capital contribution when the developer sells a home to the first purchaser. In some cases, this money is set aside and delivered to the HOA at turnover to provide the community with start-up funds. After turnover from the developer, the HOA, as controlled by the members, can continue to charge a capital contribution fee on resales. The amount of the capital contribution fee in an HOA is regulated by the association’s documents, and the HOA membership can amend the documents after developer turnover to increase or decrease the amount of the fee.

Hope it helps.

[wingercom4th]

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$5,000 a year seems normal to me. Fees have been increasing everywhere in Florida. We pay $450 monthly. But if it’s the special assessments you’re having a problem with, HOAs are supposed to present the financials to homeowners. This is so you can see where the money (including special assessments) is going.

[Janet]

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Yes, it sure does. Ironically, we were just at Mountain Falls Luxury RV Resort and and owner was telling me how much they are collecting from the sale of lots. There is an onsite
Real Estate Broker but it was unclear what % of the sales the Association is getting. A one-time capital funding fee, in addition to paying an annual assessment seems the way to go.

[Janet]

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The proposal to see about getting more $ for other capital improvement projects. I am sure our $5,000 a year annual assessment will go up as well. I think we will be a bit ‘late to the
gate’ with a capital funding fee but if it is based off of a % of the sales price, that is a different story. Current listed property for sale is $850K to $1.5M

[Janet]

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Thank you for confirming.

[Janet]

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Well aware of what is needed for capital funding. Right now, we are getting a new road put in and anxiously awaiting the special assessment we will have have to pay. There should have been $ put in reserves for this project. I recently asked about $100,000 which was just put into an ’emergency reserve fund’ this year and never got a response back from the BOD. We were all given copies of the proposed budget prior to our annual POA meeting this year, but other ‘hot’ topics took over the meeting and we never had a chance to ask about items in the budget. We were also told that the new road was ‘considered’ a repair vs. a capital improvement as a way to ‘skirt’ having the owners vote on it. Not a major problem since the road had been
an issue for 20 years but still we should follow our bylaws.

[Author]

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