Juno By The Sea North Condominium Ass'n (The Towers), Inc. v. Manfredonia, 78-1359

• Decision Date: 25 June 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-1359,78-1359
• Citation: 397 So.2d 297
• Parties: JUNO BY THE SEA NORTH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION (THE TOWERS), INC., Appellant, v. Seraphin MANFREDONIA, Charles Youngblood and Jeanett Youngblood, Appellees.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 297

397 So.2d 297

JUNO BY THE SEA NORTH CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION (THE TOWERS), INC., Appellant, v. Seraphin MANFREDONIA, Charles Youngblood and Jeanett Youngblood, Appellees.

No. 78-1359.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

June 25, 1980.

On Rehearing Jan. 21, 1981.

Timothy J. Hmielewski of Nason, Gildan, Yeager & Lubin, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Raymond G. Ingalsbe of Saylor, Ingalsbe & Cohen, North Palm Beach, for appellees.

DOWNEY, Judge.

This case arose out of a controversy between several condominium unit owners and the condominium association precipitated by passage of a rule assigning parking spaces to certain unit owners. From a declaratory judgment in favor of the unit owners the Condominium Association has perfected this plenary appeal.

The case was presented to the trial court upon a stipulation of facts which in pertinent part reflects that Juno By The Sea North Condominium is a seventy unit condominium located on the east, or ocean, side of Highway AIA in Juno Beach, Florida. The condominium documents provide for three separate parking areas:

A) There are 20 covered spaces, which are limited common elements and which were sold to unit owners for $2,000.00 each on a first-come, first-serve basis.

B) There are 50 spaces located within the common elements on the east side of AIA directly adjacent to the Condominium building.

C) There are 27 spaces within the common elements which are located on the west side of AIA, across the street from the Condominium building.

When all of the Condominium units were sold and there were an insufficient number of parking spaces in parking lot B adjacent to the Condominium building, the Board of Directors passed a rule assigning one parking space to each unit owner who did not already own one of the twenty covered spaces located in the limited common elements. Appellees then filed suit for declaratory relief contending that the Board of Directors did not have the authority to pass the rule in question assigning all of the fifty spaces in parking Lot B, a common element, to less than all of the seventy unit owners. The trial court entered judgment for the appellees, declaring the action of the Board of Directors to be void and enjoining the Board from excluding any unit owners from enjoying the use of parking Lot B.

Appellant contends that the Condominium Act, Chapter 711, Florida Statutes (1975) (now Chapter 718, Florida Statutes), and the Declaration of Condominium authorized the Board of Directors of Juno By The Sea North Condominium to pass reasonable rules regulating the use of the common elements of the Condominium. Besides the authority contained in the Condominium Act, appellant points out that prior to the purchase of any of the units in this Condominium building Condominium Association Rule V was in effect, which provided:

Automobiles are a necessity in our modern way of living, but unfortunately, take up considerable valuable space. Parking is allocated to individual owners of our condominium family, and we urge your continued cooperation in strict recognition of the space assignments made by the Association or Developer. Do not, even on a momentary basis, park in someone else's space and inform your guests and visitors not to preempt one of your neighbor's alloted (sic) spaces.

We would concede that Condominium Associations in general and appellant in particular, through their Boards of Directors, have the authority to pass reasonable rules and regulations pertaining to the common elements of the Condominium. However, as we see it, the reasonableness of the rule adopted by the Directors of the Association is not the focal issue involved in this litigation. The issue rather is one of power and authority. If the Board of Directors had the power to designate certain portions of the common elements for the exclusive use of less than all of the unit owners, then it must be conceded that the method of assignment is logical and reasonable. If, on the other hand, the Board lacks the authority, the power, to so dispose of a portion of the common elements, then all the logic and reason in the world will not cure that lack of capacity to promulgate such a rule.

Parking is no doubt an essential part of living in a condominium community. If there were sufficient parking spaces in Lot B, a common element, to furnish a parking space for each unit owner, the Board could, Pursuant to its rule making power, assign parking spaces. And certainly the Board can set out reasonable rules and regulations concerning the size of the spaces, speed limits in the parking lot and other rules necessary to maintain order and safety in the area. But the evil involved in the present case is that Lot B is not large enough to afford a parking space for all seventy unit owners and so the Board has chosen some unit owners, but not all, for this preferential assignment. ¹ It is true the Board did not act as it did without rhyme or reason; the Board assigned the fifty parking spaces in Lot B (a common element) to the unit owners who had not bought one of The trial judge noted that the Board's assignment methodology might be just or logical, but he found an absence of authority for the Board to make the preferential assignments in question. We are persuaded to agree with the trial judge and thus affirm the judgment appealed from.

the twenty covered parking spaces in Lot A (limited common element). But it does not suffice to say that the twenty unit owners excluded from the preferential assignment in Lot B already have one covered space in Lot A. The unit owners who have covered parking spaces in Lot A purchased those spaces for $2,000 each; they could purchase those spaces because, pursuant to the Declaration of Condominium, those spaces were limited common elements. If the Declaration did not designate Lot A as a limited common element area, the purchase of said covered spaces in Lot A would have been invalid.

AFFIRMED.

DAUKSCH, JAMES C., Jr., Associate Judge, concurs.

ANSTEAD, Judge, dissents with opinion.

ANSTEAD, Judge, dissenting:

By its holding today the majority has ruled that a condominium association does not have the "power and authority" to assign individual spaces in a common element parking lot. At the same time the majority has held that if there were enough spaces for everyone in parking lot B, the association would have the authority to do so. The majority first states the issue is one of "power and authority" rather than "reasonableness" but proceeds to decide the issue because it finds the assignment plan to be unreasonable; i. e., preferential to those unit owners who do not own a covered parking space. I cannot agree with the "reasonableness" of the majority's opinion and therefore dissent.

The appellant relies on the power conferred upon it by Section 711.12, Florida Statutes (1975) and the declaration of condominium to maintain, manage, and operate the condominium property, which specifically includes both common elements and limited common elements, as its source of authority to assign parking spaces in the 50 space lot. I agree.

By express terms in the statute and in the declaration the association has been granted broad authority to regulate the use of both the common element and limited common element property. In general, that power may be exercised as long as the exercise is reasonable and does not exceed any specific limitations set out in the statutes or condominium documents. For instance here, although the association has the authority to regulate the use of limited common elements, it would have no authority to assign the use of the covered parking spaces because those spaces have been specifically designated in the Declaration of Condominium as appurtenances of individual units and subject to exclusive use by owners of those units. However, no such restrictions exist as to the 50 space parking lot.

The appellees contend that the appellant association violated Section 711.13(2), Florida Statutes (1975) which prohibits material alterations of the common elements except in a manner provided in the declaration. The appellees assert that the association's action improperly converted and materially altered the 50 common element spaces into limited common elements for the benefit of only 50 out of the 70 unit owners. The majority opinion does not indicate whether it agrees with this view.

Limited common elements as defined by Sections 711.03(13) and 711.04(2), Florida Statutes (1975) are not only elements reserved for the use of a certain unit but such elements become an appurtenance of the unit and pass with the unit when legal title is conveyed. Here, the 50 parking spaces, unlike the 20 covered spaces, have not been converted into limited common elements since they will not pass as appurtenances to individual units but will remain common elements subject to continuing regulation by the association. Moreover, I do not believe that by assigning individual spaces in a common element parking lot the association Parking spaces, by their very nature, are exclusive; i. e., only one vehicle can be parked in a space at a time. ² By necessity the 50 spaces are going to be used "exclusively" by 50 out of 70 of the unit owners at any given time. In other words 20 of the unit owners will always be excluded from use of the 50 spaces no matter what regulations are enacted. Surely one of the reasons that the "open parking" plan attempted briefly proved unworkable was because many unit owners found themselves completely excluded from any convenient parking.

is materially altering those common elements. There is no dispute here about the propriety of using the common elements as a parking lot. Surely some regulation of the parking areas would be necessary even if there was an excess of parking spaces in the lot. ¹ Even the majority opinion concedes that spaces could be assigned in Lot B if there were enough spaces therein...