Live in a home governed by a condominium, co-op or homeowner’s association? Have questions about what they can and cannot do? Ryan Poliakoff , an attorney and author based in Boca Raton, has answers.
Question: Our association mandates that every homeowner join the golf club. How can the residents do anything to change this ruling when so many do not want to belong to the club? It is expensive and makes it difficult to sell our condominiums. Signed, A.T.
Dear A.T. ,
If you are saying that you are obligated to join a private country club, that obligation is established in some set of covenants — either your master association declaration, or in your declaration of condominium. The provision establishing mandatory membership would have to be removed by amendment. That might take a membership vote, or, in a master association, it might take a vote of people representing the owners’ votes (often the president of each sub-association).
While this type of amendment is unusual, it does happen — I am familiar with at least one community that established mandatory membership by amendment and then later re-amended their declaration when the owners decided they didn’t want it, after all.