CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.House Bill 0395e2
HB 395, Second Engrossed/ntc
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to preservation of covenants or
3 restrictions; amending s. 712.01, F.S.;
4 revising and adding definitions; amending ss.
5 712.03, 712.05, and 712.06, F.S.; protecting
6 certain covenants or restrictions from
7 extinguishment; providing for preservation of
8 certain covenants or restrictions under certain
9 circumstances; authorizing certain homeowners'
10 associations to file for preservation of
11 covenants or restrictions on behalf of certain
12 parcel owners; providing a limitation; revising
13 certain notice provisions to conform; providing
14 an exception; providing an effective date.
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16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 712.01, Florida
19 Statutes, is amended, and subsections (4), (5), and (6) are
20 added to said section, to read:
21 712.01 Definitions.--As used in this law:
22 (1) The term "person" as used herein denotes singular
23 or plural, natural or corporate, private or governmental,
24 including the state and any political subdivision or agency
25 thereof as the context for the use thereof requires or denotes
26 and including any homeowners' association.
27 (4) The term "homeowner's association" means a
28 homeowner's association as defined in s. 617.301(7), or an
29 association of parcel owners which is authorized to enforce
30 use restrictions that are imposed on the parcels.
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HB 395, Second Engrossed/ntc
1 (5) The term "parcel" means real property which is
2 used for residential purposes that is subject to exclusive
3 ownership and which is subject to any covenant or restriction
4 of a homeowners' association.
5 (6) The term "covenant or restriction" means any
6 agreement or limitation contained in a document recorded in
7 the public records of the county in which a parcel is located
8 which subjects the parcel to any use restriction which may be
9 enforced by a homeowners' association or which authorizes a
10 homeowners' association to impose a charge or assessment
11 against the parcel or the owner of the parcel.
12 Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 712.03, Florida
13 Statutes, is amended to read:
14 712.03 Exceptions to marketability.--Such marketable
15 record title shall not affect or extinguish the following
16 rights:
17 (2) Estates, interests, claims, or charges, or any
18 covenant or restriction, preserved by the filing of a proper
19 notice in accordance with the provisions hereof.
20 Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 712.05, Florida
21 Statutes, is amended to read:
22 712.05 Effect of filing notice.--
23 (1) Any person claiming an interest in land or a
24 homeowners' association desiring to preserve any covenant or
25 restriction or any portion of a covenant or restriction may
26 preserve and protect the same from extinguishment by the
27 operation of this act by filing for record, during the 30-year
28 period immediately following the effective date of the root of
29 title, a notice, in writing, in accordance with the provisions
30 hereof, which notice shall have the effect of so preserving
31 such claim of right or such covenant or restriction or portion
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HB 395, Second Engrossed/ntc
1 of such covenant or restriction for a period of not longer
2 than 30 years after filing the same unless again filed as
3 required herein. No disability or lack of knowledge of any
4 kind on the part of anyone shall delay the commencement of or
5 suspend the running of said 30-year period. Such notice may be
6 filed for record by the claimant or by any other person acting
7 on behalf of any claimant who is:
8 (a) Under a disability,
9 (b) Unable to assert a claim on his behalf, or
10 (c) One of a class, but whose identity cannot be
11 established or is uncertain at the time of filing such notice
12 of claim for record.
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14 Such notice may be filed by a homeowners' association only if
15 the preservation of such covenant or restriction or portion of
16 such covenant or restriction is approved by a majority vote at
17 a meeting of the membership where a quorum is present.
18 Section 4. Subsections (1) and (3) of section 712.06,
19 Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
20 712.06 Contents of notice; recording and indexing.--
21 (1) To be effective, the notice above referred to
22 shall contain:
23 (a) The name or description of the claimant or the
24 homeowners' association desiring to preserve any covenant or
25 restriction and the name and particular post-office address of
26 the person filing the claim or the homeowners' association.
27 (b) The name and post-office address of an owner, or
28 the name and post-office address of the person in whose name
29 said property is assessed on the last completed tax assessment
30 roll of the county at the time of filing, who, for the purpose
31 of such notice, shall be deemed to be an owner.
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HB 395, Second Engrossed/ntc
1 (c) A full and complete description of all land
2 affected by such notice, which description shall be set forth
3 in particular terms and not by general reference, but if said
4 claim is founded upon a recorded instrument or a covenant or a
5 restriction, then the description in such notice may be the
6 same as that contained in such recorded instrument or covenant
7 or restriction, provided the same shall be sufficient to
8 identify the property.
9 (d) A statement of the claim showing the nature,
10 description, and extent of such claim or, in the case of a
11 covenant or restriction, a copy of the covenant or
12 restriction, except that it shall not be necessary to show the
13 amount of any claim for money or the terms of payment.
14 (e) If such claim is based upon an instrument of
15 record or a recorded covenant or restriction, such instrument
16 shall be sufficiently described to identify the same,
17 including reference to the book and page in which the same is
18 recorded.
19 (f) Such notice shall be acknowledged in the same
20 manner as deeds are acknowledged for record.
21 (3) The clerk of the circuit court shall, upon such
22 filing, mail by registered or certified mail to the purported
23 owner of said property, as stated in such notice, a copy
24 thereof and shall enter on the original, before recording the
25 same, a certificate showing such mailing. For preparing the
26 certificate, the claimant shall pay to the clerk the service
27 charge as prescribed in s. 28.24(11) and the necessary costs
28 of mailing, in addition to the recording charges as prescribed
29 in s. 28.24(15). If the notice names purported owners having
30 more than one address, the person filing the same shall
31 furnish a true copy for each of the several addresses stated,
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HB 395, Second Engrossed/ntc
1 and the clerk shall send one such copy to the purported owners
2 named at each respective address. Such certificate shall be
3 sufficient if the same reads substantially as follows:
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5 I hereby certify that I did on this ...., mail by
6 registered (or certified) mail a copy of the foregoing notice
7 to each of the following at the address stated:
8 ...(Clerk of the circuit court)...
9 of .... County, Florida,
10 By ...(Deputy clerk)...
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12 The clerk of the circuit court is not required to mail to the
13 purported owner of such property any such notice that pertains
14 solely to the preserving of any covenant or restriction or any
15 portion of a covenant or restriction.
16 Section 5. This act shall take effect October 1, 1997.
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