Rob Samouce: Building character can change when tenants transform into guests

Each season many condominiums in this area receive a great influx of guests and short-term tenants when unit owners are away. Some owners, who also have homes up north, out west or across the pond, like to let their good friends and family get out of the cold and come down and enjoy the sunshine and use their unit while the owners are away. Other owners like to make some good quick money renting out their units during season when they can get premium rental rates.

The only problem with all these part-time visitors is that there can be a lot more wear and tear on the amenities of the community, and many partying people on vacation can get loud and go late night with their revelry to the detriment of the peaceful existence of full time residents.

The atmosphere in some buildings will start resembling hotels or motels rather than private residences.

People usually expect some guest at resort hotels will get lively and sometime obnoxious if they have too much fun. However, resort hotels are used to dealing with such lively activities to minimize their impact of the other guests. Cruise ships are also pretty good at engaging and separating the partiers from the quiet relaxers so that all can enjoy themselves.

The best way legally to prevent your condominium from turning into a place where they could film the next “Hangover” movie is to have reasonable leasing and guest restrictions in your condominium association’s governing documents.

It is important to know that in Florida if a condominium unit is leased for more than three times a year for less than 30 days, the unit can be considered a hotel/motel by the State of Florida which if investigated by the State could require the owner to retrofit the unit with costly fire safety and handicap accommodation equipment and facilities.

If a lot of the units in a condominium allow for such short-term rentals, the entire condominium could be deemed a hotel/motel by the state requiring all the common areas be retrofitted with costly fire and handicap equipment and facilities.

Therefore, condominium associations need to make sure they are not allowing too many short-term rentals to prevent becoming deemed hotels/motels.

To prevent such a designation, most condominium associations will then have a provision in their governing documents restricting such short-term leasing. Many will say that units can be leased no more than three times a year with minimum lease terms of 30 days. Some condominiums will have a minimum of 90 days so that there is only one lease per season.

However, even with such reasonable restrictions to prevent being a hotel/motel, we often become aware of local condominiums wherein owners are violating these restrictions in their documents by leasing their units out weekly or even daily many times a season.

The owners are getting away with it by just telling their tenants that if anyone on the property asks why they are there to just say that they are “guests” of the owner rather than divulge that they are tenants paying rent.

It can be difficult to prove that such a “guest/tenant” is paying rent, so it can be difficult, if not impossible, for the association to go after these violators legally to make them stop.

Many owners will be openly advertising short -term rentals on the Internet. The state will often search the Internet, find these short-term rentals and then start investigations into those condominium units that may be acting as hotels/motels.

In order stop such governing document leasing violations, minimize the late-night partying and remove the risk of being found to be a hotel/motel, we have found that adding restrictions on the number of guest stays in the units in the absence of the owner will do the trick. With reasonable guest stay restrictions, direct family members can use the unit in the absence of the owner more than extended family members or friends. Usually the restrictions are not too onerous to not allow the unit use by family members and guests in the absence of the owner that most people would want to have for their circle of family and friends.

We do not usually see the need to restrict guests when the owner is present, because the owner is usually good at self-policing his or her guest when they are in residence and they will usually tire of their guests and see that they leave before their guests staying with them become a real bother to their neighbors.

If you amend reasonable guest restrictions into your governing documents with a membership vote, then the “lease cheaters” (calling their tenants guests) can only cheat so much. Once their unit will have be used by the number of leases allowed and the number of times guests in the absence of the owner are allowed, no other tenants or guests in the absence of the owner can occupy the unit.

The owner make-up of each building or condominium community is a bit different so you should structure your leasing and guest in the absence of the owner restrictions to meet the needs and tolerances of your owners.

Some places don’t mind being a bit of a party place during season which is usually OK for them as long as they avoid state investigations demanding fire and handicap accommodation retrofits. In other places, the owners want their units to be like regular homes all year long.

There are even some buildings on the beach that allow no rentals or guests in the absence of the owner whatsoever.

It is up to your association to try to match your leasing and guest restrictions to the make-up and desires of the majority of your owners to keep most of the people in your building(s) happy most of the time.


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