If you are trying to locate a statute of interest that addresses a specific topic like what vote is required to enlarge our common elements, you must be careful not to narrow your vision when you find one that appears to fit. If you think you found a statute that fits, you must re-read it, not thinking about why you were looking for it in the first place, but thinking ''Why does this statute exist at all ?'' and ''What is the purpose of this statute?'' After that exercise and if you have any doubts, keep looking for other statutes that are candidates that may address your needs. When you are done, the statutes you have selected must not conflict with each other. Laws are written to be unambiguous.
Now we can digest the statute (718.110(4)) that the board has interpreted to support their ruling that if the FLAG property were to be acquired, a positive vote is required from 100% of all TW unit owners to add it to the TWOA common elements. The board's attorney referenced only the first sentence to explain that 100% approval is needed to add the property to the Common Elements as that is the only way to change the appurtenances to the units. Statute 718.110(4) is copied following this column. Note that it is made up of only three sentences. All are part of the statute and are all relevant to its understanding. After that meeting and the members' vote a month later, it took me several more months to understand what this statute is saying. It is a very convoluted statute. I had to discover the method described above.
A second opinion from someone more specialized was needed for confirmation. I contacted an attorney that operates a service that assists persons with homeowners' and condominium owners' association law questions. I did have to pay a fee for this service, but he made it clear he was not acting as my attorney.
This is his reply to my request for an interpretation:
I do not interpret Section 718.110(4) as requiring 100% of the member vote to add a property to the common elements. The section refers to an amendment that changes the configuration or size of a unit, or materially alters or modifies the appurtenances to the unit, or changes the proportion or percentage by which the unit owner shares the common expenses and owns the common surplus. The section also states that the acquisition of property by the association shall not be deemed to constitute a material alteration or modification of the appurtenances to the units.
I ask the person reading this column to use the statute reading method described in the second paragraph and find the reason that these two statues below exist and come to your own conclusion. Do either of them address the question: What is the positive vote required to add real property being acquired by our association to our common elements? Pay special attention to the use of the singular and plural of the word "unit".
718.110(4) Unless otherwise provided in the declaration as originally recorded, no amendment may change the configuration or size of any unit in any material fashion, materially alter or modify the appurtenances to the unit, or change the proportion or percentage by which the unit owner shares the common expenses of the condominium and owns the common surplus of the condominium unless the record owner of the unit and all record owners of liens on the unit join in the execution of the amendment and unless all the record owners of all other units in the same condominium approve the amendment. The acquisition of property by the association and material alterations or substantial additions to such property or the common elements by the association in accordance with s. 718.111(7) or s. 718.113, and amendments providing for the transfer of use rights in limited common elements pursuant to s. 718.106(2)(b) shall not be deemed to constitute a material alteration or modification of the appurtenances to the units. A declaration recorded after April 1, 1992, may not require the approval of less than a majority of total voting interests of the condominium for amendments under this subsection, unless otherwise required by a governmental entity.
718.110(6) The common elements designated by the declaration may be enlarged by an amendment to the declaration. The amendment must describe the interest in the property and must submit the property to the terms of the declaration. The amendment must be approved and executed as provided in this section. The amendment divests the association of title to the land and vests title in the unit owners as part of the common elements, without naming them and without further conveyance, in the same proportion as the undivided shares in the common elements that are appurtenant to the unit owned by them.
Continuing this search for the correct statute, I found 718.110(6) just below. It is also copied at the end of this column.
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