C.D. from Miami, Florida writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
The condo has a submerged land lease with the county and leases boat slips to its shareholders. There are 12 boat slips. Some boat owners want to put floating docks in the slips to keep their boats safe and out of the water. One board member is against this and states that putting a floating dock in a slip is altering a common element and therefore requires a 100 percent shareholder vote (unanimous by all owners). Is this accurate?
Mister Condo replies:
C.D., without knowing the specifics of what type of vote is needed to alter common elements at your association, I would only be guessing. Look at your documents and what they say about the percentage of vote required to alter common elements. If it is 100% then the unit owner who previously stated this is correct. However, there may still be a question about whether these proposed floating docks would be association owned or individual unit owner owned. This is the realm of the community association attorney who could best provide a legal opinion on the floating dock ownership. My guess is that if they are individually owned, all that would be required of the association is to allow them and create the rules of ownership and maintenance for the floating docks. If the goal is for the association to own and maintain these docks, you will need to follow the association rules for adding or altering a common element. If that vote needs to be 100% and you already have one descending vote, the measure will not likely pass. All the best!