Condo Rentals in Florida: Limit or No Limit

E.M. from Florida writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

I own a Florida condo for 30 years, the rules have always been that you can rent your condo only twice in a lifetime. The board is now trying to change the bylaws to allow unlimited rentals. A vote already took place in December, but not every unit participated. The association has called a new vote and asked everyone who voted against the new proposal to reconsider their votes. Can they do that? Can they ask people to reconsider? What do you believe are the pros and cons to unlimited rentals? Thank you for your advice.

Mister Condo replies:

E.M., I have my opinions on the pros and cons of unlimited rentals for Florida condos and I have read many of the arguments for and against online. I asked my friend and noted Florida Community Association Attorney Donna DiMaggio Berger of Becker & Poliakoff, Inc. for her opinion as she is much more involved in Florida condo issues than I am here in Connecticut. Here’s what Attorney Berger had to say:

“If the board wants to take another stab at allowing unlimited rentals, it must send out an entirely new notice package and proxy and the vote must be taken anew. There is no way to simply have the folks who voted no to “reconsider” the issue. There is typically no limit on the number of times a community can vote on a particular topic but at some point a board who continues to spend money on sending out proxies to vote on something that has already been turned down will be seen as unreasonable and may influence some community members to not return them to office. If the original vote missed by a slim margin and there are new community members, then it might be advisable to take another shot at a new vote.”