Source: https://www.csklegal.com/tck_publications/2011/03/?post_type=tck_publications
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 15:00:51+00:00

Document:
Miles McGrane, an Associate in the firm’s West Palm Beach Office, was recently elected as the Florida Bar, Young Lawyers Division Board of Governors, 15th Judicial Circuit Representative.
It is questionable whether courts will follow the reasoning and statutory interpretation of the foreclosure purchasers. The more compelling position taken by community associations, and reflected in the legislative amendments to section 718.116, is that the second sentence of section 718.116(1)(a) unequivocally states that all unit owners, without exception, are jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for all unpaid assessments that came due up to the time of transfer of title.4 Nevertheless, even if the second sentence of section 718.116(1)(a) does not unequivocally state the obligations of unit owners for past due assessments, reading the first and second sentence of section 718.116(1)(a) as a congruous paragraph demonstrates the legislature’s intent that the italicized portion of the first sentence be incorporated by reference into the second sentence because the two sentences are grouped together in a single-section paragraph.5 Community associations take the position that had the legislature intended for a unit owner who purchased property from a foreclosure sale be exempted from liability for past due assessments, then the legislature would have so stated or included the second sentence in its own section.
Furthermore, the July 1, 2010 amendments made to section 718.116 evince the legislature’s desire to protect a community association’s ability to collect past due assessments from foreclosure sale purchasers. The amendment to section 718.116(b)(1) allows an association to collect assessments from a first mortgagee, its successor, or an assignee from the twelve months immediately preceding that person’s acquisition of title.6 Before the amendment, a community association could only collect past due assessments from a first mortgagee, its successor or assignee from the six months immediately preceding that person’s acquisition of title.7 This change demonstrates the intention of the legislature to increase the liability of foreclosure purchasers for past due assessments, not release them from liability.
As the number of purchasers who acquire their property through foreclosure sales increases, we anticipate that litigation will continue to arise under this statute. Should the courts find that section 718.116 absolves foreclosure sale purchasers from liability for unpaid assessments, this may have a serious impact on community associations’ ability to obtain a significant amount of unpaid assessments due from previous owners of the property. Ultimately, however, we are hopeful that the courts will find the community associations’ position compelling, and, in time, the legislature will clarify any ambiguity.
1 § 718.116, Fla. Stat. (2010).
2 § 718.116(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2010) Emphasis added).
6 § 718.116(1)(b)(1), Fla. Stat. (2010).
7 § 718.116(1)(b)(1.), Fla. Stat. (2009).
8 § 718.116(1)(g), Fla. Stat. (2010).
9 § 718.116(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2010).

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