Case Name: Maria H. BROWN, Appellant, v. Edward G. RICE and Joan A. Rice, et al., Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-07-24
Citations: 716 So. 2d 807
Docket Number: No. 97-702
Parties: Maria H. BROWN, Appellant, v. Edward G. RICE and Joan A. Rice, et al., Appellee.
Judges: GRIFFIN, C.J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 716
Pages: 807–814

Head Matter:
Maria H. BROWN, Appellant, v. Edward G. RICE and Joan A. Rice, et al., Appellee.
No. 97-702.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, ‘ Fifth District.
July 24, 1998.
Allan P. Whitehead and Michael M.M. Wallis of Mosley, Wallis & Whitehead, P.A., Melbourne, for Appellant.
William E. Weller of Rose and Weller, Cocoa Beach, for Appellee.

Opinion:
ANTOON, Judge.
The controlling issue in this case is whether a condominium unit owner possesses the authority to convey a limited common element. The trial court determined that section 718.107 of the Florida Statutes (1993), prohibited such a conveyance. We agree and therefore affirm.
The Windrush Condominium in Cocoa Beach consists of 126 living units and 112 garages. The Declaration of Condominium (Declaration) described the garages as limited common elements and authorized the developer to assign the garages to certain unit owners. The developer assigned garage A-12 to the original purchaser of living unit 511 who paid an additional sum in order to obtain the exclusive use of the garage. Thereafter, unit 511, along with the garage, exchanged ownership several times and was eventually purchased by Marie Young. After Young purchased the unit, she executed a quit claim deed purporting to convey the "use" of garage A-12 to the appellant, Maria Brown, who owned living unit 701. Specifically, the quit claim deed purported to convey:
The exclusive use of that limited common element described in the Declaration of Condominium as Garage No. A-12, which is an appurtenance to UNIT No. 511, in accordance with and subject to the covenants, conditions, restrictions, terms and other provisions of the Declaration of Condominium of WINDRUSH, .
Sometime later the appellees, Edward and Joan Rice, purchased unit 511. After the sale was completed, the Rices learned that as owners of unit 511 they had a claim to the exclusive use of garage A-12. Upon making this discovery, the Rices initiated an action with the State of Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums and Mobile Homes (the Department), seeking to have their right to use garage A-12 recognized. The Rices argued that Young's quit claim deed, which purported to convey the right to use garage A-12 to Brown, was a nullity because the garage could not be conveyed separately from living unit 511 since it was a limited common element which was at all times appurtenant to living unit 511. The Department properly took jurisdiction and arbitrated the dispute pursuant to rule 61B-45.013(1) of the Florida Administrative Code and section 718.1255 of the Florida Statutes (1993). Upon review, the Department issued a final summary judgment in favor of the Rices.
Following entry of the Department's adverse ruling, Brown sought a trial de novo in the circuit court pursuant to section 718.1255(4)(c) of the Florida Statutes (1'993). After conducting a hearing, the trial court determined there were no disputed factual issues and entered summary judgment in favor of the Rices. Brown appeals that ruling.
Before proceeding further, it is necessary to review certain statutory provisions pertaining to condominium ownership. A condominium is defined as "that form of ownership of real property . which is comprised of units that may be owned by one or more persons, and in which there is, appurtenant to each unit, an undivided share in common elements." § 718.103(10), Fla. Stat. (1993). "Common elements" are defined as "portions of the condominium property which are not included in the units." § 718.103(7), Fla. Stat. (1993).. Furthermore, "limited common elements" are "those common elements which are reserved for the use of a certain condominium unit or units to the exclusion of other units, as specified in the declaration of condominium." § 718.103(17), Fla. Stat. (1993).
The determination of whether a common element is a limited common element depends solely upon the designation set forth in the property's declaration of condominium. See § 718.106(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (1993). Here, a provision pertaining to the exclusive use of garages was included in the Windrush Declaration. Specifically, Article IV, Apartment Boundaries, Common Elements, and Limited Common Elements provided, in relevant part:
There are limited common elements appurtenant to each of the units in this condominium, as shown and reflected by the floor and plot plans. These limited common elements are reserved for the use of the units appurtenant thereto, to the exclu sion of other units, and there shall pass with a unit, as appurtenant thereto the exclusive right to use the limited common elements so appurtenant. In addition, there are One Hundred Twelve (112) garages numbered A-l through A-S2 inclusive, . which are more specifically shown in Exhibit "A" attached hereto, which the Developer reserves the right to designate for the exclusive use to the individual unit owners, which said spaces are hereby made limited common elements.
(Emphasis added). Thus, garage A-12 was a limited common element of the Windrush Condominium property appurtenant to living unit 511.
Without distinguishing the more general concept of common elements from the narrower concept of limited common elements, our legislature specifically restrained the conveyance of all common elements which are appurtenant to a living unit. In this regard, section 718.107(2) of the Florida Statutes (1993) entitled, "Restraint upon separation and partition of common elements," provided that "[t]he share in the common elements appurtenant to a unit cannot be conveyed or encumbered except together with the unit." To further prevent the separate conveyance of a condominium unit and an appurtenance thereto, section 718.109 of the Florida Statutes (1993) requires that every legal description of a condominium living unit shall include "all appurtenances to the unit concerned, whether or not separately described, including, but not limited to, the undivided share in the common elements appurtenant thereto." By enacting these statutes, our legislature has specifically prohibited the conveyance of all common elements, including limited common elements, unless such an interest passes along with the title to the living unit. See Juno By The Sea North Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. Manfredonia, 397 So.2d 297, 302-03 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980), rev. denied, 402 So.2d 611 (Fla.1981) (ruling that limited common elements are an appurtenance of the unit and pass with the unit when legal title is conveyed). As a result, the trial court properly concluded that Ms. Young's separate conveyance of garage A-12 to Ms. Brown was unauthorized. See § 718.107, Fla. Stat. (1993).
Ms. Brown's primary argument on appeal is that section 718.107(2) does not apply to the facts of the instant case because the quit claim deed from Ms. Young did not convey an interest in real property, but instead, the deed merely gave Ms. Brown the right to use the garage. In other words, Ms. Brown essentially maintains that she received a license to use garage A-12. A license is merely the right to use another's property. Unlike an easement, the grant of a license does not convey any interest in the land; therefore, it generally may not be assigned or conveyed. See Dotson v. Wolfe, 391 So.2d 757, 758 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). Instead, a license is a personal privilege and is automatically extinguished upon the sale or conveyance of the servient property. See Devlin v. The Phoenix, Inc., 471 So.2d 93, 95 (Fla. 5th DCA), rev. denied, 480 So.2d 1295 (Fla.1985). As a result, if we were to accept Ms. Brown's assertion that, by executing the quit claim deed, Ms. Young conveyed a license in Ms. Brown's favor, then Ms. Brown's right to use garage unit A-12 automatically terminated when Ms. Young's interest in living unit 511 was conveyed to the Rices.
The dissent, reaching well beyond the arguments presented both at trial and on appeal, interprets Article IV of Windrush's Declaration as establishing two categories of limited common elements — one consisting of balconies and patios and the other consisting of the garages. The dissent contends that the garages are not appurtenant to the living units because their ownership was not assigned at the time of the filing of the Articles of Condominium, and, as a result, they may be freely transferred from one living unit owner to another. However, neither Win-drush's Declaration nor chapter 718 recognizes such a dichotomy.
In our view, the garage units are appurtenant to the living units to which they were assigned by the developer. Although chapter 718, Florida Statutes, does not include a definition of "appurtenant," Black's Law Dictionary 103 (6th Ed.1990), defines the term as "belonging to; accessory or incident to; adjunct, appended, or annexed to-" Applying this definition, we conclude that the developer made the garage units appurtenant to the living units to which they were assigned by referring to the garage units as limited common elements designated for the exclusive use to the individual unit owner. Furthermore, the garage units meet the definition of limited common elements provided in section 718.103(13) in that they are common elements reserved for the use of certain unit owners to the exclusion of others.
We note further that, even if the dissent is correct in its view that garage A-12 was not a limited common element because it was not assigned at the time the Declaration was executed, the garage would at the very least constitute a common element. As previously discussed, section 718.107(2) of the Florida Statutes (1993) prohibited the conveyance of common elements separate from the living unit. Additionally, Article III of Windrush Condominium's Declaration of Condominium, Ownership of Apartments and Appurtenant Share In Common Elements and Common Surplus, and Share of Common Expenses, provided, in relevant part:
Each apartment shall be conveyed as an individual property capable of independent use and fee simple ownership and the owner or owners of each apartment shall own, as an appurtenance to the ownership of each said apartment, an undivided one-ninety-eighth (1/98) share of all common elements of the condominium, which includes, but is not limited to, ground support area, walkways, yard area, parking areas, foundations, etc.... Any undivided interest in the common property is hereby declared to be appurtenant to each unit and such undivided interest shall not be separated from the unit and such interest shall be deemed conveyed, devised, encumbered or otherwise included with the unit even though such interest is not expressly mentioned or described in the conveyance, or other instrument.
We respect the position advocated by the dissent because we know that it is asserted out of the sincere belief that it is legally correct. However, we have done what the law requires of us. In that regard, we have worked with the laws the legislature has provided and the arguments that the lawyers presented to the trial court. Perhaps the dissent is correct that our legislature did not intend to limit conveyances of limited common elements from one unit owner to another; however, the wording of the statute is clear. While the common law is not fixed and immutable, but instead, dependent upon judicial shepherding in refining, clarifying, augmenting, and developing legal principles when a statute is unclear, it is not our role as intermediate appellate judges to substitute the legislature's policy with our own. See University of Arizona Health Sciences Center v. Superior Court, 136 Ariz. 579, 667 P.2d 1294, 1301 (1983)(Gordon, Vice Chief Justice, concurring in part, dissenting in part). In short, legislating is best left to the legislature and lawyering is best left to lawyers.
The dissent states that restraints against the transfer of limited common elements from one living unit owner to another are unreasonable, implying that such restraints are unconstitutional. The problem with this .expedient approach to the resolution of the instant appeal is that a challenge to the constitutionality of the statute was never raised by Ms. Brown in the trial court. We refuse to reverse a trial court's decision when the trial court dutifully fulfilled its responsibility by making the difficult decisions we require of it simply because we can devise a better result for the party we think should prevail.
AFFIRMED.
GRIFFIN, C.J., concurs.
HARRIS, J., dissents, with opinion.
. Ms. Brown also argues that (1) the state did not have jurisdiction to compel Brown and Rice to arbitrate pursuant to section 718.1255, Florida Statutes (1995), and rule 61B-45.013 of the Florida Administrative Code, and (2) material facts existed precluding entry of final summary judg-merit. Since the trial court conducted de novo review, Brown's first claim is irrelevant to the outcome of this appeal. Furthermore, since this matter pertains to issues of law, the presence of disputed facts is also irrelevant.