You may have heard rumors about neighboring Sundance Assoc., Inc. no longer existing - that their HOA does not legally exist. This is not true, and it also is not an accurate statement of the probelm their Board is working through. Due to an oversight, their CC&R (Covenents, Conditions and {Deed} Restrictions) expired about 10 years ago and are no longer enforceable. This problem ocurred as an unintended consequence of a law (MRTA) passed in the 1960's to simplify property title searches in Florida - limiting searches to 30 years. This caused HOA's CC&Rs over 30 years old to no longer be revealed in property title searches - rendering them unenforceable.
About thirty years after this law went into affect, the impact to HOA CC&R's was discovered - so new laws were passed to enable expired CC&R's to be reinstated, and not yet expired CC&R's to be renewed. The Sundance Board and their attorney are working towards reinstating their CC&R. Unfortunately, a majority of their membership must approve this. If not approved - Sundance's 'Plan B' is to reinvent themselves possibly as a voluntary HOA. Whatever happens, they will continue to exist and if necessary, they will utilize state and local codes and local code enforcement to ensure their community does not fall into disrepair.
Sundance Trails does not have this problem. Due to the way our sub-division is platted, our HOA must exist (to maintain the private roads/ditches), and all members are required to belong to the HOA. Also our CC&R contains an enforceablity clause that provides for automatice renewal.
You may hear something very different from some Sundance members. These are the basic facts as of today 10/10/2014.
