Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Florida

Seller disclusre of HOA fee increase

We are in the process to purchase a property. In seller disclosure the answer to the question �Is there any condition or claim which may result in an increase in assessments and fees?� � Seller�s answer to the question was �No�. He did have the option to say �Unknown�.

I just called up the HOA and was told that since 2007 HOA fees have been going up by about 9 dollars a quarter due to foreclosures. And that HOA expects this fee to keep going up at this or somewhat higher rate in the future (18 monhts to 2 years) due to increased number of foreclosures in the neighborhood.

My question is: Does the seller need to disclose potential HOA fee increase due to excessive foreclosures in the neighborhood?

Is 9 dollar per quarter substantial enough increase that it needs to be disclosed?

Low HOA fees were really important to us and 36 dollar a year increase is almost a 25% increase over our current HOA fee.


Asked on 7/10/10, 10:56 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Kaplan

If the Seller knew or should have known, they should have disclosed it. If the Seller owned and lived on the property for the last few years, then they should have known to disclosed it, especially if it was common knowledge.

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Answered on 7/10/10, 2:36 pm


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