Material alterations
If you are considering making a change to the common elements of the building, you will need to consider that certain changes may be considered a Material Alteration. Material Alterations are changes to the common element that would require the approval of the membership.
Although there are various portions of the building that are ultimately up to the discretion of the Board of Directors to either maintain or change, such as the landscaping of the building, set appearances of the building would require membership approval. A common standard would be the color of the building, as many associations are completing their long-needed concrete repairs, some are deciding to modernize the color of the building.
According to Florida Statutes, leaving the “color family” of the set color standard would be considered a Material alteration. There have been cases in the State of Florida where and Association expends its reserve fund, or worse, its Special Assessment fund, to repaint the building with a new color. Only for a unit owner to report to the state that the Association did not follow proper procedures to approve this change.
The Florida Statutes by default require an approval of 75% of the total voting interest, i.e. all unit owners, to approve a Material Alteration. However the statute provides that should the Governing Documents of the Association lay out alternative approval requirements, the Association would follow those requirements rather than those of the Statutes. You should consult your Governing Documents to see if your documents have alternative approval requirements but be aware that you may find that your documents have even stricter requirements such as 100% approval.
Another common alteration to the exterior of the buildings has been the installation of patios and paver walkways in the Common Area. Whether these patios or walkways be placed in the center of the backyard or directly behind an individual unit, these installations would have required the approval of the membership to be considered “legal”. In recent years, some associations have had to remove one or more patios or walkways from the rear of individual units.
This topic has been controversial as it brings into question the legality of not only these smaller patios but also the larger patios used often for meetings. Also, since a patio sits in the common area directly behind a unit, it is still considered “common” and is not for the exclusive use of the unit owner despite its proximity to the unit and its responsibility to maintain these pavers. Remember, all the unit owners are left paying the expense of removing these improperly installed patios & walkways. Before making any change to the exterior of the building, large or small, you should refer to the Governing Documents and consider consulting your Attorney.
For additional information, please refer to the articles below:
https://beckerlawyers.com/material-alteration-voting-explained-news-press-2/
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