Properly Adopted Amendment to Declaration Can Limit Owner’s Right to Lease

This case involved a dispute between a homeowner (“Owner”) and his homeowners association (“Association”) over Owner’s right to continue to lease his home following the adoption of an amendment by Association to its Declaration which restricted the ability of the community’s owners to lease their property.

When Owner purchased his home in the community in October of 2000, he was aware of Association’s Declaration which, at the time, did not have restrictions on the leasing of homes. In 2004, Owner moved out of the home but retained it as a rental property. He then entered into a 300 month commercial lease agreement with a real estate company that he formed where he was the sole officer and member, and over the next decade he rented his home out to various different tenants through the company.

In 2016, Association proposed amending its Declaration in a manner that included restrictions on renting properties within the community. The amendment was voted in by more than two-thirds of the owners, and Association notified Owner that the new rental restrictions were going to take effect on August 1, 2016. Rather than comply, Owner: