For homeowner association covenants which are past 30 years from the root of title, there is a revitalization process, although it requires an owner vote. The covenants may also be preserved by an amendment to the covenants and restrictions that is indexed under the legal name of the property owners’ association, references the legal name of the property owners’ association and references the recording information of the covenant or restriction to be preserved. The good news for HOAs approaching 30 years from the recording of the original declaration of covenants is that there is a process, which has been simplified by the 2018 amendments to Chapter 712, whereby the board of directors of an HOA can preserve the covenants for an additional 30 years by filing a summary notice of preservation in the public records of the county where the subdivision is located. Condominium declarations, on the other hand, generally aren’t susceptible to MRTA extinguishment because the Condominium Act requires that the legal description for deeds to individual units include specific reference to the public record information for the declaration of condominium. For the unwary homeowner’s association, MRTA may have the effect of extinguishing the covenants and restrictions for lots in the subdivision, and thereby the association’s ability to enforce the restrictions, because many deeds to single-family homes/lots contain only a general reference to covenants and restrictions of record, and therefore don’t qualify for an exception to extinguishment. If a ‘muniment of title’ (usually a deed) specifically refers to the book and page number where the restriction is recorded in the public records, the restriction for that parcel is not extinguished under MRTA.

The purpose of MRTA is to extinguish ‘stale’ restrictions on real property those that are more than 30 years old, measured from the ‘root of title’ (a recorded instrument creating or transferring estate in real property). Chapter 720 amendments go into effect July 1, 2017. Chapter 712) become effective October 1, 2018. The 2018 legislative session resulted in changes to Florida Statutes, Chapters 720 and 712, dealing with the preservation and revitalization of community covenants and restrictions and the Marketable Record Title Act (“MRTA”), and the addition of a new requirement for homeowner association boards to address MRTA on an annual basis.

Hoa covenants expire