Association changes enforcement rules and devastates family

For years an association allowed a South Florida couple to rent their townhouses then abruptly disclosed not anymore leaving them in a big mess Can a board do that It s tonight s Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser When selected people hear the word landlord they wanna scream Not Ana s tenants Tenant She is one of well the best landlord I ve ever had Ana Henriques I like my tenants It s like if I m talking to a friend If her tenants are friends Ana and her husband once had a lot of them at The Groves at Venetia Ana Henriques We started buying in We have units Buying the townhouses over the program of a decade was part of their plan to have income to retire Ana Henriques All the units were like rented and I didn t have any problems No problems and then it all changed Ana Henriques I got a call from the president of the association As you are owner you can only rent one unit You cannot have more than one unit to rent ' In the board decided they were going to start enforcing an old bylaw written in that declared if a property owner has more than one house the homeowner may only lease one of those homes at a time Ana Henriques I went crazy and my first action was start praying and calling the tenants and telling them that they were like they had to move on Ana didn t know about the old clause from that noted you could only rent one unit and was surprised by the board s move because they had approved each tenant before they moved in Ana Henriques Because since we ve been renting Ana has tried to fight back but tenants have had to vacate Only four are left and under the bylaws Ana has to pick which one can stay Ana Henriques And I don t want my tenants to to move they have kids too Twelve townhouses are empty No rent money coming in as Ana has to pay thousands each month for association fees taxes and insurance Ana Henriques I cannot pay my bills How am I going to be living paying my bills Not much income but a lot of stress for her family Ana Henriques I m with high blood pressure My husband is with panic attacks all the time It s hard I don t even know what s gonna happen Well Howard the board allowed Ana to rent her units for years and it s why she bought there Can they now say not anymore Howard Finkelstein It doesn t seem right but legally the board possibly can do it Ana can argue what the law calls detrimental reliance meaning she relied on the prior board s approval of her tenants and a new board changing their mind to enforce old rules will cost her tens of thousands of dollars It would be a good lawsuit but I think Ana will have a tough time winning I spoke to the association s attorney who provided all the documents to back the board s decision Jose Torres added prior administrations did not strictly enforce the leasing restrictions however the current administration notified all homeowners it would recommence strict enforcement He added Mrs Henriques was responsible for reviewing the association s governing documents prior to purchasing property in the society Ana Henriques I don t even know what I m going to do Ana now faces several hurdles First she has no money coming in and selling all these units will not be easy Ana Henriques It takes time And its not only one or two it s And right now not a lot of people are buying real estate Imagine having to pay thousands a month in expenses for rental units you can t rent or cannot sell No wonder Ana is so distressed Your great idea become a terrible burden Feel like you have been whacked by a board You don t have to sell us on helping we like owning your problems With this Help Me Howard I m Patrick Fraser News