CAN YOUR ASSOCIATION PREVENT YOU FROM BRINGING YOUR
PROFESSIONAL
TRAINER INTO THE COMMON AREA GYM OR TENNIS COURTS?
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published December 10, 2018
The question
of whether or not you can bring your personal trainer on to the
common elements in order to help train or teach you was answered
by the 4th District Court of Appeals last week.
In
Charterhouse Associates, Ltd., Inc., v. Valencia Reserve
Homeowners Association, Inc., here are the facts: Charterhouse
Associates, Ltd., Inc. owns property within the Valencia Reserve
community. It authorized Kenneth and Gail Browne to reside at
the property and assume the ownership rights of Charterhouse,
which included membership within the Valencia Reserve
Homeowner’s Association (“the Association”). The Valencia
Reserve community includes amenities such as a fitness center,
which is the Association’s property. According to the
Association’s Declaration, the center is available for the use
of owners, family members, guests, invitees, and tenants.
On several
occasions, the Brownes paid and authorized their friend, a
personal trainer, to accompany them to the fitness center. He
was only present when invited by the Brownes. Sometime
thereafter, the Association entered into a contract with a
third-party vendor, Total Health Systems (“THS”), to be the
exclusive provider of fitness services in the Association’s
fitness center.
The relevant
provisions of the Association’s Declaration are as follows:
PRIVATE
USE: For the term of this Declaration, the Association
Property (except otherwise specifically provided in this
Declaration, e.g., the Rural Parkway) is not for the use and
enjoyment of the public, but is expressly reserved for the
private use and enjoyment of the Declarant, the Association, and
the Owners, and their family members, guests, invitees and
tenants, but only in accordance with this Declaration.
OWNERS’
EASEMENTS OF ENJOYMENT: Every Owner and family member,
guest, tenant, agent, or invitee of an Owner shall, except as
may otherwise be provided in this Declaration, have a permanent
and perpetual, nonexclusive easement for ingress and egress
over, enjoyment in, and use of Association Property within the
Property (except as otherwise may be provided elsewhere in this
Declaration), in common with all other Owners, their family
members, guests, tenants, agents, and invitees, which easement
shall be appurtenant to, and shall pass with deed and/or title
to, each Owner’s Lot. This right shall be subject to the
following conditions and limitations:
C. The right
of the association to establish, amend and/or abolish from time
to time, uniform rules and regulations pertaining to the use of
the Association Property.
Because of
the contract with THS, the Association enacted a new rule
prohibiting private trainers, instructors, physical therapists,
and massage therapists from working in the fitness center. The
Association moved for partial summary judgment, and argued that
the trainer was a licensee who could be excluded from the
Association’s property based on the new rule. Appellants opposed
the motion, and asserted that their trainer was an invitee
permitted to enter the fitness center according to the plain
wording of the Declaration.
The trial
court ruled in favor of the association. On appeal, the 4th
District Court of Appeal reversed and ruled in favor of the unit
owners, stating: The Association’s Declaration gives its
property owners an easement for ingress and egress, enjoyment
in, and use of the fitness center, and specifically authorizes
their guests and invitees to use the premises. When a homeowner
exercises in the Association’s fitness center and invites a
third party along, whether for companionship or personalized
guidance, they are using the property for a recreational
purpose. This remains true regardless of whether the guest is a
friend or a business invitee, because the activity they are
engaging in is virtually the same. The evidence established that
the Brownes expressly invited the trainer to accompany them into
the fitness center, he was only on the premises with the Brownes,
and did not attempt to gain business from other residents. The
trainer never entered or remained in the fitness center solely
for his own convenience at any time without an express or
implied invitation from the Brownes.
The
Association claims they enacted the personal trainer exclusion
rule pursuant to the Declaration’s provision authorizing the
Association to “provide owners with service [and] amenities . .
. which will enhance the quality of life at Valencia Reserve.”
Regardless of the rule’s intent, it ultimately fails by directly
conflicting with the Declaration’s provision granting a property
owner’s invitees access to the fitness center. See Beachwood,
448 So. 2d at 1145. The rule contravenes an express provision of
the Declaration, therefore, the Association exceeded the scope
of its authority by enacting the subject rule. Accordingly, we
need not discuss the reasonableness of the rule.
Good
decision? I think so. As long as any owner is allowed to use
the gym or tennis court, and bring a friend along, what
difference does it make if the person they bring along is a
personal trainer or coach? Anyone disagree?
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated from
the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for more than 2
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decades and is the owner of Glazer
and Associates, P.A. a seven attorney law firm with offices in
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando and satellite offices in Naples,
Fort Myers and Tampa.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host
of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs
at noon each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the
State of Florida that designed a course that certifies
condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium
Board of Directors and has now certified more than 10,000
Floridians all across the state. He is certified as a Circuit
Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated
dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Eric
also devotes significant time to advancing legislation in the
best interest of Florida community association members.
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