POINTE WEST MASTER PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC v. REDUS EL LLC LLC (2024)

Affirmed.

In this appeal of a declaratory judgment determining the validity of a tract of property deed within a planned development, of which appellant is the Master Association, I concur with the affirmance of the trial court's judgment. The Master Association had claimed the property as a common area, but the court properly determined that the succession of deeds, which ended with the deed to appellee Pointe West School Property, LLC (PWSP), was valid under the Declaration of Covenants of the planned development.

I write to comment on appellee PWSP's position in its brief. PWSP acknowledged that the quit claim deed from the developer-controlled association to its predecessor in title, appellee Redus, did not invalidate the Declaration as to the subject property. However, PWSP claims that the quit claim deed “included the release and disclaimer of any rights or interests the Association might have had to enforce provisions of the Declaration as to the School Site.” (Emphasis supplied). Nothing in the quitclaim deed released the property from the Declaration or the planned development, or the right of the Master Association to enforce its covenants and obligations against the property. Moreover, the deed to PWSP was made specifically subject to the Declarations.

The trial court's final judgment did not find that the Master Association had lost all ability to enforce the Declaration's conditions, as those conditions may apply to the subject property. All the court found was that appellee PWSP had a valid title to the property, and the Master Association could not claim the property as one of its common areas. The property in question was never removed from the Declaration. What appear to still be issues are how to categorize the property within the Declaration and what obligations PWSP has under the Declaration. As the parties apparently are diametrically opposed on those issues, more litigation is likely.

Per Curiam.

Klingensmith, C.J., and Kuntz, J., concur. Warner, J., concurs specially with opinion.