RECREATION LEASES, Leisureville Boynton Beach

I am an owner of a condo in Leisureville Boynton Beach , and every month I send a check for $119 to Hort Soper and William B Modahl which is payment for a so called recreation lease, I am getting no benefit whatsoever from this payment , and feel it is a scam , . from what I understand those peoples heirs bought the 99 year rights of the land which my condo is built on , in this day and age what they are doing should be illegal. I GUESS THIS IS THE WAY THE 1% EARN THEIR MONEY.
IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL ME MKENNY5509@AOL.COM

Here is an article on the subject..

Recreation Leases Spur Stress For Condominium Owners

May 19, 1991|By BOB LaMENDOLA, Staff Writer

Every month, 75 neighbors at the Leisure Beach high-rise condominium pay about $100 each to rent their lawn and the land under their swimming pool.

Since the Fort Lauderdale beach condo opened in 1970, residents have paid $1.1 million for the pool and 170-foot grounds. And they will pay tens of millions more, because the rent will rise regularly until their leases expire -- in the year 2069.

``The owner is a multimillionaire because of a little pool,`` resident Alex Avery said. ``It`s an oil well that keeps pumping and pumping and pumping, and never runs dry.``

There`s more. Under the leases, residents must maintain the common property, pay the taxes and insure it.

Residents Dee and Joseph Pierre got so fed up, they started a class-action suit challenging the old leases that could open the door for thousands of South Florida residents to do the same.

Recreation leases with automatic increases have plagued Floridians for decades. State legislators banned them in June 1975. But courts have struck down laws banning leases written before then, and have ruled that suits to kill them are no longer timely.

Last month, a Broward Circuit judge ruled that the Pierres would have had to sue by 1981. Last week, they appealed and vowed to take the case to the Florida Supreme Court if needed -- and if they can afford it.

``When Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in 1863, he freed all of them,`` Joseph Pierre said. ``The Legislature tried to free us, but we`re still in bondage. The courts are upholding something that is illegal and unfair.``

The lease owners, the heirs of multimillionaire developer Stephen A. Calder, will fight hard to protect the leases, said William Spencer, their lawyer. The family owns leases at several Broward condos.

``People knew what they were signing,`` Spencer said. ``They should not be allowed to complain later on, particularly after 15 or 20 years. Otherwise, you`d always have lawsuits.``

Half of the residents bought their leases years ago. Those still making monthly lease payments have missed their chance to buy up the lease, Spencer said.

No one knows how many of Florida`s 925,000 condo owners have this type of recreation lease. State officials say 200 of 16,000 complexes are affected. But legislators have estimated more than 32,000 owners in Broward and 28,000 in Palm Beach County lease pools, clubhouses and even the land under their buildings.

At modern condos, resident associations own common property. But in the 1960s and early 1970s, developers kept the grounds and set up rents that rise based on consumer prices.

The aim was to sweeten profits and hold down condo prices, said Mark Levy, president of Cenville Recreation Inc. The West Palm Beach firm bought about 20,000 South Florida leases in 1987.

``The concept was to sell the units at a break-even point (or low profit) and make their money on the rec lease,`` Levy said.

Baloney, said Fort Lauderdale lawyer Gary Poliakoff. Condos with recreation leases sold for no less than others.

The leases sparked years of uproars after double-digit inflation in the 1970s drove up monthly payments. They were the subject of news exposes and hearings in Tallahassee and Washington.

Only Congress can pass laws voiding leases, but nothing was done.

``Rec leases were peculiarly a Florida problem,`` Poliakoff said. ``They couldn`t muster the support.``

Today, the 14,200 residents of Century Village in Deerfield Beach pay Levy`s firm $4 million a year to lease 14 pools, 15 tennis courts, a clubhouse and 20 social rooms. They will pay for 26 years more.

``It`s ludicrous,`` condo association leader Amadeo Trinchitella said. ``You could have built it all for $10 million.``

Century Villages in Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach fought for years until they won shorter leases and a cap on increases in 1981, he said.

Pierre said: ``We have to fight. We can`t sell our condos. When people hear recreation lease, they walk away.``