Bill Text: CT SB00393 | 2014 | General Assembly | Introduced

Connecticut Senate Bill 393 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: An Act Concerning Condominium Association Leasing Restrictions.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-07 - Public Hearing 03/13 [SB00393 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2014-SB00393-Introduced.html


General Assembly		*Raised Bill No. 393*
*February Session, 2014*		LCO No. 1625
		01625_______INS
Referred to Committee on INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE
Introduced by:
(INS)

AN ACT CONCERNING CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION LEASING RESTRICTIONS.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 47-261b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2014):

(a) At least ten days before adopting, amending or repealing any rule, the executive board shall give all unit owners notice of: (1) The executive board's intention to adopt, amend or repeal a rule and shall include with such notice the text of the proposed rule or amendment, or the text of the rule proposed to be repealed; and (2) the date on which the executive board will act on the proposed rule, amendment or repeal after considering comments from unit owners.

(b) Following adoption, amendment or repeal of a rule, the association shall give all unit owners notice of its action and include with such notice a copy of any new or amended rule.

(c) Subject to the provisions of the declaration, an association may adopt rules to establish and enforce construction and design criteria and aesthetic standards. If an association adopts such rules, the association shall adopt procedures for enforcement of those rules and for approval of construction applications, including a reasonable time within which the association must act after an application is submitted and the consequences of its failure to act.

(d) A rule regulating display of the flag of the United States must be consistent with federal law. In addition, the association may not prohibit display, on a unit or on a limited common element adjoining a unit, of the flag of this state, or signs regarding candidates for public or association office or ballot questions, but the association may adopt rules governing the time, place, size, number and manner of those displays.

(e) Unit owners may peacefully assemble on the common elements to consider matters related to the common interest community, but the association may adopt rules governing the time, place and manner of those assemblies.

(f) An association may adopt rules that affect the use of or behavior in units that may be used for residential purposes, only to:

(1) Implement a provision of the declaration;

(2) Regulate any behavior in or occupancy of a unit which violates the declaration or adversely affects the use and enjoyment of other units or the common elements by other unit owners; or

(3) [Restrict] Prior to January 1, 2015, restrict the leasing of residential units to the extent those rules are reasonably designed to meet underwriting requirements of institutional lenders that regularly make loans secured by first mortgages on units in common interest communities or regularly purchase those mortgages, provided no such restriction shall be enforceable unless notice thereof is recorded on the land records of each town in which any part of the common interest community is located. Such notice shall be indexed by the town clerk in the grantor index of such land records in the name of the association. If an association's declaration has not been amended as set forth in subparagraph (A) of subdivision (12) of section 47-224, as amended by this act, by January 1, 2015, to include any leasing restrictions that were adopted by rule under this subdivision prior to January 1, 2015, the executive board shall notify the town clerk of each town in which any part of the common interest community is located to request removal of the notice of such restriction from such land records.

(g) An association's internal business operating procedures need not be adopted as rules.

(h) Each rule of the association must be reasonable.

Sec. 2. Section 47-224 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2014):

(a) The declaration shall contain:

(1) The names of the common interest community and the association and a statement that the common interest community is either a condominium, cooperative or planned community;

(2) The name of every town in which any part of the common interest community is situated;

(3) A legally sufficient description of the real property included in the common interest community;

(4) A statement of the maximum number of units that the declarant reserves the right to create;

(5) In a condominium or planned community, a description of the boundaries of each unit created by the declaration, including the unit's identifying number or, in a cooperative, a description, which may be by surveys or plans, of each unit created by the declaration, including the unit's identifying number, its size or number of rooms and its location within a building if it is within a building containing more than one unit;

(6) A description of any limited common elements, other than those specified in subdivisions (2) and (4) of section 47-221, as provided in subdivision (10) of subsection (b) of section 47-228 and, in a planned community, any real property that is or must become common elements;

(7) A description of any real property, except real property subject to development rights, that may be allocated subsequently as limited common elements, other than limited common elements specified in subdivisions (2) and (4) of section 47-221, together with a statement that they may be so allocated;

(8) A description of any development rights, as defined in subsection (14) of section 47-202, and other special declarant rights, as defined in subsection (29) of section 47-202, reserved by the declarant, together with a legally sufficient description of the real property to which each of those rights applies and a time limit within which each of those rights must be exercised;

(9) If any development right may be exercised with respect to different parcels of real property at different times, a statement to that effect together with (A) either a statement fixing the boundaries of those portions and regulating the order in which those portions may be subjected to the exercise of each development right or a statement that no assurances are made in those regards, and (B) a statement as to whether, if any development right is exercised in any portion of the real property subject to that development right, that development right must be exercised in all or in any other portion of the remainder of that real property;

(10) Any other conditions or limitations under which the rights described in subdivision (8) of this subsection may be exercised or will lapse;

(11) An allocation to each unit of the allocated interests in the manner described in section 47-226;

(12) (A) (i) Any restrictions [(A)] on alienation of the units, including any restrictions on leasing, [which exceed the restrictions on leasing units which executive boards may impose pursuant to subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of section 47-244,] provided any such restrictions on leasing shall be reasonably designed to meet underwriting requirements of institutional lenders that regularly make loans secured by first mortgages on units in common interest communities or regularly purchase those mortgages. No restriction on leasing shall be enforceable unless notice thereof is recorded on the land records of each town in which any part of the common interest community is located. Such notice shall be indexed by the town clerk in the grantor index of such land records in the name of the association.

(ii) Any restriction on leasing that was adopted by rule prior to January 1, 2015, pursuant to subdivision (3) of subsection (f) of section 47-261b, as amended by this act, and is intended to continue on and after January 1, 2015, shall be included in the declaration. An association shall not be required to record any notice of a restriction on leasing that is adopted pursuant to this subparagraph if such restriction was already recorded on the land records in accordance with the provisions of subdivision (3) of subsection (f) of section 47-261b, as amended by this act; and

(B) Any restrictions on the amount for which a unit may be sold or on the amount that may be received by a unit owner on sale, condemnation or casualty loss to the unit or to the common interest community, or on termination of the common interest community;

(13) The recording data for recorded easements and licenses appurtenant to or included in the common interest community or to which any portion of the common interest community is or may become subject by virtue of a reservation in the declaration; and

(14) All matters required by sections 47-225 to 47-228, inclusive, sections 47-234 and 47-235 and subsection (d) of section 47-245.

(b) The declaration may contain any other matters not inconsistent with this chapter that the declarant considers appropriate, including any restrictions on the uses of a unit or the number or other qualifications of persons who may occupy units.


This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2014	47-261b
Sec. 2	October 1, 2014	47-224

Statement of Purpose:

To require restrictions on leasing a condominium unit to be enacted under a condominium association's declarations rather than under its rules.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]