In short: In 2013 the answer in the Third District was that the next owner did not owe them. In Bentley Bay Condominium Association v. Mesas, the association took title to a unit through its own lien foreclosure and later sought pre-foreclosure assessments from the next owner, Ana Maria Mesas. The Third District affirmed the ruling for Mesas on November 6, 2013, citing its Spiaggia decision. The Legislature changed section 718.116 in 2014, so the result may differ under today’s statute.
The Facts
The Bentley Bay Condominium Association foreclosed its assessment lien on a unit and took title at the foreclosure sale. Counsel told the court the association’s lien was about $64,000. The appellee’s counsel said the bank’s mortgage foreclosure judgment on the unit was a little over $1 million. Ana Maria Mesas later became the owner, and the association sought from her the assessments that had come due before the association took title.
The trial court ruled for Mesas, and the association appealed (No. 3D13-818). The case was argued on October 9, 2013. The points below are what the lawyers argued, not findings by the appellate court.
- The association said it was not fighting the Third District’s January 2013 decision in Aventura Management, LLC v. Spiaggia Ocean Condominium Association, which treated an association that had owned a unit as the ‘previous owner’ jointly and severally liable with the next buyer. It argued the trial court went further than Spiaggia by cutting off all assessments that came due before the association’s certificate of title.
- It argued the lien survives a transfer of title and that the parties’ shares of a joint and several liability should be sorted out at an evidentiary hearing.
- Mesas argued that section 718.116 makes an owner jointly and severally liable only with the previous owner. The previous owner was the association, and section 14.2 of the association’s own declaration made assessments on association-owned units a common expense, so the association owed itself nothing and she owed nothing.
- She also argued that Spiaggia itself said an association does not have to bid at its own sale and takes the risk of non-collection when it chooses to take title.
The Decision
The Third District affirmed on November 6, 2013, in a short per curiam opinion that cites Aventura Management, LLC v. Spiaggia Ocean Condominium Ass’n, 105 So. 3d 637 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013). The same day it granted Mesas’s motion for attorney’s fees and costs, remanding to the trial court to set the amount, and denied the association’s. The court treated the association’s motion for rehearing en banc as including a motion for rehearing and denied both on January 6, 2014.
In Spiaggia, the court read the then-current statute literally: a new owner is jointly and severally liable with ‘the previous owner,’ and when the association was the previous owner, the association shared that liability. The citation in Bentley Bay signals the court saw this case as governed by Spiaggia.
The Law
When Bentley Bay was decided, section 718.116(1)(a) said a unit owner is liable for assessments that come due while he or she owns the unit and is jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due up to the transfer of title. Spiaggia held that the plain language contained no exception when the previous owner is the association itself.
Current law (2026): Beginning with the 2014 Florida Statutes, section 718.116(1)(a) says the term ‘previous owner’ does not include an association that acquires title to a delinquent property through foreclosure or by deed in lieu of foreclosure, and that a present unit owner’s liability is limited to unpaid assessments that accrued before the association acquired title. On its face, that change points the other way from Spiaggia for units an association takes back: the next owner can owe the assessments that accrued before the association’s title, but not those that accrued while the association held it. Section 718.116(1)(b) separately limits what an association owes for a unit it takes by foreclosing its own lien.
Section 718.116 also gives the association its lien and the right to foreclose it like a mortgage, which is why the panel asked at argument how the lien could survive the association’s own foreclosure.
Lessons
- Check the version of section 718.116 in effect for your facts. Bentley Bay and Spiaggia were decided under the pre-2014 text.
- An association deciding whether to bid at its own foreclosure sale should weigh how the statute treats assessments before, during and after its ownership.
- Buyers of units that passed through association ownership should get an estoppel certificate and read the declaration, including any clause on assessments for association-owned units like the section 14.2 argued here.
- Losing an assessment appeal can mean paying the owner’s fees. The Third District granted Mesas’s fee motion.
- A citation PCA tells you which case controlled, but not how the court handled the side arguments.
Source: Bentley Bay Condominium Association, Inc. v. Mesas, No. 3D13-818 (Fla. 3d DCA Nov. 6, 2013), 128 So. 3d 138 (affirmed, citing Aventura Mgmt., LLC v. Spiaggia Ocean Condo. Ass’n, 105 So. 3d 637 (Fla. 3d DCA 2013)); ACIS docket, No. 3D2013-0818.
Watch the Oral Argument
This is the recording of the actual oral argument, posted on the channel. What lawyers and judges say at argument is not the ruling; the decision is summarized above.
📑 When the Association Itself Buys the Unit — Does Section 718.116 Still Bind It?
Go Deeper
- How Far Back Does a Condo Buyer Owe Unpaid Assessments? (Park West v. Londono)
- HOA and Condo Association Foreclosure in Florida: Notice Rules and Defenses
- Florida Condo Owners' Rights: Special Assessments, Records, and Disputes With the Association
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to pay the previous owner's unpaid condo assessments in Florida?
Generally yes. Section 718.116(1)(a) makes a new owner jointly and severally liable with the previous owner for unpaid assessments that came due up to the transfer of title, with limits for first mortgagees in section 718.116(1)(b). Get an estoppel certificate before you buy.
What if the condo association owned the unit before I bought it?
Under the pre-2014 statute, the Third District in Spiaggia and Bentley Bay v. Mesas treated the association as the previous owner and cut off its claim against the next buyer. Since 2014, section 718.116(1)(a) says an association that took title by foreclosure or deed in lieu is not the ‘previous owner,’ and limits the present owner’s liability to assessments that accrued before the association took title.
Does an association's lien survive when it forecloses and takes the unit?
Spiaggia said the statute’s lien survives a foreclosure, while the panel in Bentley Bay questioned at argument how that works when the association forecloses its own lien. The 2014 amendment now addresses the association-owner situation directly in section 718.116(1)(a).
Can a condo association make itself exempt from paying assessments on units it owns?
Declarations commonly treat assessments on association-owned units as a common expense, as section 14.2 of the Bentley Bay declaration did. How that clause affects assessments that came due before the association took title was argued in Bentley Bay but not explained in the short opinion.
Talk to a Florida real estate litigation lawyer
Weidner Law, P.A. handles Florida real estate disputes, title problems and appeals from St. Petersburg. If you need a real estate litigation lawyer, call (727) 954-8752 or email weidner@mattweidnerlaw.com.
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