Can Condos or HOAs Require Vaccination Proof to Use Amenities?

To safeguard people, some boards have suggested a plan that would allow for only vaccinated inhabitants and visitors, not unvaccinated ones, to obtain frequent components.

NAPLES, Fla. – Now that a lot of the population is having a COVID vaccination, we are listening to that a couple of Boards of Administrators of area Condominium or Homeowners’ (HOA) Associations are floating the thought of taking into consideration demanding evidence of vaccination for entrepreneurs, family customers, tenants and guests in purchase to use the popular place amenities these types of as the clubhouse, social home, conditioning room or swimming pool.

For the following explanations we do not believe it a excellent thought to attempt to implement these a need:

Purchasers of condominium models and solitary-spouse and children residences in a homeowners’ association are granted an easement and appropriate to use all of the widespread amenities alongside with all the other house owners in the community, as are the purchaser’s relatives users, visitors and tenants. Only allowing these with proof of vaccination to use the services would arguably be a breach of this substantive suitable granted to each owner to use the facilities.

Letting some inhabitants to use the amenities who deliver evidence of vaccination though disallowing the rest would arguably create two classes of citizens in the neighborhood, which some Florida Courts have discovered to be prohibited.

Exhibiting evidence of vaccination could be considered disclosure of a healthcare record of the individual. For each appropriate Florida Statutes, these healthcare data in an association’s possession are not to be obtainable to unit entrepreneurs or homeowners. Access to these kinds of vaccination data could quickly be breached thus location up the affiliation for a achievable lawsuit.

If a person chooses not to be vaccinated mainly because of religious causes, necessitating proof of vaccination could expose the association to religious discrimination.

The governor of Florida has passed an Purchase prohibiting small business from requiring vaccination passports. A Condominium or Homeowners’ or Coop Association is a not-for-gain company and should observe a lot of Florida company polices so it is arguably a business.

The Condition Legislature has also passed rules this session to deliver a whole lot of immunity defense to corporations from COVID lawsuits.

So there are quite a few potential pit falls that could befall an affiliation if it tries to call for proof of vaccination to use the typical amenities and if litigation ensued, it could come to be really highly-priced.

The serious concern then is whether there is any excellent security or security gain to demanding vaccination passports for use of the widespread services in a community in light-weight of the powerful political press back again from some owners and feasible litigation the affiliation may well deal with in accomplishing so. Masking and social distancing has already been in area for numerous communities. The alterations of vaccinated folks receiving COVID are quite slender and all those who choose not to vaccinate have made a own determination to settle for the possibility of receiving sick or deathly sick from COVID. It would be very tough to verify that a person bought COVID working with the typical facilities of the neighborhood.

It seems the draw back to a neighborhood necessitating vaccine passports significantly outweighs the marginal attainable benefit of requiring them.

If an association board nonetheless required to need these vaccine passports, we would counsel that it would have to have to at a minimal amend its governing paperwork, with a complete vote of the membership in the community, as a board vote would have to be “reasonable” and a lot of would contemplate this sort of a passport need as unreasonable. Even so, an amendment to the Declaration or Bylaws with a membership vote would not have to be fair as long as it is not arbitrary, capricious or unconstitutional.

Rob Samouce is a principal attorney in the Naples legislation business of Samouce & Gal, P.A. He is a Florida Bar Board Certified Professional in Condominium and Prepared Enhancement and concentrates his practice representing condominium, cooperative and homeowners= associations in all their legal needs including the procedural governance of their associations, covenant enforcement, assessment collections, deal negotiations and deal litigation, serious estate transactions, common company law, construction defect litigation and other common civil litigation issues. This column is not based on unique legal suggestions to any individual and is centered on ideas subject to transform from time to time.

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