1     
CONDOMINIUM AND COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP AMENDMENTS

2     
2016 GENERAL SESSION

3     
STATE OF UTAH

4     
Chief Sponsor: Mike Schultz

5     
Senate Sponsor: J. Stuart Adams

6     

7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This bill amends provisions related to condominium and community associations.
10     Highlighted Provisions:
11          This bill:
12          ▸     defines terms;
13          ▸     provides that an unconstructed unit is allocated:
14               •     the unconstructed unit's share of undivided interest in common areas and
15     facilities; and
16               •     voting rights; and
17          ▸     provides that a declarant of a condominium or community project may, under
18     certain conditions, appoint the declarant's officers, employees, or agents to the
19     association board or management committee.
20     Money Appropriated in this Bill:
21          None
22     Other Special Clauses:
23          This bill provides a special effective date.
24     Utah Code Sections Affected:
25     AMENDS:
26          57-8-3, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2015, Chapters 22, 34, 213, 325, and 387
27          57-8-16.5, as enacted by Laws of Utah 1975, Chapter 173
28          57-8-24, as last amended by Laws of Utah 1975, Chapter 173
29          57-8a-502, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2013, Chapter 152

30     

31     Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
32          Section 1. Section 57-8-3 is amended to read:
33          57-8-3. Definitions.
34          As used in this chapter:
35          (1) "Assessment" means any charge imposed by the association, including:
36          (a) common expenses on or against a unit owner pursuant to the provisions of the
37     declaration, bylaws, or this chapter; and
38          (b) an amount that an association of unit owners assesses to a unit owner under
39     Subsection 57-8-43(9)(g).
40          (2) "Association of unit owners" or "association" means all of the unit owners:
41          (a) acting as a group in accordance with the declaration and bylaws; or
42          (b) organized as a legal entity in accordance with the declaration.
43          (3) "Building" means a building, containing units, and comprising a part of the
44     property.
45          (4) "Commercial condominium project" means a condominium project that has no
46     residential units within the project.
47          (5) "Common areas and facilities" unless otherwise provided in the declaration or
48     lawful amendments to the declaration means:
49          (a) the land included within the condominium project, whether leasehold or in fee
50     simple;
51          (b) the foundations, columns, girders, beams, supports, main walls, roofs, halls,
52     corridors, lobbies, stairs, stairways, fire escapes, entrances, and exits of the building;
53          (c) the basements, yards, gardens, parking areas, and storage spaces;
54          (d) the premises for lodging of janitors or persons in charge of the property;
55          (e) installations of central services such as power, light, gas, hot and cold water,
56     heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, and incinerating;
57          (f) the elevators, tanks, pumps, motors, fans, compressors, ducts, and in general all

58     apparatus and installations existing for common use;
59          (g) such community and commercial facilities as may be provided for in the
60     declaration; and
61          (h) all other parts of the property necessary or convenient to its existence, maintenance,
62     and safety, or normally in common use.
63          (6) "Common expenses" means:
64          (a) all sums lawfully assessed against the unit owners;
65          (b) expenses of administration, maintenance, repair, or replacement of the common
66     areas and facilities;
67          (c) expenses agreed upon as common expenses by the association of unit owners; and
68          (d) expenses declared common expenses by this chapter, or by the declaration or the
69     bylaws.
70          (7) "Common profits," unless otherwise provided in the declaration or lawful
71     amendments to the declaration, means the balance of all income, rents, profits, and revenues
72     from the common areas and facilities remaining after the deduction of the common expenses.
73          (8) "Condominium" means the ownership of a single unit in a multiunit project
74     together with an undivided interest in common in the common areas and facilities of the
75     property.
76          (9) "Condominium plat" means a plat or plats of survey of land and units prepared in
77     accordance with Section 57-8-13.
78          (10) "Condominium project" means a real estate condominium project; a plan or
79     project whereby two or more units, whether contained in existing or proposed apartments,
80     commercial or industrial buildings or structures, or otherwise, are separately offered or
81     proposed to be offered for sale. Condominium project also means the property when the
82     context so requires.
83          (11) "Condominium unit" means a unit together with the undivided interest in the
84     common areas and facilities appertaining to that unit. Any reference in this chapter to a
85     condominium unit includes both a physical unit together with its appurtenant undivided interest

86     in the common areas and facilities and a time period unit together with its appurtenant
87     undivided interest, unless the reference is specifically limited to a time period unit.
88          (12) "Contractible condominium" means a condominium project from which one or
89     more portions of the land within the project may be withdrawn in accordance with provisions
90     of the declaration and of this chapter. If the withdrawal can occur only by the expiration or
91     termination of one or more leases, then the condominium project is not a contractible
92     condominium within the meaning of this chapter.
93          (13) "Convertible land" means a building site which is a portion of the common areas
94     and facilities, described by metes and bounds, within which additional units or limited common
95     areas and facilities may be created in accordance with this chapter.
96          (14) "Convertible space" means a portion of the structure within the condominium
97     project, which portion may be converted into one or more units or common areas and facilities,
98     including limited common areas and facilities in accordance with this chapter.
99          (15) "Declarant" means all persons who execute the declaration or on whose behalf the
100     declaration is executed. From the time of the recordation of any amendment to the declaration
101     expanding an expandable condominium, all persons who execute that amendment or on whose
102     behalf that amendment is executed shall also come within this definition. Any successors of
103     the persons referred to in this subsection who come to stand in the same relation to the
104     condominium project as their predecessors also come within this definition.
105          (16) "Declaration" means the instrument by which the property is submitted to the
106     provisions of this act, as it from time to time may be lawfully amended.
107          (17) "Electrical corporation" means the same as that term is defined in Section 54-2-1.
108          (18) "Expandable condominium" means a condominium project to which additional
109     land or an interest in it may be added in accordance with the declaration and this chapter.
110          (19) "Gas corporation" means the same as that term is defined in Section 54-2-1.
111          (20) "Governing documents":
112          (a) means a written instrument by which an association of unit owners may:
113          (i) exercise powers; or

114          (ii) manage, maintain, or otherwise affect the property under the jurisdiction of the
115     association of unit owners; and
116          (b) includes:
117          (i) articles of incorporation;
118          (ii) bylaws;
119          (iii) a plat;
120          (iv) a declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions; and
121          (v) rules of the association of unit owners.
122          (21) "Independent third party" means a person that:
123          (a) is not related to the unit owner;
124          (b) shares no pecuniary interests with the unit owner; and
125          (c) purchases the unit in good faith and without the intent to defraud a current or future
126     lienholder.
127          (22) "Leasehold condominium" means a condominium project in all or any portion of
128     which each unit owner owns an estate for years in his unit, or in the land upon which that unit
129     is situated, or both, with all those leasehold interests to expire naturally at the same time. A
130     condominium project including leased land, or an interest in the land, upon which no units are
131     situated or to be situated is not a leasehold condominium within the meaning of this chapter.
132          (23) "Limited common areas and facilities" means those common areas and facilities
133     designated in the declaration as reserved for use of a certain unit or units to the exclusion of the
134     other units.
135          (24) "Majority" or "majority of the unit owners," unless otherwise provided in the
136     declaration or lawful amendments to the declaration, means the owners of more than 50% in
137     the aggregate in interest of the undivided ownership of the common areas and facilities.
138          (25) "Management committee" means the committee as provided in the declaration
139     charged with and having the responsibility and authority to make and to enforce all of the
140     reasonable rules covering the operation and maintenance of the property.
141          (26) (a) "Means of electronic communication" means an electronic system that allows

142     individuals to communicate orally in real time.
143          (b) "Means of electronic communication" includes:
144          (i) web conferencing;
145          (ii) video conferencing; and
146          (iii) telephone conferencing.
147          (27) "Meeting" means a gathering of a management committee, whether in person or
148     by means of electronic communication, at which the management committee can take binding
149     action.
150          (28) "Mixed-use condominium project" means a condominium project that has both
151     residential and commercial units in the condominium project.
152          (29) "Par value" means a number of dollars or points assigned to each unit by the
153     declaration. Substantially identical units shall be assigned the same par value, but units located
154     at substantially different heights above the ground, or having substantially different views, or
155     having substantially different amenities or other characteristics that might result in differences
156     in market value, may be considered substantially identical within the meaning of this
157     subsection. If par value is stated in terms of dollars, that statement may not be considered to
158     reflect or control the sales price or fair market value of any unit, and no opinion, appraisal, or
159     fair market transaction at a different figure may affect the par value of any unit, or any
160     undivided interest in the common areas and facilities, voting rights in the unit owners'
161     association, liability for common expenses, or right to common profits, assigned on the basis
162     thereof.
163          (30) "Period of administrative control" means the period of control described in
164     Subsection 57-8-16.5(1).
165          (31) "Person" means an individual, corporation, partnership, association, trustee, or
166     other legal entity.
167          (32) "Property" means the land, whether leasehold or in fee simple, the building, if any,
168     all improvements and structures thereon, all easements, rights, and appurtenances belonging
169     thereto, and all articles of personal property intended for use in connection therewith.

170          (33) "Record," "recording," "recorded," and "recorder" have the meaning stated in
171     [Title 57,] Chapter 3, Recording of Documents.
172          (34) "Size" means the number of cubic feet, or the number of square feet of ground or
173     floor space, within each unit as computed by reference to the record of survey map and rounded
174     off to a whole number. Certain spaces within the units including attic, basement, or garage
175     space may be omitted from the calculation or be partially discounted by the use of a ratio, if the
176     same basis of calculation is employed for all units in the condominium project and if that basis
177     is described in the declaration.
178          (35) "Time period unit" means an annually recurring part or parts of a year specified in
179     the declaration as a period for which a unit is separately owned and includes a timeshare estate
180     as defined in Subsection 57-19-2(19).
181          (36) "Unconstructed unit" means a unit that:
182          (a) is intended, as depicted in the condominium plat, to be fully or partially contained
183     in a building; and
184          (b) is not constructed.
185          [(36)] (37) (a) "Unit" means [either] a separate [physical] part of the property intended
186     for any type of independent use, [including one or more rooms or spaces located in one or more
187     floors or part or parts of floors in a building or a time period unit, as the context may require.
188     A] which is created by the recording of a declaration and a condominium plat that describes the
189     unit boundaries.
190          (b) "Unit" includes one or more rooms or spaces located in one or more floors or a
191     portion of a floor in a building.
192          (c) "Unit" includes a convertible space [shall be treated as a unit], in accordance with
193     Subsection 57-8-13.4(3). [A proposed condominium unit under an expandable condominium
194     project, not constructed, is a unit two years after the date the recording requirements of Section
195     57-8-13.6 are met.]
196          [(37)] (38) "Unit number" means the number, letter, or combination of numbers and
197     letters designating the unit in the declaration and in the record of survey map.

198          [(38)] (39) "Unit owner" means the person or persons owning a unit in fee simple and
199     an undivided interest in the fee simple estate of the common areas and facilities in the
200     percentage specified and established in the declaration or, in the case of a leasehold
201     condominium project, the person or persons whose leasehold interest or interests in the
202     condominium unit extend for the entire balance of the unexpired term or terms.
203          Section 2. Section 57-8-16.5 is amended to read:
204          57-8-16.5. Appointment and removal of committee members and association
205     officers -- Renewal or ratification of contracts -- Failure to establish association or
206     committee.
207          (1) (a) The declaration may authorize the declarant, or a managing agent or some other
208     person or persons selected or to be selected by the declarant, to appoint and remove some or all
209     of the members of the management committee or some or all of the officers of the [unit
210     owners'] association of unit owners, or to exercise powers and responsibilities otherwise
211     assigned by the declaration and by this act to the [unit owners'] association of unit owners, its
212     officers, or the management committee.
213          (b) If the declaration authorizes the declarant to appoint or remove some or all
214     members of the management committee or some or all of the officers of the association of unit
215     owners during the period of control contemplated by this Subsection (1), the declarant may
216     appoint the declarant's officers, employees or agents as members of the management committee
217     or as officers of the association of unit owners.
218          (c) No amendment to the declaration not consented to by all unit owners shall increase
219     the scope of this authorization, and no such authorization shall be valid after the first to occur
220     of the following:
221          [(a)] (i) expiration of the time limit set by the declaration, which shall not exceed six
222     years in the case of an expandable condominium, four years in the case of a condominium
223     project containing any convertible land, or three years in the case of any other condominium
224     project; or
225          [(b)] (ii) after units to which three-fourths of the undivided interest in the common

226     areas and facilities appertain have been conveyed, or after all additional land has been added to
227     the project and all convertible land has been converted, whichever last occurs.
228          (2) If entered into during the period of control contemplated by Subsection (1), no
229     management contract, lease of recreational areas or facilities, or any other contract or lease
230     designed to benefit the declarant which was executed by or on behalf of the [unit owners']
231     association of unit owners or the unit owners as a group shall be binding after such period of
232     control unless then renewed or ratified by the consent of unit owners of units to which a
233     majority of the votes in the [unit owners'] association of unit owners appertains.
234          (3) If the [unit owners'] association of unit owners or management committee is not in
235     existence or does not have officers at the time of the creation of a condominium project, the
236     declarant shall, until there is an association or management committee with these officers, have
237     the power and responsibility to act in all instances where this act or the declaration requires
238     action by the [unit owners'] association of unit owners, the management committee, or any of
239     the officers of them.
240          (4) This section shall be strictly construed to protect the rights of the unit owners.
241          Section 3. Section 57-8-24 is amended to read:
242          57-8-24. Common profits, common expenses, and voting rights -- Unit --
243     Unconstructed unit.
244          [The common profits of the property shall be distributed among, the common expenses
245     shall be charged to, and the voting rights shall be available to, the unit owners according to
246     their]
247          (1) A unit is created by the recording of the declaration and a condominium plat that
248     describes the unit.
249          (2) An association of unit owners shall, according to each unit owner's respective
250     percentage or fractional undivided interests in the common areas and facilities[.]:
251          (a) distribute the property's common profits among the unit owners;
252          (b) except as otherwise provided in the declaration for unconstructed units, assess the
253     unit owners the property's common expenses; and

254          (c) make voting rights available to the unit owners.
255          (3) (a) After the recording of a condominium project's declaration, an unconstructed
256     unit is a unit for the purposes of the declaration and this chapter, including:
257          (i) allocation of undivided interests in the common areas and facilities in accordance
258     with Subsection 57-8-7(2); and
259          (ii) voting rights in accordance with Section 57-8-24.
260          (b) Subsection (3)(a) applies to a condominium project regardless of when the
261     condominium project's initial declaration was recorded.
262          Section 4. Section 57-8a-502 is amended to read:
263          57-8a-502. Period of administrative control.
264          (1) Unless otherwise provided for in a declaration, a period of administrative control
265     terminates on the first to occur of the following:
266          (a) 60 days after 75% of the lots that may be created are conveyed to lot owners other
267     than a declarant;
268          (b) seven years after all declarants have ceased to offer lots for sale in the ordinary
269     course of business; or
270          (c) the day the declarant, after giving written notice to the lot owners, records an
271     instrument voluntarily surrendering all rights to control activities of the association.
272          (2) (a) A declarant may voluntarily surrender the right to appoint and remove a member
273     of the board before the period of administrative control terminates under Subsection (1).
274          (b) Subject to Subsection (2)(a), the declarant may require, for the duration of the
275     period of administrative control, that actions of the association or board, as specified in a
276     recorded instrument executed by the declarant, be approved by the declarant before they
277     become effective.
278          (c) During a period of administrative control, except as provided in Subsection (2)(a), a
279     declarant may appoint the declarant's officers, employees, or agents as members of the board.
280          (3) (a) Upon termination of the period of administrative control, the lot owners shall
281     elect a board consisting of an odd number of at least three members, a majority of whom shall

282     be lot owners.
283          (b) Unless the declaration provides for the election of officers by the lot owners, the
284     board shall elect officers of the association.
285          (c) The board members and officers shall take office upon election or appointment.
286          Section 5. Effective date.
287          If approved by two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, this bill takes effect
288     upon approval by the governor, or the day following the constitutional time limit of Utah
289     Constitution, Article VII, Section 8, without the governor's signature, or in the case of a veto,
290     the date of veto override.