Squeezed Homeowners In South Florida "Country Club" Communities Fight Back

In Boca Raton, Florida, the South Florida Daily Business Review reports:

• Almost a decade after Howard Cohan moved into Devon Place, a neighborhood within Boca’s Woodfield Country Club, he was told he would be required to establish a social membership in the golf and tennis club and pay annual dues of more than $10,000 to continue living in the community.

• He also was told he would be required to spend a minimum of $2,500 per year in food and beverages at the club. That was in 2003, and despite his displeasure with the homeowners association, Cohan paid his dues each year.

• Finally, Cohan had enough and recently filed a lawsuit challenging the club’s mandatory membership. Cohan’s attorney, Andrew Bray, is seeking class action status for the suit against the Woodfield Country Club Homeowners’ Association.

• And Cohan isn’t the only homeowner fighting mandatory fees.(1)

For more, see Country club living putting squeeze on some homeowners.

For Mr. Cohan's lawsuit, see Cohan v. Woodfield Country Club Homeowners Association Inc.

For another similar lawsuit by a homeowner against a homeowner association offering "country club living," see:

• Nichols v. The Hamlet Residents Association, Inc.

(1) In another similar lawsuit, Palm Beach Circuit Judge David French late last year ruled the membership fee requirement was “unreasonable” and “unenforceable” for new buyers. The suit is before the 4th District Court of Appeal. The appeal claims French should not have ruled in the case because he lives in a country club community. Go here for Judge French's ruling.