Florida Real Estate Contracts
Florida Condominium Purchase Disputes
In Mastropietro and Rabbia v. Harbour Phase I Owners LLC, 35 Fla. L. Weekly D1535a (Fla. 2DCA 2010), the Second District Court of Appeal held that a condominium purchaser has two-years from the date of the Florida real estate contract to file a lawsuit to rescind the contract under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act. In this condominium purchase dispute case, a condominium purchaser filed the lawsuit to rescind the contract three-years after the real estate contract was signed. The Florida condominium purchaser claimed that the lawsuit was timely because under the US Code, 15 U.S. Section 1711(b) there was a three-year time limit to bring claims. The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that the US Code, 15 U.S. Section 1703(c) requires that a purchaser take action within two-years to revoke the contract. Federal Courts construing sections 1703 and 1711 have held that a purchaser must invoke his right to rescind within two-years and if the seller refuses this demand, the purchaser would have a third year under Section 1711 to file the lawsuit to rescind. As to this case, since the purchaser failed to take any action to revoke the contract within two year, the lawsuit in the third year was untimely. Accordingly, the Second District Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of the purchaser’s lawsuit.
