"Real Estate Transfer Fees shall be kept in a segregated account and shall not be used to fund maintenance and management (operating) or reserve expenses of the Association and shall only be utilized to fund enhancements or new amenities for the community as approved by the Board of Directors."
That sentence was approved by owners at the March 23, 2026 annual meeting and recorded on April 29, 2026, as stated in the recorded amendment. It changes the meaning of a line item every buyer in Jonathan's Landing now sees on the closing statement. The buyer pays the fee, and it equals four quarters of the J.L. Property Owners Association's annual General Assessment. The money doesn't lower anyone's dues, and it doesn't fill a reserve gap. It pays for things the community doesn't have yet.
For buyers, a year of assessments due at closing is effectively a down payment on the community's next round of improvements. Almost everyone who already owns a home here is shielded from it.
Two votes, five months apart
The fee came in two steps. In the first, the POA Board approved a transfer-fee amendment on July 22, 2025, and members approved it at the October 9, 2025 membership meeting. The 2025 transfer-fee amendment was recorded on November 13, 2025, and took effect 30 days later for every transfer of title after that date. It set the amount and made the fee an assessment against the property, carrying the same lien and collection rights as any other POA charge. It didn't say what the money could be spent on.
The second step addressed that. The Board approved the restriction on January 27, 2026, owners ratified it in March, and the recorded text now puts the funds in a segregated account. An internal Real Estate Transfer Fee Utilization Policy, marked as amended in October 2025, already pointed the same way. Its stated goal is to restrict the funds "to projects that provide a new benefit and/or service to the membership." The 2026 amendment moved that intent out of a board policy and into the recorded declaration, where changing it takes another owner vote.
Who writes the check, and who doesn't
The fee applies whenever record title transfers, with three exemptions written into the declaration:
- Transfers by bequest, devise, or inheritance
- Conveyances to the seller's spouse, or to a trust benefiting the seller or the seller's spouse
- Transfers to someone who has held record title to a Parcel, Lot or Unit in Jonathan's Landing within the previous 24 months
The third exemption has the most practical effect. A current owner selling a condominium in one village and buying a single-family home in another within that window pays no fee on the purchase. So do estate-planning moves and family transfers. The cost lands almost entirely on people buying into Jonathan's Landing for the first time, or coming back after more than two years away.
That gives the vote a clear economic shape. Under the declaration, the owners who approved the fee will mostly never pay it unless they leave and later return. They benefit from the projects it funds. Incoming buyers supply the capital.
What a project has to clear before the money moves
The utilization policy sets out a review sequence for any proposal:
- The Capital Reserve & Standards Committee identifies and evaluates projects that "do not currently exist or that substantially improve existing projects." Other authorized committees can also propose ideas to it.
- Each proposal is appraised for its costs and benefits to the community and compared against alternatives "before allocating scarce resources."
- A project that clears CR&S goes to the Finance Committee for review and approval.
- Only after both committees sign off does it reach the POA Board of Directors for approval to spend.
While the funds wait, the Finance Committee can ask to put them in T-Bills. On the books they are carried as liabilities, with spending tracked project by project.
Neither the policy nor the public POA documents name a project the fee is meant to fund. A buyer paying in late 2026 is adding to a fund whose first uses are still open.
The previous bill was for repairs
The fee makes more sense next to the other capital program on the POA's books. Jonathan's Landing has been working through a community special assessment with a grand total of $6,891,847. According to the POA's status report dated March 20, 2026, $6,499,630 had been spent through December 31, 2025, leaving $392,217.
| Category | Original budget | Spent through 12/31/2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Irrigation, pumps, piping, zones, controls | $2,840,000 | $2,510,750 |
| Roadway paving | $1,000,000 | $975,951 |
| Security and gate houses | $890,000 | $1,808,526 |
| Landscaping and north gate area | $650,000 | $294,090 |
| Docks and gazebos | $370,000 | $236,847 |
| Dredging | $200,000 | $263,017 |
| Seawall under Barrow Island Road Bridge and West Bay sidewalks | $100,000 | $149,047 |
The report explains the large variances. Gate and security spending roughly doubled because the Central Gate was enlarged to serve as a security headquarters, with room for officers on site during storms. Dredging went over budget because the Army Corps of Engineers, after a regulation change, required more than twice the estimated material to be removed. Irrigation and landscaping came in under budget because crews used directional drilling instead of open cutting. Interest earned on the funds grew as the schedule stretched out.
All of those categories are infrastructure: pipes, pavement, gates, channels, seawalls. Under the Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions, a special assessment is levied at an equal rate against each Lot or Unit, so every owner shared that bill. The transfer fee covers a different kind of spending, and a narrower group pays it. Repairs go to every owner. New amenities are now funded by whoever is buying in.
One change has already reached individual homes. A 2025 amendment to the security rules requires security-system equipment in every dwelling. The association or its vendor may install it at no initial charge, and the owner pays for later maintenance, repair, and replacement.
Why the POA fee is the one cost every owner shares
The POA assessment is the community's common cost because almost everything else here is optional. The POA describes Golf Club and Marina memberships at Jonathan's Landing as optional. The club's public pages describe four membership options but send prospects to a membership guide or the membership director instead of listing initiation fees or dues. A buyer can skip both clubs. Every buyer pays the POA. Because the transfer fee is tied to the General Assessment, it rises automatically whenever the assessment does.
Condominium buyers face a second set of numbers on top of that. The community includes five condominium villages and four townhome villages. Southporte One is a 13-story condominium, and Anchorage has two five-story buildings. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation says Florida requires a structural integrity reserve study for condominium buildings of three or more habitable stories, and associations have had to fund those reserves in budgets adopted since January 1, 2025. Southporte One's study, based on an April 30, 2024 inspection of its 50-unit building, recommended $279,200 in structural reserve contributions for 2025, which the study puts at an average of $465.33 per owner per month. It recommended a further $75,700 for general reserves. Those are the study's recommendations. A buyer should compare them with the association's current adopted budget. The transfer fee goes to the master POA and sits on top of whatever the building association charges.
Boat owners have a third set of costs. All 26 slips at Casseekey Island Dock, from 40 to 70 feet, are privately owned, and some are offered for long-term lease. Rent is whatever the lessor and lessee agree. The Casseekey Island Dock requires Board approval for transfers. The slip lease agreement requires the vessel to carry at least $1 million in liability insurance. The 2025 dock purchase application requires an affidavit that the prescribed listing process was followed.
What to get in writing before an offer
The POA's budget and financial pages are password-protected, so the General Assessment, and with it the dollar amount of the fee, isn't publicly posted. The estoppel certificate is where those numbers become firm. On a Jonathan's Landing purchase, ask for:
- The current General Assessment. Four quarters of it is the transfer fee owed at closing.
- Exemption status. If the buyer held title in Jonathan's Landing within the past 24 months, or the transfer is to a spouse or a qualifying trust, document it before closing.
- Special assessment balance. Public reports track spending through December 31, 2025, but don't show the per-owner amount or whether installments were still being billed in 2026.
- Building-level reserves and assessments. For condominiums, the current budget, SIRS, and any milestone inspection report from the village association.
- Slip paperwork. For dock buyers, title and Board approval status, and for lessees, the negotiated rent and the insurance requirement.
The fee is negotiable between the parties to the contract, even though the declaration says it's paid "by or on behalf of the transferee." A seller trying to stand out in a slower month can offer to cover it, and the amendment allows that.
Quick answers
Does the transfer fee reduce my future dues? No. The recorded 2026 amendment bars using it for operating or reserve expenses.
Do I pay it if I join neither club? Yes. The fee is tied to POA ownership, and club memberships are separate and optional.
Can the POA collect it after closing if it gets missed? The fee counts as an assessment and carries the same lien rights as any other POA charge.
If you're weighing a purchase or sale in Jonathan's Landing and want the transfer fee, estoppel figures, and building reserves worked into your numbers before you sign, Donald Lilly can walk through each line with you. Schedule a Free Consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
