Q My condo's board recently approved a plan to provide an office for our property manager. Since the building did not have a space for an office, they want to put up walls in one of our common areas, so the property manager has a place to work. I understand the property manager needs an on-site place to work, but it will shrink our club room considerably, which I assume was part of the price tag of my unit. Will this decrease unit values if the common area is compromised? Is it legal for the board to approve something like that?

—Legally Speaking

A “In a condominium, a material modification or substantial addition to the common elements requires a vote of the membership,” says Russell Robbins, an attorney and managing partner at Mirza Basulto & Robbins, LLP in Coral Springs. “If your condominium declaration is silent as to the percentage necessary to make such changes, then §718.113(2)(a), Florida Statutes, requires an affirmative vote of seventy-five percent of the total voting interests to make such changes.

“It is very important to carefully review your association’s governing documents to ascertain whether such a vote is necessary, as your association’s governing documents may require a lower voting percentage, or may authorize the association’s board to make such changes without a vote of the membership.”