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Am I Old Enough To Live in a 55+ Community?

March 29, 2021

Obviously, if you are 55 years or older you qualify age-wise to live in any 55+ community.  55+ is a legal designation that requires strict Federal Government guidelines to be able to claim the designation.

3 Requirements of 55+ Status

There are 3 requirements to maintain 55+ status as a community. The first is 80% of the occupied residences in the community must have at least one occupant (90 days out of a calendar year) who is 55 years or older.  Second, the community must establish policies and procedures evidencing its intent to maintain 55+ status. Lastly the community must consistently follow those policies.  Compliance is guaranteed with biannual reporting requirements to the appropriate government entity.

What About the Other 20%?

This brings up the question of what about the other 20% who do not have to be 55+?  The 20% is governed by the individual community documents, called Community Covenants and Restrictions, CCR’s for short.  The individual CCR’s of a given community can be more or less restrictive than the 55+  Federal age requirement.  

Check Before You Move

Bottom line, if you are considering moving into a 55+ community and you will not have a resident in the home who has reached the age of 55 you must do 2 things before purchasing. You must examine the CCR’s of the community to determine their age requirement for under 55 residents AND verify with the Homeowners Association that there is still room in the 20% for under 55 residents meeting the CCR age requirement to live there.  In simple terms, you must make sure there are not already enough under 55-year-olds (who meet the CCR age requirements) living in the community. If there are you may not be able to purchase and live there.

A couple of other things of note if you are under 55 looking to live in a 55+ community. The percentages are constantly changing anytime a new homeowner occupies a residence in a community. Make sure if you check now and do not buy for some time you check the numbers again. This is to make sure the numbers still work for your situation.  There are often “hardship” exceptions that HOA boards can make given a particular situation. Lastly, if a 55 or older resident is the legal guardian of a disabled person, regardless of that person’s age they cannot be denied the right to live in the community.

These are just a few of the critical things your 55+ Expert, like me, can assist you with when you are looking to purchase in a 55+ community.

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