FAQ's
Brittany Estates is an active 55+ Resident Owned community located on Lake Griffin (one of the chain of five lakes) in Leesburg, Florida.
1. What is the size of your community, i.e., number of shareholders with membership certificates?
Brittany Estates became a Cooperative in 1997. There are 212 units (164 Shareholders and 48 Non-Shareholders).
a. Share prices range from $35,530 to $38,610 depending on the location.
b. Shareholders pay $160 per month maintenance fee.
c. Non-Shareholders pay $392 to $407 per month rent on the lot, depending on the location.
2. What services are included with the maintenance fee?
Water, Sewer, Trash pick-up, and Mowing. Water is provided by the well system, sewer by the sewer systems. Trash is picked up at each driveway twice every week. Trimming, weed control maintenance, etc. around each home are the resident’s responsibility.
3. Does your community employ its own manager and maintenance staff or a management company and maintenance company?
There is a part-time licensed office Manager, an office assistant, and 2 maintenance employees.
4. What amenities are available?
Clubhouse, shuffleboard, horseshoes, pickleball, fishing pier, a 47-slip marina (fee based), private boat ramp, pool (heated 365 days per year if at least 70 degrees outside), twice a week garbage pick-up, a well and sewer treatment plant, and laundry facility.
5. Are there activities?
There is a Social Club called Brittany Neighbors that organizes and sponsors the events, dances, bingo, socials, etc. There are various card games and billiard activities scheduled throughout the year. An activities calendar is included in the monthly newsletters.
6. Is there a restriction on the number of residents that can reside in a unit?
Maximum two residents, one 55+ and older, second 45 or older. A caregiver may be approved by the Board, with application and background check.
7. How many units are occupied year-round?
Approximately 35% of the units are occupied year-round.
8. Is a background check (financial/criminal) required for new owners and renters?
Yes, there is a $200 non-refundable fee for the application and background check process.
9. Can units be sub-leased and if so, is there a restriction on the number of times per season or minimum length of stay?
Yes, shareholders may do long term rentals. However, this is discouraged we prefer our owners to occupy their homes. Non-shareholders may rent for a maximum of 6 months in a calendar year. All renters must go through the background check process and be vetted for residency in the community.
10. Are guests permitted and if so, is there a restriction on the number of guest or their length of stay?
Guest must register at the office within 24 hours of arrival in the community. Maximum 30 days per guest per year or Board approval is necessary (i.e., caregiver).
11. Are pets permitted and if so, is there any restrictions (i.e., size/breed)?
One pet 25 lbs. or less and must be kept on a leash. All breeds are permitted with approval of the board.
12. How many board members are there?
There are nine (9) board members who each serve a two (2) year term. Meetings are typically monthly (October – April) on the third Wednesday of the month. The Annual Membership meeting is in January.
13. How can we control speeding in the park?
There are a few suggestions that could be used to resolve this problem. We have discussed contacting the Lake County Sheriff Department and requesting the usage of an electronic speed sign. This way the drivers will see how fast they are truly going since a lot of the golf carts do not have speedometers on them. Contacting FedEx, UPS, and other delivery companies asking/reminding them about park speed limits (we should note the driver’s vehicle number and time when clear infractions are made – and pass that information to our office). Any other ideas, please feel free to share them with our office.
14. Why can’t we place speed bumps on our roads?
We have been informed by the Fire Departments and EMS vehicles that they will not enter our park if we use speed bumps. They would need to park their vehicles at the entrance and walk to the designated home. In studies, the bump creates wear and tear on vehicles and carts. Also, golf cart drivers tend to drive over the nearest grassy area to avoid going over the speed bumps.
15. What is this rule about not being able to park in grass areas?
The purpose of this rule is to keep our grass growing as best as it can. It has been added to our Rules and Regulations because the grass has flattened areas throughout the park. In some areas around your home, there are aging pipes under the ground so driving over these areas can cause problems with our aging infrastructure. In the Marina area, a suggested golf cart parking design was proposed but turned down by a recent membership vote.
16. How can we get rid of the cactus landscaping in our entrance way and park area?
The best suggestion is to contact the office, and they can inform the correct group. We have a Beautification Committee that continually works on landscaping around our park.
17. Why does this park still use the Pledge of Allegiance at meetings?
It has been a Brittany tradition. Despite there being many sound, legal and logical reasons to not do the pledge, the board members have collectively agreed to continue this tradition throughout 2025. We benchmarked other parks and other organizations and the pledge is no longer widely used. We do have an ever-evolving diversification of groups and people within the park. We do have other park hosted events for Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day to honor our veterans. The question about whether to do the pledge or not do the pledge has nothing to do with patriotism or respect for veterans.
18. When can we get an improved boat ramp?
This issue has been researched multiple times, and it all comes down to the cost of remodeling. There have been a few proposals, but they are not currently within our budget. We need to repair the hurricane damage first since we only had liability insurance on the docks. We also have to be conscious of the fact that renovation and remodeling requires us to meet the current governing body specifications, complicating the process and increasing cost.
19. What is this, Lighthouse Project?
We had a membership vote in 2024 to pour a cement foundation under the lighthouse and landscape the area around it with the memorial pavers and bricks from the park. We also need to evaluate how the current lighthouse is weathering and determine if modifications are needed to make it more able to stand the test of time in our Florida weather. (Every year we have a stone paver engraved with the names of residents that we have lost. We also have memorial bricks purchased and donated in residents names to honor their lost loved ones). Collecting all the memorial bricks from around the park in one area was thought to be a better way to memorialize these tributes.
20. Where is the dog park?
Unofficially, the front entrance park is where we allow dogs. An enclosed dog park has been suggested/proposed; however, it requires a membership vote, since it would require the modification to a common area and would increase costs. To date, there has not been enough shareholders support to consider putting this on the ballot for a vote. Concerns about park liability, owners irresponsibility in cleanup, the costs of building fenced areas, the number of shareholders/residents that would use the area, and increased cost of maintaining the area have prevented the idea from moving forward.
21. Where is the pickleball court?
The July 2024 membership vote was VERY close to approving a fully funded/donated court. There were concerns about liability, future maintenance costs, and beatification of the dedicated area. The players are currently using the parking lot area near the maintenance shed, where painted lines on the black top are used to set up the equipment.
22. Why doesn’t this park use an electronic voting system?
In 2024, an email poll was sent to all shareholders to gauge interest in an electronic voting system. Although there was a positive response from a small subset of shareholders, the Board at the time did not think it warranted further investigation. Electronic voting will likely be inevitable in the future and will need to be revisited in the near future as a cost-saving opportunity for the park.
23. Why do we have to be so restrictive about what we flush?
Brittany Estates has our own septic system. We are NOT connected to the public sewer system. Connecting to the public sewer system would likely cause each owner a significant amount of money. As such, we need to maintain our existing system. Since the implementation of our system, products and materials have evolved. There are several products available in stores today that do NOT work with our system (such as the disposable scrub pads and wipes). These new products block/clog our system and require increased cost, increased maintenance, and increased downtime for the entire park.
24. What is the smell of sewage on some days?
The septic system that was implemented with the design of our park includes open retention tanks. Depending on the concentration of the contents, the outside temperature, barometric pressure, wind direction, and wind strength on any given day, there is a possibility that not all of the gases will have sufficient conditions to adequately disperse before they exit the fenced in area.
25. Why do we occasionally have boil water restrictions?
The water system in Brittany comes from two of our own wells. We are not part of the public water system. Connecting to the public water system would likely cost each owner a significant amount of money. Since the time when the pipes were originally installed for distributing water, technology and government standards have changed. At the time the current pipes were installed, they met the standards of the day. Unfortunately, they have aged and are approaching the end of their useful predicted life. The products used today are designed differently; they are thicker and have a much longer predicted useful life. However, it is very expensive to replace the existing aged infrastructure. The Board is working on a plan to proactively replace the pipes in a way that is least impactful on the budget. This will take some time as we need to see if there are other ways to fund this project.