A Miami condominium should accommodate more than a desk. Buyers planning to employ an executive assistant at home should examine residential-use restrictions, staff access, workspace permissions and written association confirmation before committing.
For a buyer whose executive assistant manages calendars, travel and confidential correspondence, a Miami residence must support a particular working rhythm. A beautiful study is only part of the equation. The more consequential questions are who may enter, what work may take place inside the residence and whether the building’s governing documents permit the arrangement.
Treat the assistant’s presence as a purchase requirement, not an operational detail to resolve after closing. Separate three issues from the outset: permission to work inside the unit, permission to enter routinely and permission to use common spaces. None establishes the others.
The objective is a discreet, workable arrangement that preserves the home’s residential character without relying on informal assurances.
Florida’s home-based-business statute covers qualifying businesses operating wholly or partly from residential property, subject to statutory conditions and with business use remaining secondary to residential use. It permits up to two employees or independent contractors who do not live at the residence to work there. A qualifying business may also have additional remote employees who do not work at the residence.
That allowance is not an automatic entitlement within a condominium. The statute does not supersede condominium declarations or other applicable condominium restrictions. A buyer therefore cannot treat the two-person allowance as conclusive permission for a commuting executive assistant.
The first legal question is whether the proposed arrangement qualifies under applicable law. The separate condominium question is whether the governing documents permit it. Ask Florida condominium counsel to assess both, along with any applicable municipal requirements. Do not assume the same local approvals apply throughout the Miami area.
A restriction may distinguish quiet personal business from business activity that brings other people into the residence. That distinction matters more than whether the assistant’s work produces little noise or requires no signage.
Ask counsel to distinguish any permission for activities such as keeping business records or making professional telephone calls from permission to bring employees, customers or other invitees into the unit. Evaluate the wording of the particular declaration rather than assuming a universal rule for assistants.
For a Brickell purchase, including a residence under consideration at The Residences at 1428 Brickell, review the actual residential-use language and provisions addressing employees and invitees. A room suitable for an office does not establish permission for an employee to occupy it during the working day.
Give management a precise description rather than asking whether the building is comfortable with a home office. State whether the assistant lives in the residence, the proposed working days and hours, the duties performed and whether access is needed when the owner is away.
Include expected deliveries and any client or vendor visits. Explain whether the assistant handles personal administration, business matters or both. These details give counsel and the association a clearer factual basis for evaluating the request.
A live-in assistant and a commuting assistant present different residency facts under the statute, but neither arrangement overrides condominium restrictions. If the assistant will live on-site, ask counsel which occupancy provisions require review. Avoid presenting a commuting employee as an occasional guest simply to obtain easier entry.
Evaluate access as a sequence, from arrival at the property to departure, rather than as a single key-card question. Ask management whether staff registration, identification or background checks apply and whether recurring credentials are available.
Then address permitted hours, parking, elevator use and procedures for entry while the owner is absent. Ask separately whether the assistant may receive deliveries, collect packages or admit an expected visitor. These are questions for the particular association, not presumed building requirements.
For a Miami Beach home at The Perigon Miami Beach, the same due diligence should precede any assumption about staff access and movement through the building. Neither the project’s name nor its presentation establishes an assistant’s access rights.
Request a written explanation of the proposed access arrangement. It should be consistent with the permitted use of the unit, not merely describe how an approved visitor enters.
Once the proposed use is confirmed, assess whether the residence can support it comfortably. Consider acoustic separation, screen privacy, secure document storage and a route to the workspace that does not unnecessarily interrupt private living areas. These are design considerations, not substitutes for approval.
Ask separately whether an assistant may work in a business center, reserve a meeting space or meet visitors in a common area. Permission to work inside the unit does not establish permission to use amenities, and an available common room is not necessarily an authorized office.
A buyer considering Park Grove Coconut Grove can apply this distinction during a Coconut Grove search: evaluate the proposed in-residence workspace on its own merits, then verify any intended common-area use independently. Do not make the purchase depend on an unconfirmed alternative workspace.
Before committing, provide the proposed schedule and duties to Florida condominium counsel alongside the declaration and rules. Seek written association confirmation addressing the intended arrangement, rather than a general statement that residents may work from home.
For a Downtown Miami candidate such as Aston Martin Residences Downtown Miami, apply the same standard: the documents and written response, not a marketing description, should guide the decision. Counsel can assess whether the response aligns with the governing restrictions and whether further approval is needed.
Discuss an appropriate due-diligence contingency before signing. It should give the buyer a meaningful opportunity to evaluate this essential use within the contract’s terms. Do not assume a generic inspection provision resolves the issue.
The right condominium is one in which the intended working day can be reconciled with both the governing documents and the access procedures. A generous study cannot compensate for a restriction that prevents the assistant from working there.
Resolve the use first, confirm access second and refine the workspace third. That sequence clarifies the residence’s suitability before the purchase becomes a commitment.
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Begin a quiet conversationPossibly, but the arrangement must satisfy applicable law and the condominium’s governing restrictions. Permission to work from home does not necessarily include permission for an employee to work there.
For a qualifying home-based business, the statute permits up to two employees or independent contractors who do not live at the residence to work there. Condominium restrictions still require separate review.
No. Its protections do not supersede condominium declarations or other applicable condominium restrictions.
No. Living on-site changes the residency facts, but it does not override the condominium’s restrictions.
Review residential-use restrictions and language addressing employees, invitees and business-related visits. Counsel should evaluate those provisions against the assistant’s actual duties and schedule.
Describe residency, working hours, duties, expected deliveries and any client or vendor visits. Explain whether the assistant needs access while the owner is away.
Ask about registration, identification, background checks, credentials, hours, parking and elevators. Package collection and visitor admission should also be addressed separately.
Do not assume so. Confirm business-center use, meeting-space access and other amenity permissions independently from permission to work inside the unit.
Yes, it may have additional remote employees who do not work at the residence. That does not establish permission for additional workers to attend the condo.
Seek written association confirmation of the specific arrangement and have Florida condominium counsel review it against the governing documents. Discuss an appropriate due-diligence contingency before signing.
