Interesting article. HOPA sets the min requirement but the developer can establish stricter requirements. Sonewhere the Developer must have published their requirements:

What is HOPA | Age Requirements in 55 and Over Communities.


"Housing for Older Persons Act
HOPA stands for Housing for Older Persons Act. This act, passed in 1995, allows senior communities to discriminate based on familial status. The Fair Housing Act prevents discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, and familial status in real estate transactions. A housing community is defined as a building or group of dwellings that are governed by a common set of rules and regulations. This includes homeowners associations, condominiums, co-ops, municipally zoned areas, mobile home parks, and manufactured housing communities.

The 80/20 Rule
In order to qualify for HOPA, at least 80% of households in the community must be occupied by one resident that is over the age of 55. Some 55 and over communities require 100% of the dwellings to be occupied by a resident over the age of 55, while others only adhere to the 80% minimum requirement. This distinction becomes crucial when a resident over the age of 55 passes away and the surviving spouse or heir is under 55. HOPA does not provide any protection to the remaining inhabitant, so they could be forced to sell the property if the community requires 100% of residents to be of age or if the quota for under-age households is full.

Children & 55+ Communities
Under HOPA, 55 and over communities can prohibit families with minor children from owning or renting a dwelling in the community. However, not all 55 and over communities prohibit minors from becoming inhabitants. If the association does permit minors in the governing documents, they can put special rules and regulations in place for families with children. For example, they may impose a rule stating that children will not have access to certain common amenities. The rules put in place explicitly for families with children can’t violate any state or local laws. Communities may discriminate based on familial status, but there are no exemptions for discrimination based on other protected classes."

Kids and pets have nothing to do with HOPA. And again, you have no way of knowing what happened prior to closing. It is very easy to find the age of a person. It is an assumption that nothing is done because you did not see it.

The requirements are in your deed restrictions.

Mine say:
- 80/20
- Must be 19 to be a permanent resident
- Under 19 limited to 30 days per calendar year

Is there anything legally stopping the developer from dropping the 55 retirement community status?

Yes. The deed restrictions that everyone agreed to when moving in. They offer us some guarantees, one of which is that our community will be a 55+ community. If they eliminate that guarantee, then we can file a class action suit - the entire community as a whole, against the Developer.

And we'd win.

Those are internal deed restrictions. The entity authorized to enforce them can do so at their discretion, but are not required to enforce them. Do deed restrictions really exist if they are selectively enforced?

*Are* they being selectively enforced? I've read accusations but not facts.

Realistically, since the details of an internal deed restriction case handled by the Developer would not be made public we might never know what was determined. We may see someone leave or they might still be present but we wouldn't know the difference between non-enforcement and a non-case.