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Florida Law / Board Fundamentals·Florida

Florida Community Association Board Member Governance Guide

CIC-SC Editorial Team··~10 min read

Florida Law · Board Fundamentals · Chapters 718 and 720

Florida Community Association Board Member Governance Guide

Florida regulates community association boards more closely than almost any other state, and it has rewritten the rules every year since 2022. This guide is the orientation map for a newly seated Florida director: the obligations that attach in the first 90 days, the standard of conduct every decision is measured against, and where to go next for each subject.

By the CIC-SC Editorial Team Updated November 8, 2026 Reading time: ~10 minutes Audience: New Florida Directors, Officers, Managers

Educational notice. This information is educational in nature and should not be construed as legal advice. Consult qualified association counsel regarding legal interpretation specific to your jurisdiction.

A Florida director serves inside three layers of law at once. The first is the association statute: Chapter 718 for condominiums or Chapter 720 for homeowners’ associations. The second is the Florida Nonprofit Corporation Act (Chapter 617), which supplies the standard of conduct and the personal-liability shield for most associations. The third is the association’s own governing documents — declaration, articles, bylaws, and rules — which may add obligations but generally cannot reduce what the statute requires.

This guide does not restate either chapter. For a section-by-section treatment, start with the Chapter 718 overview or the Chapter 720 overview. What follows is the short version of each topic a new director meets in the first year, with the controlling citation and a link to the detailed CIC-SC treatment.

Condominium or HOA: Know Which Statute Governs

The first question is not what the board wants to do but which chapter applies. Condominium associations operate under Chapter 718 and are regulated by the DBPR Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes. Homeowners’ associations operate under Chapter 720, which is less prescriptive in some areas but was substantially tightened by HB 1203 (ch. 2024-221, effective July 1, 2024). Cooperatives fall under Chapter 719, which is outside the scope of this guide.

The two chapters often address the same subject with different rules — proxies, fines, reserves, records penalties, and education hours all differ. A director who has served on a board under one chapter should not assume the other works the same way.

Certification and Education: The First 90 Days

The 2024 session ended Florida’s sign-a-form option. HB 1021 (ch. 2024-244) for condominiums and HB 1203 for HOAs, both effective July 1, 2024, made completion of an approved curriculum mandatory.

  • Condominium directors (§ 718.112(2)(d)). Within 90 days after election or appointment — or within the year before — a director must submit both a written certification of having read the declaration, articles, bylaws, and current written policies, and a certificate of completing a division-approved curriculum of at least 4 hours. The curriculum covers milestone inspections, structural integrity reserve studies, elections, recordkeeping, financial literacy and transparency, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements. The certificate is valid for 7 years of uninterrupted service, and directors must complete at least 1 hour of continuing education annually on recent changes to Chapter 718 and its rules.
  • HOA directors (§ 720.3033(1)). Within 90 days after election or appointment, a director must complete a department-approved curriculum covering financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements, and submit the certificate to the association. The certificate is valid for up to 4 years, and the new-director training must be retaken at least every 4 years. Annual continuing education is at least 4 hours for associations with fewer than 2,500 parcels and at least 8 hours for associations with 2,500 or more. The association retains each certificate for member inspection for 5 years after the director’s election.

In both chapters, the consequence of missing the deadline is the same: the director is suspended from the board until compliance, and the board may temporarily fill the seat. A tracker with each director’s seating date, 90-day deadline, certificate date, and annual hours is the simplest control. The full comparison is in Florida Board Member Education Requirements.

Fiduciary Duty and the Business Judgment Rule

Officers and directors of a condominium association “have a fiduciary relationship to the unit owners” (§ 718.111(1)(a)), and HOA officers and directors have a fiduciary relationship to the members they serve (§ 720.303(1)). Both chapters tie that relationship to Chapter 617.

Chapter 617 was rewritten by HB 797 (ch. 2026-168), effective July 1, 2026, which renamed it the Florida Nonprofit Corporation Act. The standard of conduct now sits in § 617.0830: act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes is in the best interests of the corporation, and with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use. Directors may rely on officers, counsel, accountants, and committees unless they know something that makes reliance unwarranted. The personal-liability shield is § 617.0834: a director is generally not personally liable for monetary damages unless the breach involves a criminal violation, an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct (in suits by the corporation or a member), or recklessness or bad faith (in third-party suits). Section 718.111(1)(d) cross-references both sections for condominium directors.

The practical lesson is that the protection follows the process. Decisions made on adequate information, inside the board’s authority, without a personal interest, and documented in the minutes are the decisions courts are least inclined to second-guess. Condominium officers, directors, and managers are also flatly barred from soliciting or accepting kickbacks, which is a felony requiring removal from office (§ 718.111(1)(a)). See The Business Judgment Rule in Florida and Florida Director Conflicts of Interest.

Meetings

Florida board meetings are open meetings. The default rules a new director should know:

  • Notice. Condominium board meeting notices identifying all agenda items must be posted conspicuously at least 48 continuous hours before the meeting, except in an emergency (§ 718.112(2)(c)1.). HOA notices must be posted at least 48 hours in advance, or mailed or delivered at least 7 days in advance where the association does not post (§ 720.303(2)(c)).
  • 14-day meetings. In both chapters, a board meeting that will consider a nonemergency special assessment or an amendment to rules on unit or parcel use requires at least 14 days’ written notice.
  • Owner participation. Owners may attend and speak on designated agenda items, subject to reasonable written rules on frequency, duration, and manner.
  • Closed sessions. The exceptions are narrow: meetings with the association’s attorney about proposed or pending litigation where privilege applies, and meetings on personnel matters (§§ 718.112(2)(c)5., 720.303(2)).
  • Condominium cadence. A residential condominium association of more than 10 units must hold a board meeting at least once each quarter, and at least four times a year the agenda must give owners an opportunity to ask the board questions. A condominium board meeting held by video conference must be recorded, and the recording is an official record.

Continue with Virtual and Electronic Board Meetings in Florida and Florida Emergency Board Meetings.

Official Records and the Online Portal

Records access is where Florida associations most often get into trouble, because the statutes attach damages and, in some cases, criminal penalties.

  • Response time. Condominium records must be made available within 10 working days of a written request (§ 718.111(12)); HOA records within 10 business days (§ 720.303(5)). Owners denied access may recover minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days. An HOA may not require an owner to state a proper purpose for an inspection.
  • Retention. HOAs generally keep official records for at least 7 years. Condominiums keep core records — declaration, bylaws, articles, rules, and minutes — permanently, and most other records for at least 7 years.
  • Penalties. A condominium director or manager who willfully and knowingly violates the inspection requirement commits a misdemeanor and must be removed from office. For HOAs, knowing, willful, and repeated violations with intent to harm are a misdemeanor. In both chapters, destroying accounting records or refusing to produce records to evade a criminal investigation carries criminal exposure.
  • Portals. Condominium associations managing a condominium of 25 or more units must post specified records on a website or app (§ 718.111(12)(g)); the 25-unit threshold from HB 1021 took effect January 1, 2026. HOAs with 100 or more parcels have been required to post since January 1, 2025 (§ 720.303(4)(b), as amended by HB 1203).

The portal does not replace the written-request response procedure; the two run in parallel. See Florida’s Online Records Portal Rules, Florida Records Request Compliance, and Building a Florida HOA Records Retention Policy.

Elections

The two chapters run elections very differently.

  • Condominiums. The first notice of the election goes out at least 60 days before it; a candidate’s written notice of intent is due at least 40 days before; and the second notice with the ballot goes out not less than 14 nor more than 34 days before. Proxies may not be used to elect the board. A director generally may not serve more than 8 consecutive years, counting service on or after July 1, 2018, unless two-thirds of the votes cast approve or there are not enough eligible candidates (§ 718.112(2)(d)).
  • HOAs. Elections are held at or in conjunction with the annual meeting under the procedures in the governing documents. Membership meetings require at least 14 days’ notice by default; the default quorum is 30 percent of the total voting interests unless the bylaws set a lower number; and proxies are permitted unless the statute or governing documents provide otherwise. If qualified candidates do not outnumber the vacancies, no election is required (§ 720.306).

The detail is in The Florida Condominium Board Election Process and Florida HOA Elections Under § 720.306. Boards of newly built communities should also read Florida Developer Turnover.

Structural Safety: SIRS and Milestone Inspections (Condominiums)

After the 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse, Florida added two structural mandates for condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or more in height.

  • Milestone inspection (§ 553.899). Required by December 31 of the year a building reaches 30 years of age, measured from the certificate of occupancy, and every 10 years after. The local enforcement agency may set a 25-year trigger based on local circumstances, such as proximity to salt water. Phase two applies only where phase one finds substantial structural deterioration. The association must distribute the inspector’s summary to every owner and post it on the property within 45 days, and post the report on its website if it is required to have one.
  • Structural integrity reserve study (§ 718.112(2)(g)). Required at least every 10 years and performed by a licensed engineer or architect or a credentialed reserve specialist. HB 913 (ch. 2025-175, effective July 1, 2025) moved the deadline for existing unit-owner-controlled associations from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2025, with a concurrent-with-milestone accommodation that ends no later than December 31, 2026.

Any trigger keyed to distance from the coastline is not current law; the only age-based variation is the local-option 25-year trigger. See Florida Milestone Inspections and The Florida SIRS Compliance Timeline.

Budgets, Reserves, and Financial Reporting

  • Condominium budgets. The proposed annual budget and notice of the adoption meeting go to each owner at least 14 days before the meeting. If the proposed budget would require assessments above 115 percent of the prior year’s, the statute adds a substitute-budget procedure that owners vote on (§ 718.112(2)(e)).
  • Condominium reserves. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, an association required to obtain a SIRS may not waive or reduce reserves for the SIRS components, and those funds may be used only for those components (§ 718.112(2)(f)). HB 913 added narrow deferral options: after a milestone inspection completed in the prior two calendar years (for budgets adopted on or before December 31, 2028, with a majority of the total voting interests), or while a building is uninhabitable after a natural emergency.
  • HOA budgets and reserves. An HOA must prepare an annual budget and give each member a copy or notice that one is available at no charge. Reserves are not mandatory by default; they exist once established by the developer or a majority of the voting interests, and members may then vote to waive or reduce them one budget year at a time (§ 720.303(6)).
  • Financial reporting. Both chapters scale the annual report to revenue: a report of cash receipts and expenditures under $150,000; compiled statements from $150,000; reviewed statements from $300,000; and audited statements at $500,000 or more. HOAs with 1,000 or more parcels must audit regardless of revenue (§§ 718.111(13), 720.303(7)).

For capital funding decisions, see Florida Special Assessments. For collections, see Florida Assessment Liens and Foreclosure and Florida Estoppel Certificates.

Fines and Suspensions

In Florida, the board proposes a fine but does not impose it alone. Under §§ 718.303(3) and 720.305(2):

  • The owner receives at least 14 days’ written notice of a hearing.
  • The hearing is before a committee of at least three members appointed by the board who are not officers, directors, or employees of the association, or a spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister of one.
  • The committee’s only role is to confirm or reject the proposed fine or suspension by majority vote. If it does not approve, the fine may not be imposed.
  • Fines are generally capped at $100 per violation and $1,000 in the aggregate for a continuing violation. HOA governing documents may provide otherwise; Chapter 718 states no such exception.
  • A condominium fine may not become a lien. An HOA fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien.

HB 1203 added HOA-specific protections: a violation cured before the hearing may not be fined, the committee must issue written findings within 7 days, payment may not be due sooner than 30 days after those findings, and certain items — such as garbage cans left out within 24 hours of collection day — may not be fined at all. The full sequence is in The Florida HOA Fining Procedure Under § 720.305.

Staying Current

Florida has amended its community association statutes in every session since 2022, and the continuing-education requirement exists because the rules keep moving. A board should re-check any statutory deadline or threshold against the current Florida Statutes before relying on it, and should bring scope questions — whether the association is inside a threshold, whether a building is covered, whether a reserve deferral is available — to association counsel. For the most recent session, see The Florida 2026 Legislative Landscape.

Related Reading

Tags: Florida board member · Chapter 718 · Chapter 720 · director certification · HB 1021 · HB 1203 · HB 913 · HB 797 · § 617.0830 · § 617.0834 · open meetings · official records · SIRS · milestone inspection · reserves · fining committee

Disclaimer. This article is published by the Common Interest Community Standards Council for educational and informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Statutory references reflect the 2026 Florida Statutes and are intended to support informed governance, not to substitute for advice from qualified Florida legal counsel. The application of Chapters 617, 718, and 720 and Section 553.899 to a particular association depends on the specific facts, the governing documents, and the current state of Florida law. CIC-SC, its authors, and its members assume no liability for actions taken in reliance on this content.

Published by the Common Interest Community Standards Council (CICSC). Part of the CICSC Member Education Library. © 2026 CICSC. Educational use permitted with attribution.

Notice: CICSC provides educational resources, governance standards, and practical advisory support. CICSC does not provide legal advice, accounting advice, tax advice, engineering advice, insurance advice, or reserve study services. Board members and associations should consult qualified professionals for matters requiring professional judgment or legal interpretation.