Florida HOA Laws in 2026: HB 913 in Force, HB 797 and HB 803 — and the Chapter 720 vs. 718 Rules Every Board Should Know

Florida’s homeowners’ association statute is Chapter 720; condominiums are governed by Chapter 718. Neither was rewritten in 2026. The changes now in force are HB 913 (ch. 2025-175, effective July 1, 2025, with the 25-unit condo website rule from January 1, 2026), HB 797 (ch. 2026-168) and HB 803 (ch. 2026-63), both effective July 1, 2026.

Key points

• Under Fla. Stat. 720.305(2), a Florida HOA fine “may not exceed $100 per violation” and “may not exceed $1,000 in the aggregate unless otherwise provided in the governing documents,” and “a fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien against a parcel.”
• Under Fla. Stat. 720.303(7), a Florida HOA with total annual revenues of $500,000 or more must prepare audited financial statements, and so must any association with at least 1,000 parcels regardless of revenue.
• Reserves are optional for a Florida HOA: under s. 720.303(6)(b) the budget “may include reserve accounts,” and under (6)(d) an association is deemed to have provided for reserves only “upon the affirmative approval of a majority of the total voting interests of the association.”
• Under Fla. Stat. 718.112(2)(g), a condominium building “three habitable stories or higher in height” needs a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years, and unit-owner-controlled associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 had to complete one by December 31, 2025.
• Under Fla. Stat. 720.3085(4)–(5), a Florida HOA owes two separate 45-day notices before it can foreclose — one before recording a claim of lien, one before bringing the action.

Dynamite Management, LLC provides remote financial management, accounting and Form 1120-H preparation for homeowner and condominium associations in every state. What follows is the Florida statute as it reads in the 2026 edition on leg.state.fl.us, with the two chapters set side by side wherever they diverge — because in Florida they diverge constantly, and most bad advice a Florida board gets comes from reading the wrong chapter.

2025–2026 at a glance — what actually changed

Three enacted bills touch Florida associations right now, and the two website mandates arrived on different dates at very different sizes. Everything else that drew attention in the 2026 session died.

That last row matters more than the first three. HB 657 was the session’s community association omnibus, it cleared the House 108–2 on March 5, 2026, and it died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026, the day the session ended. A great deal of Florida association commentary published this spring describes what HB 657 “requires.” A board applying “HB 657 rules” is applying nothing. Same for SB 1744: a Florida condominium board may meet by video conference under s. 718.112(2)(b)5., but nothing in 2026 added audio-only meetings. Chapter 720 itself is silent on remote board meetings; a homeowners’ association board relies on the general nonprofit rule in s. 617.0820(4), which lets directors participate through “any means of communication by which all directors participating may simultaneously hear each other,” subject to the open-meeting and notice rules in s. 720.303(2).

Which law governs your association — Chapter 720, Chapter 718 and Chapter 617

Your chapter is decided by what you own, not by what the community calls itself. Under Fla. Stat. 720.301, a homeowners’ association is “a Florida corporation responsible for the operation of a community . . . in which membership is a mandatory condition of parcel ownership, and which is authorized to impose assessments that, if unpaid, may become a lien on the parcel,” and a parcel is real property whose owner is obligated “[t]o pay to the homeowners’ association assessments that, if not paid, may result in a lien.” Two elements, both required. A voluntary neighborhood association with dues nobody can be forced to pay is not a Chapter 720 association, and almost none of what follows applies to it.

Condominiums are different property, not a different flavor of HOA: if the recorded instrument is a declaration of condominium and owners hold units with an undivided share of the common elements, Chapter 718 governs — including for a “condominium” that looks like detached houses. Where both chapters are silent, the gap-filler is Chapter 617, the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act, and Chapter 617 is exactly what CS/CS/HB 797 rewrote effective July 1, 2026. That is why a bill nobody filed as an HOA bill belongs on this list: quorum, director terms, officer duties, conflicts and indemnification reach most Florida associations through Chapter 617, not through 718 or 720.

Board meetings — s. 720.303(2)

A Florida HOA board meeting runs on three notice clocks, and they are not interchangeable. Under s. 720.303(2)(c), notices “must be posted in a conspicuous place in the community at least 48 hours in advance of a meeting, except in an emergency,” and must “specifically identify agenda items for the meetings.” If the association does not post, the alternative is longer: “notice of each board meeting must be mailed or delivered to each member at least 7 days before the meeting, except in an emergency.” Two subjects require 14 days regardless — “[w]ritten notice of any meeting at which special assessments will be considered or at which amendments to rules regarding parcel use will be considered” must reach members “not less than 14 days before the meeting.”

Members are entitled to be there. Section 720.303(2) provides that “[m]embers have the right to attend all meetings of the board,” including “the right to speak at such meetings with reference to all designated items.” Only two subjects may be closed: meetings with the association’s attorney “with respect to proposed or pending litigation” where the attorney-client privilege applies, and meetings “held for the purpose of discussing personnel matters.” Nothing else — not a vendor negotiation, not a delinquency review. Our sister site HOA Board Minutes (hoameeting.com) works through the three clocks, the two closed-session grounds and the record of director votes in Florida Statute 720.303: HOA board meetings.

Records and websites — s. 720.303(4)–(5) and s. 718.111(12)

Both chapters give owners a records request, a hard deadline and a daily price for missing it. Under s. 720.303(4)(a), HOA official records must be “maintained within this state for at least 7 years, unless the governing documents of the association require a longer period,” and under s. 720.303(5)(a) they must be “made available to a parcel owner for inspection or photocopying . . . within 10 business days after receipt . . . of a written request.” The condominium clock in s. 718.111(12)(b) is “within 10 working days after receipt of a written request,” with production “within 45 miles of the condominium property or within the county.”

Fees are capped low. A Florida HOA “may charge up to 25 cents per page for copies made on the association’s photocopier,” and may add personnel cost only “if the time spent retrieving and copying the records exceeds one-half hour and if the personnel costs do not exceed $20 per hour” (s. 720.303(5)(g)). There is no request fee, research fee or per-document administrative charge in the statute. Miss the deadline and the exposure is automatic: s. 720.303(5)(c) sets “minimum damages . . . to be $50 per calendar day up to 10 days, the calculation to begin on the 11th business day,” and s. 718.111(12)(c) sets the identical rule for condominiums.

The website mandates arrived two years apart. Under s. 720.303(4)(b)1., “[b]y January 1, 2025, an association that has 100 or more parcels shall post the following documents on its website” or make them available through an application — articles, bylaws, declaration, current rules, contracts and bids, “[t]he annual budget required by subsection (6) and any proposed budget to be considered,” the financial report, insurance policies, director certifications, conflict disclosures and “[n]otice of any scheduled meeting of members and the agenda for the meeting.” The site must also carry a members-only area: it “must contain a subpage, web portal, or other protected electronic location that is inaccessible to the general public.”

Condominiums came under the same discipline on January 1, 2026, at a threshold four times smaller. CS/CS/HB 913 lowered the s. 718.111(12)(g) trigger to “an association managing a condominium with 25 or more units which does not contain timeshare units,” and the posting clock is short: a document must be available “within 30 days after the association receives or creates an official record.” HB 913 also enlarged what counts as an official record — s. 718.111(12)(a) now reaches “[a]ccurate, itemized, and detailed records of all receipts and expenditures, including all bank statements and ledgers,” and requires “a recording of all such meetings that are conducted by video conference.” For a 30-unit condominium that has never had a website, that is the largest new administrative burden in Florida association law right now, and it started this January.

Budgets and reserves — s. 720.303(6) and s. 718.112(2)(e)–(g)

A Florida homeowners’ association is not required to fund reserves. Section 720.303(6)(b) says it in one line: “In addition to annual operating expenses, the budget may include reserve accounts for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance for which the association is responsible.” May. Chapter 720 contains no reserve study requirement, no funding percentage, no schedule and — the point boards most often have backwards — no structural integrity reserve study. SIRS is a condominium obligation and appears nowhere in Chapter 720.

What changes the analysis is an owner vote. Under s. 720.303(6)(d), “[a]n association is deemed to have provided for reserve accounts upon the affirmative approval of a majority of the total voting interests of the association” — total voting interests, not a majority of those present. After that vote the money stops being flexible: s. 720.303(6)(h) provides that reserve funds “shall be used only for authorized reserve expenditures unless their use for other purposes is approved in advance by a majority vote.” Statutory reserves in a Florida HOA are restricted funds. You cannot move the roof reserve to cover a landscaping overrun on the board’s own motion, and a general ledger that commingles the two will not survive an audit.

The escape valve is annual and narrow. A membership vote may “provide for no reserves or less reserves than required by this section,” but s. 720.303(6)(f) closes it at once: “[a]ny vote taken pursuant to this subsection to waive or reduce reserves is applicable only to one budget year.” There is no permanent waiver in Florida. An association that voted reserves in once and waived them in 2019 is fully funding them today unless it has held a waiver vote every year since.

If the association has not established statutory reserves, the budget has to say so in capital letters. Section 720.303(6)(c)1. requires this disclosure where the budget “does not provide for reserve accounts under paragraph (d)” and the association is responsible for repair and maintenance of capital improvements:

“THE BUDGET OF THE ASSOCIATION DOES NOT PROVIDE FOR FULLY FUNDED RESERVE ACCOUNTS FOR CAPITAL EXPENDITURES AND DEFERRED MAINTENANCE THAT MAY RESULT IN SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS REGARDING THOSE ITEMS. OWNERS MAY ELECT TO PROVIDE FOR FULLY FUNDED RESERVE ACCOUNTS UNDER SECTION 720.303(6), FLORIDA STATUTES, UPON OBTAINING THE APPROVAL OF A MAJORITY OF THE TOTAL VOTING INTERESTS OF THE ASSOCIATION BY VOTE OF THE MEMBERS AT A MEETING OR BY WRITTEN CONSENT.” — Fla. Stat. 720.303(6)(c)1.

A second all-caps disclosure sits in s. 720.303(6)(c)2. for the in-between case: an association funding “limited voluntary deferred expenditure accounts” that were never established under paragraph (d). If your budget has a line called “reserves” that no membership vote ever created, that is the disclosure you owe — and the money in it is not statutorily restricted.

Condominiums are the opposite regime. Under s. 718.112(2)(f), reserves are mandatory for “roof replacement, building painting, and pavement resurfacing, regardless of the amount of deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost,” plus “any other item that has a deferred maintenance expense or replacement cost that exceeds $25,000 or the inflation-adjusted amount determined by the division.” Section 718.112(2)(g) then requires a structural integrity reserve study — a professional assessment of the structural components and their remaining useful life — for “each building on the condominium property that is three habitable stories or higher in height,” “at least every 10 years after the condominium’s creation,” and it set the catch-up deadline that has already passed: “[a]ssociations existing on or before July 1, 2022, which are controlled by unit owners other than the developer, must have a structural integrity reserve study completed by December 31, 2025.”

CS/CS/HB 913 gave condominium boards one piece of relief, effective July 1, 2025, and it is temporary by design. Under s. 718.112(2)(f), “the board, upon the approval of a majority of the total voting interests of the association, may temporarily pause, for a period of no more than two consecutive annual budgets, reserve fund contributions or reduce the amount of reserve funding” after a completed milestone inspection. Two budgets, an owner vote, and an inspection actually finished. It is a pause, not a waiver, and it does not reach the SIRS items themselves: s. 718.112(2)(f)2.b. bars a unit-owner-controlled association that must obtain a SIRS from voting “no reserves or less reserves than required by this subsection for items listed in paragraph (g).”

One more thing, because it comes up in every Florida condominium budget conversation. Fannie Mae’s Lender Letter LL-2026-03 requires Full Review and a minimum reserve contribution of 15 percent of annual budgeted income for applications on or after January 4, 2027. Those are conditions a lender puts on an individual loan, not requirements Florida law puts on your association, and we do not think a board should reverse-engineer its budget to hit them so units can sell; we explain that position in Fannie Mae condo warrantability in 2027. Fund reserves against the remaining useful life of the roof. For the mechanics — line items, reserve schedules, budget-versus-actual — use the free HOA budget template for 2027.

Financial reporting — s. 720.303(7) and s. 718.111(13)

Both chapters set the same four revenue tiers and then attach different deadlines. Under s. 720.303(7)(a), a Florida HOA “with total annual revenues of less than $150,000 shall prepare a report of cash receipts and expenditures”; one “with total annual revenues of $150,000 or more, but less than $300,000, shall prepare compiled financial statements”; one “with total annual revenues of at least $300,000, but less than $500,000, shall prepare reviewed financial statements”; and one “with total annual revenues of $500,000 or more shall prepare audited financial statements.” A fifth rule overrides revenue entirely: “[a]n association with at least 1,000 parcels shall prepare audited financial statements, notwithstanding the association’s total annual revenues.”

The HOA clock is the tighter of the two and it has two parts. Section 720.303(7) requires that “[w]ithin 90 days after the end of the fiscal year . . . the association shall prepare and complete, or contract with a third party for the preparation and completion of, a financial report,” and then that “[w]ithin 21 days after the final financial report is completed . . . but not later than 120 days after the end of the fiscal year . . . the association shall . . . provide each member with a copy.” For a December 31 year end, the report is due by March 31 and in owners’ hands by April 30 at the latest. Condominiums get sixty days more: s. 718.111(13) requires delivery “[w]ithin 21 days after the final financial report is completed . . . but not later than 180 days after the end of the fiscal year,” the deadline CS/CS/HB 913 set effective July 1, 2025.

Both chapters let members vote the reporting level down, and both stop them from doing it twice running. Section 720.303(7)(d) permits, “[i]f approved by a majority of the voting interests present at a properly called meeting of the association,” a cash-receipts report in lieu of a compiled, reviewed or audited statement, or a compilation in lieu of a review or audit — but adds that “[a]n association may not prepare a financial statement pursuant to this paragraph for consecutive fiscal years.” The condominium version in s. 718.111(13) needs a stronger vote, “a majority vote of all the voting interests of the association,” and carries the same bar against consecutive fiscal years.

I spent years auditing association financial statements before I ran them, so the three words in that table are worth separating, because boards buy the wrong one constantly. A compilation puts management’s own numbers into financial-statement format and expresses no assurance at all — the accountant has verified nothing, and the report says so on its face. A review adds analytical procedures and inquiry for limited assurance: the numbers look reasonable in relation to each other. An audit is the only engagement where someone independent confirms bank balances with the bank, tests assessments receivable against the owner ledgers, samples disbursements for board approval and issues an opinion. Most Florida associations under $300,000 satisfy the statute with a compilation — lawful and honest, as long as nobody tells the members it was an audit. If your association has never had one, has had the same signer on the operating account for a decade, or is coming out of a manager transition, buy the audit once and drop back down afterward.

Collections — s. 720.3085, s. 718.116 and s. 718.121

Both chapters give an association 18 percent default interest and a $25-or-5-percent late fee, then send HOAs and condominiums down different notice sequences before a lien. Under s. 720.3085(3), where the declaration is silent, “simple interest accrues at the rate of 18 percent per year,” and the association may impose “an administrative late fee not to exceed the greater of $25 or 5 percent” of each delinquent installment. Section 718.116(3) matches it for condominiums — “interest accrues at the rate of 18 percent per year,” plus an “administrative late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each delinquent installment.”

The order in which payments land is statutory in both chapters and cannot be changed by the declaration, a management contract or a fee agreement. Section 718.116(3) states it plainly: “[a]ny payment received by an association must be applied first to any interest accrued by the association, then to any administrative late fee, then to any costs and reasonable attorney fees incurred in collection, and then to the delinquent assessment.” Section 720.3085(3)(b) uses the same order for HOAs. So an owner who mails a check for exactly one month’s assessment does not become current on assessments — the money is consumed from the top of the stack — and an association that lets attorney fees accumulate watches every later payment reach the lawyer before it reaches association revenue.

The HOA sequence: two 45-day notices. Under s. 720.3085(4), before recording a claim of lien the association must “[p]rovide the owner with 45 days following the date the notice is deposited in the mail,” and the delivery method is doubled up — “sent by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and by first-class United States mail,” to “the parcel owner at his or her last address as reflected in the records of the association” and, if that address is not the parcel, also “to the parcel owner subject to the demand at the address of the parcel.” Two mailing classes, two addresses. Then a second clock: under s. 720.3085(5), “[t]he action to foreclose the lien may not be brought until 45 days after the parcel owner has been provided notice of the association’s intent to foreclose.”

The condominium sequence: 30 days, then 45. Chapter 718 puts a notice ahead of the lien notice, and skipping it is a common Florida collection defect. Section 718.121(5) requires a “NOTICE OF LATE ASSESSMENT” telling the owner the amount “must be paid within 30 days of the date of this letter,” delivered “by first-class United States mail to the unit owner at his or her last address as reflected in the association’s records and, if such address is not the unit address,” also by first-class mail to the unit. The consequence is financial: “[a]n association may not require payment of attorney fees related to a past due assessment without first delivering a written notice of late assessment.” Only then does the lien notice run — under s. 718.121(6), “no lien may be filed by the association against a condominium unit until 45 days after the date on which a notice of intent to file a lien has been delivered to the owner,” by registered or certified mail return receipt requested plus first-class mail to the record address and, if different, the unit address.

The foreclosure notices differ procedurally. For an HOA the 45 days gate the filing; for a condominium, s. 718.116(6) provides that “[n]o foreclosure judgment may be entered until at least 45 days after the association gives written notice to the unit owner of its intention to foreclose its lien.” A condominium association may file earlier, but the judgment waits.

The first-mortgagee safe harbor. When a lender forecloses first and takes title, s. 718.116(1)(b) caps what it owes: liability “is limited to the lesser of: a. The unit’s unpaid common expenses and regular periodic assessments which accrued or came due during the 12 months immediately preceding the acquisition of title . . . or b. One percent of the original mortgage debt.” On a $250,000 original mortgage that is $2,500 — so if twelve months of assessments come to $3,600, the association collects $2,500 and writes off the rest. That is why the calendar below is not a formality.

The rent-demand remedy. Section 720.3085(8) lets a Florida HOA bypass a delinquent owner and go to the tenant, demanding the tenant “pay to the association the subsequent rental payments and continue to make such payments until all the monetary obligations of the parcel owner related to the parcel have been paid in full.” For an investor-owned parcel with a paying tenant, that is faster and cheaper than a lien.

A Florida collections calendar for a $300-a-month assessment

At $300 a month, a Florida HOA that starts the first 45-day notice at 90 days delinquent records a lien around month five and can file suit around month six and a half — fast by national standards. Washington is slower: under RCW 64.90.485 an association there owes a 30-day notice of delinquency, a 15-day standstill and a foreclosure floor of three months of assessments or $2,000, which we work through in Washington collections after SB 5686. Arizona requires a single bold-face 30-day certified-mail warning under A.R.S. 33-1807(L) before an attorney or outside agency touches the file — see Arizona HOA laws in 2026. Florida’s distinguishing feature is not speed; it is that the notices are duplicated across two mailing classes and two addresses, and a defect in either kills the lien.

Dynamite Management runs the financials and collections for Florida associations — the 45-day notices, the order of application, the 120-day financial report — remotely, inside HOA Fiscal. See how condo and HOA financial management works.

Fines and suspensions — s. 720.305 and s. 718.303

Florida caps association fines at $100 per violation in both chapters, and the aggregate cap has an exception in only one of them. Section 720.305(2) provides that a fine “may not exceed $100 per violation against any member or any member’s tenant, guest, or invitee,” and that “the fine may not exceed $1,000 in the aggregate unless otherwise provided in the governing documents.” Section 718.303(3) sets the same numbers without the carve-out — “the fine may not exceed $100 per violation, or $1,000 in the aggregate.” Both allow daily fines: an HOA fine “may be levied by the board for each day of a continuing violation, with a single notice and opportunity for hearing,” and a condominium fine “may be levied by the board on the basis of each day of a continuing violation.”

The hearing is not optional. Under s. 720.305(2)(b) a fine or suspension is valid only if “the board first provides at least 14 days’ written notice of the parcel owner’s right to a hearing,” and “[s]uch hearing must be held within 90 days after issuance of the notice before a committee of at least three members” — members “who are not officers, directors, or employees of the association, or the spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister” of one. Section 718.303(3)(b) requires the same 14 days and the same independent three-member committee. That committee is a genuine check: it can reject the fine, and if it does, the fine is not imposed.

Timing and money are where the chapters part. In an HOA, “[w]ithin 7 days after the hearing, the committee shall provide written notice to the parcel owner,” and “the committee must set a date by which the fine must be paid, which date must be at least 30 days after delivery.” In a condominium, “the fine payment is due 5 days after notice of the approved fine is provided to the unit owner.” Five days, not thirty. Then the difference that decides whether a fine is worth levying: in a Florida HOA “[a] fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien against a parcel,” so a $700 accumulated fine is a debt the association can sue on but not secure; in a Florida condominium there is no threshold at all — “[a] fine may not become a lien against a unit.”

Suspensions are the sharper tool. Under s. 720.305(3) and s. 718.303(4), an association may suspend the right to use common areas or common elements when an owner “is more than 90 days delinquent in paying a fee, fine, or other monetary obligation.” Voting rights are harder to reach in a condominium: s. 718.303(5) requires the obligation be “more than $1,000 and more than 90 days delinquent” — both, not either — while s. 720.305(4) lets an HOA suspend voting rights for any monetary obligation more than 90 days delinquent.

Estoppel certificates — s. 720.30851 and s. 718.116(8)

The estoppel fee caps binding Florida associations in 2026 are $299, $119 and $179 — not the $250, $100 and $150 printed in the statute. Both sections cap the base fee at an amount “which may not exceed $250, if, on the date the certificate is issued, no delinquent amounts are owed,” allow “an additional fee of $100” where the certificate “is requested on an expedited basis and delivered within 3 business days after the request,” and permit an additional fee that “may not exceed $150” where a delinquent amount is owed. But s. 720.30851(9) directs that “[t]he fees specified in this section shall be adjusted every 5 years in an amount equal to the total of the annual increases for that 5-year period in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average, All Items.” The Department of Business and Professional Regulation published that adjustment in 2022, producing $299 base, $119 expedited and $179 delinquent, and those adjusted amounts are what an association may charge today. The statute’s printed numbers are the pre-CPI base, not the live cap. The next adjustment is expected in 2027.

Delivery rules are the same in both chapters. Under s. 720.30851 and s. 718.116(8), the certificate is due “[w]ithin 10 business days after receiving a written or electronic request,” and its shelf life depends on how it went out: one “hand delivered or sent by electronic means has a 30-day effective period,” while one “sent by regular mail has a 35-day effective period.” Bulk requests are capped by parcel count — “$750” for 25 or fewer, “$1,000” for 26 to 50, “$1,500” for 51 to 100 and “$2,500” for more than 100. And if the closing does not happen and, no later than 30 days after the intended closing date, the preparer receives a written request, “the fee shall be refunded to that payor within 30 days.” In a Florida HOA the refunded amount becomes the parcel owner’s obligation and is collectible as an assessment — but the association sends the money back first.

Elections and member meetings — s. 720.306

A Florida HOA member meeting needs 14 days’ notice and a 30 percent quorum. Under s. 720.306(5), notice must go out “not less than 14 days prior to the meeting,” and it may be “mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to the members.” Under s. 720.306(1)(a), unless the articles or bylaws say otherwise, a quorum is “30 percent of the total voting interests,” and decisions requiring a member vote “must be made by the concurrence of at least a majority of the voting interests present, in person or by proxy.” Governing documents may be amended “by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the voting interests of the association” absent a different threshold in the documents.

Proxies keep Florida HOA meetings alive, and they die faster than boards expect. Section 720.306(8) provides that “[a] proxy is effective only for the specific meeting for which it was originally given,” that it “automatically expires 90 days after the date of the meeting for which it was originally given,” and that it “is revocable at any time at the pleasure of the person who executes it.” A proxy collected for an annual meeting that is adjourned and reconvened four months later is worthless. Condominium elections run on a different track entirely and bar proxies from it: s. 718.112(2)(d) requires a first notice “[a]t least 60 days before a scheduled election,” a candidate’s written notice of intent “at least 40 days before a scheduled election,” and a second notice with the ballot “not less than 14 days or more than 34 days before the date of the election,” with no quorum but “at least 20 percent of the eligible voters must cast a ballot in order to have a valid election,” results “decided by a plurality of ballots cast,” and “[p]roxies may not be used in electing the board in general elections.”

Directors — s. 720.3033 and HB 797

Every Florida HOA director must complete a state-approved education course within 90 days of taking office. Section 720.3033(1) requires each director, “[w]ithin 90 days after being elected or appointed to the board,” to “submit a certificate of having satisfactorily completed the educational curriculum administered by a department-approved education provider.” The curriculum covers “[f]inancial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements.” The certificate is “valid for up to 4 years,” and continuing education is annual and scaled to size — at least 4 hours a year for a director of an association with fewer than 2,500 parcels, at least 8 hours at 2,500 parcels or more. The penalty is immediate: “[a] director who does not timely file the educational certificate is suspended from the board until he or she complies,” and the association “shall retain each director’s educational certificate for inspection by the members for 5 years after the director’s election.” There is no longer an option to sign a statement that you have read the governing documents instead.

Conflicts are disclosed on a clock and can be undone by the members. Under s. 720.3033(2), a director or officer must “[d]isclose to the association any activity that may be reasonably construed to be a conflict of interest at least 14 days before voting,” the board must “[a]pprove the contract or other transaction by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the directors present,” and the transaction must be disclosed to the members at the next regular or special member meeting — where, “[u]pon motion of any member, the contract or transaction shall be brought up for a vote and may be canceled by a majority vote.” Section 720.3033(3) separately bars an officer, director or manager from soliciting or accepting “a kickback,” with a narrow exception for “food to be consumed at a business meeting with a value of less than $25 per individual.”

The fidelity bond is sized by cash, not by budget. Section 720.3033(5) requires that the “[i]nsurance policy or fidelity bond must cover the maximum funds that will be in the custody of the association,” and s. 718.111(11)(h) says the same for condominiums — bonding “those individuals authorized to sign checks on behalf of the association, and the president, secretary, and treasurer,” in an amount covering “the maximum funds that will be in the custody of the association or its management agent at any one time.” Read “at any one time” literally: if the association collects a $400,000 special assessment in one month, the bond has to cover $400,000 that month, and the manager’s trust balance counts. A Florida HOA may waive the requirement, but only annually and only by the members — “[a]nnually approved by a majority of the voting interests present at a properly called meeting of the association.”

CS/CS/HB 797, chapter 2026-168, took effect July 1, 2026 and rewrote the Chapter 617 rules sitting behind all of this. Four changes reach association boards directly. Director terms now default short: under s. 617.0805, “if a term is not specified in the articles of incorporation or bylaws, the term of a director is 1 year.” Conflicting-interest transactions get a fairness safe harbor in s. 617.0832 — “if a director’s conflict of interest transaction is fair to the corporation at the time that transaction is authorized, approved, effectuated, or ratified, the transaction is not void or voidable.” A new s. 617.08091 authorizes a court to remove a director on stated grounds, with limits on who may bring the action. And s. 617.0834 with a new s. 617.0844 broaden immunity and set officer standards of conduct, providing that “an officer is not a trustee with respect to the corporation or any property held or administered by the corporation in trust.” HB 797 also amended s. 718.111 and s. 720.3033 to conform. If your bylaws are silent on director terms, check them this year — the new default is one year, not the two or three most boards assume.

Architectural review — s. 720.3035 and HB 803

Since July 1, 2026, a Florida association may not make a building permit the price of admission to architectural review. CS/CS/HB 803, chapter 2026-63, added s. 720.3035(1)(c):

“An association or any architectural, construction improvement, or other such similar committee of an association may not require a building permit to be issued by a governmental authority to a parcel owner as a prerequisite for review by the association or committee concerning the construction of structures or improvements on the parcel.” — Fla. Stat. 720.3035(1)(c), added by ch. 2026-63, effective July 1, 2026

The problem it fixes is a deadlock: owners in many Florida jurisdictions could not obtain a permit without evidence of association approval, while the association’s own application form demanded the permit first. From July 1, 2026 the association reviews the plans on their merits and the owner takes that approval to the building department.

What a committee may still require is unchanged and still substantial — but it has to be written down in advance. Section 720.3035(1)(a) limits committee authority over “the location, size, type, or appearance of any structure or other improvement on a parcel” to “the extent that the authority is specifically stated or reasonably inferred as to such location, size, type, or appearance in the declaration of covenants or other published guidelines and standards authorized by the declaration of covenants.” An architectural committee may still demand complete plans and specifications, dimensions, materials, colors, setbacks and finished elevations, and may still condition approval on compliance with published standards. It simply cannot make the owner go get a permit first.

Disputes that must go to presuit mediation — s. 720.311

Presuit mediation is required for some Florida HOA disputes and expressly unavailable for others — it is not a universal precondition to suit. Under s. 720.311(2)(a), the disputes that must go to presuit mediation are “[d]isputes between an association and a parcel owner regarding use of or changes to the parcel or the common areas and other covenant enforcement disputes,” “disputes regarding amendments to the association documents,” “disputes regarding meetings of the board and committees appointed by the board, membership meetings not including election meetings,” and disputes over “access to the official records of the association.” The same paragraph carves out the money: mediation “shall not include the collection of any assessment, fine, or other financial obligation, including attorney’s fees and costs, claimed to be due.” Election and recall disputes go elsewhere — they “must be arbitrated by the department or filed in a court of competent jurisdiction” — and emergency injunctive relief is available without mediating first. An association suing to collect delinquent assessments does not mediate; an association suing an owner over a fence does.

What a Florida board should do this quarter

Boards decide and management implements. Here is the list, keyed to sections, for the balance of 2026.

1. Confirm your chapter in writing. Read the recorded instrument for mandatory membership and lienable assessments (s. 720.301) and put the answer in the minutes. Every rule below forks on it.
2. If you are a condominium of 25 or more units, get the website live. Section 718.111(12)(g) has applied since January 1, 2026, and each new official record must be posted “within 30 days after the association receives or creates” it — including the bank statements and ledgers HB 913 added to the records list.
3. Rebuild the collections policy around the right sequence. For an HOA, two 45-day notices, certified plus first-class, to the record address and the parcel (s. 720.3085(4)–(5)). For a condominium, the 30-day NOTICE OF LATE ASSESSMENT before you can charge attorney fees, then the 45-day lien notice (s. 718.121(5)–(6)). Confirm your software applies payments interest → late fee → costs and fees → assessment.
4. Calendar the financial report backward from the deadline. An HOA has 90 days to complete and not later than 120 days to deliver (s. 720.303(7)); a condominium has 180 days (s. 718.111(13)). Check revenue against the $150,000 / $300,000 / $500,000 tiers now, not in March, and remember the 1,000-parcel audit rule.
5. Fix the reserve disclosure. If your HOA budget has no reserves established by a majority of the total voting interests, the s. 720.303(6)(c)1. all-caps statement belongs on the budget you adopt this fall — and if you carry a voluntary “reserve” line nobody voted in, use the (6)(c)2. version instead.
6. Condominium boards: verify the SIRS is done and dated. The December 31, 2025 deadline in s. 718.112(2)(g) has passed. If you paused reserve contributions after a milestone inspection, count your budgets — the pause is “no more than two consecutive annual budgets,” and it never covered the SIRS items.
7. Update the estoppel fee schedule to $299 / $119 / $179, put the 10-business-day response on a tickler, and print the 30-day and 35-day effective periods on the certificate itself (s. 720.30851; s. 718.116(8)).
8. Check director certificates and bylaws. Every director owes an education certificate within 90 days of taking office and the association keeps it for 5 years (s. 720.3033(1)); confirm the fidelity bond covers the maximum funds in custody at any one time (s. 720.3033(5); s. 718.111(11)(h)); and read your bylaws for a stated director term, because the Chapter 617 default is now one year (s. 617.0805, effective July 1, 2026).

Associations planning to stay self-managed should start with how to self-manage an HOA and can run fund accounting, collections, elections, violations and resale certificates on HOA Fiscal. If your portfolio crosses state lines, the sister pillar is Washington HOA laws in 2026: the complete WUCIOA guide — a useful contrast, because Washington regulates reserves and audits heavily where Florida regulates notices, records and disclosure.

Frequently asked questions

What new HOA laws take effect in Florida in 2026?

Two bills and one deadline. CS/CS/HB 797 (ch. 2026-168, effective July 1, 2026) rewrote Chapter 617, the not-for-profit act behind both association chapters: the default director term becomes one year under s. 617.0805, s. 617.0832 adds a fairness safe harbor for conflicting-interest transactions, new s. 617.08091 allows court removal of directors, and director and officer immunity is broadened. CS/CS/HB 803 (ch. 2026-63, effective July 1, 2026) added s. 720.3035(1)(c), barring an association or architectural committee from requiring a building permit as a prerequisite to review. Separately, the condominium website rule in s. 718.111(12)(g) dropped to 25 or more units on January 1, 2026. Chapters 718 and 720 themselves were not rewritten in 2026.

Did HB 657 pass in Florida?

No. CS/CS/CS/CS/HB 657, the 2026 community associations omnibus, passed the House 108–2 on March 5, 2026 and then “Died in Rules” on March 13, 2026, the last day of the session. It was never enacted and no part of it is law. Boards and vendors describing “HB 657 requirements” — turnover changes, official records changes, electronic ballots, a community association court program — are describing a bill that failed. SB 1744 on audio-conference meetings and records died in Regulated Industries the same day.

Does a Florida HOA have to fund reserves?

No. Under s. 720.303(6)(b) a Florida homeowners’ association budget “may include reserve accounts,” and reserves become mandatory only after “the affirmative approval of a majority of the total voting interests of the association” under s. 720.303(6)(d). Once established, the funds are restricted to authorized reserve expenditures unless other use is approved in advance by a majority vote, and any waiver or reduction “is applicable only to one budget year” under s. 720.303(6)(f). Florida imposes no structural integrity reserve study on homeowners’ associations — that requirement is condominium-only, in s. 718.112(2)(g).

What is the audit threshold for a Florida HOA?

$500,000 in total annual revenue. Under s. 720.303(7)(a), an association “with total annual revenues of $500,000 or more shall prepare audited financial statements”; $300,000 to less than $500,000 requires a review; $150,000 to less than $300,000 requires a compilation; and less than $150,000 requires a report of cash receipts and expenditures. An association with at least 1,000 parcels must prepare audited statements regardless of revenue. Members may vote the level down at a properly called meeting under s. 720.303(7)(d), but “may not prepare a financial statement pursuant to this paragraph for consecutive fiscal years.” Condominiums use the identical dollar tiers under s. 718.111(13).

How much can a Florida HOA fine an owner?

$100 per violation, capped at $1,000 in the aggregate “unless otherwise provided in the governing documents” (s. 720.305(2)). A fine may be levied for each day of a continuing violation on a single notice and hearing. The board must give “at least 14 days’ written notice of the parcel owner’s right to a hearing,” the hearing goes before a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors, employees or their close relatives, the committee gives written notice within 7 days, and the fine is due no sooner than 30 days after delivery. A fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien. Condominium fines are also $100 and $1,000 under s. 718.303(3), are due 5 days after notice, and may never become a lien.

Can a Florida HOA foreclose for unpaid dues?

Yes, after two separate 45-day notices. Under s. 720.3085(4) the association must give the owner “45 days following the date the notice is deposited in the mail” before recording a claim of lien, sent “by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, and by first-class United States mail” to the record address and, if different, the parcel address. Then under s. 720.3085(5) the action “may not be brought until 45 days after the parcel owner has been provided notice of the association’s intent to foreclose.” Florida sets no minimum delinquency amount or period for an HOA foreclosure. Condominiums run a different sequence: a 30-day notice of late assessment, a 45-day lien notice, and no foreclosure judgment “until at least 45 days after” notice of intent to foreclose (s. 718.116(6)).

How much can a Florida association charge for an estoppel certificate?

$299 for a standard certificate, plus up to $119 for expedited delivery within 3 business days and up to $179 where a delinquent amount is owed. Those are the CPI-adjusted amounts in effect; the $250, $100 and $150 printed in s. 720.30851 and s. 718.116(8) are the pre-adjustment base, and s. 720.30851(9) directs that the fees “shall be adjusted every 5 years” by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers. The next adjustment is expected in 2027. The certificate is due within 10 business days, is effective 30 days if hand delivered or sent electronically and 35 days by regular mail, and the fee must be refunded within 30 days if the closing does not occur and a written request is made.

Does a Florida condo have to have a website?

Yes, if it has 25 or more units and no timeshare units. Section 718.111(12)(g) requires “[a]n association managing a condominium with 25 or more units which does not contain timeshare units” to post digital copies of its official records on a website or make them downloadable through a mobile application, and each record must be posted “within 30 days after the association receives or creates” it. CS/CS/HB 913 lowered the threshold, effective January 1, 2026. Florida homeowners’ associations have their own mandate at a higher threshold: 100 or more parcels, since January 1, 2025, under s. 720.303(4)(b).

Can a Florida condo board meet by video conference?

Yes. Section 718.112(2)(b)5. provides that “[a] board meeting may be conducted in person or by video conference,” and s. 718.112(2)(c)1. adds the condition boards forget: “[i]f the meeting is conducted via video conference, it must be recorded and such recording must be maintained as an official record of the association.” That means the recording is subject to the 10-working-day records request in s. 718.111(12)(b) and must go on the association’s website if it manages 25 or more units. Chapter 720 has no equivalent recording rule; a homeowners’ association board that meets remotely relies on s. 617.0820(4) and still owes the notice and open-meeting duties in s. 720.303(2). SB 1744, which would have added audio-conference meetings, died in committee on March 13, 2026.

Dynamite Management runs the financials and collections for Florida associations — the 45-day notices, the order of application, the 120-day financial report — remotely, inside HOA Fiscal. See how condo and HOA financial management works or contact us. Dynamite Management also prepares Form 1120-H from the association’s ledger for Florida associations; see HOA taxes and Form 1120-H preparation.