Florida HOA Laws: A Plain-Language Guide to Florida Statute 720

Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes, the Homeowners' Association Act, governs Florida's mandatory homeowners' associations. It sets the rules for how an HOA is run, what members can demand, how assessments and fines are collected, and what an association can never restrict. Your community's recorded declaration of covenants, bylaws and articles fill in the details, but Chapter 720 sets the floor.

The Act was overhauled in 2024 by House Bill 1203, often called the HOA bill of rights, and amended again in 2025 and 2026. This guide reflects the 2026 Statutes. For a summary of what changed, see New Florida HOA Laws.

Two Laws, Two Types of Communities

Florida governs community associations under two separate statutes depending on community type.

Not sure which applies? The recorded declaration will say. Chapter 720 covers associations where membership is mandatory for every parcel owner. Voluntary civic associations aren't covered. For condominiums, see our plain-language guide to Chapter 718. Board members can compare what each chapter requires of them in our Chapter 718 vs. Chapter 720 side-by-side guide.

The key sections of Chapter 720

Homeowner Rights Under Florida Law

Right to Inspect Records

Florida Statute 720.303(5) gives members the right to inspect and copy the association's official records, including financial records, meeting minutes, contracts and governing documents. The HOA must make them available within 10 business days of a written request. If the request went by certified mail and the deadline passes, the law presumes the failure was willful, and the member can recover minimum damages of $50 a day for up to 10 days. Since 2024, a director or manager who knowingly and repeatedly blocks access with intent to harm commits a misdemeanor. Associations with 100 or more parcels must also post key documents on a website or app. See How to Request HOA Records in Florida.

Right to Attend Meetings

Board meetings are open to members, except meetings with the association's attorney about litigation and meetings about personnel matters (§720.303(2)). Members can speak on every designated agenda item, and directors can't vote by proxy or secret ballot, except a secret ballot to elect officers.

• Board meetings: notice with the agenda must be posted conspicuously in the community at least 48 hours in advance, or mailed or delivered at least 7 days ahead, except in an emergency.
• Assessments and parcel-use rules: a board meeting where special assessments or changes to rules about parcel use will be considered needs 14 days' written notice, mailed or delivered and posted.
• Member meetings, including the annual meeting, need at least 14 days' notice (§720.306(5)). Unless the bylaws set a lower number, a quorum is 30 percent of the total voting interests.

Right to Vote and Run for the Board

Elections follow the procedures in the association's governing documents (§720.306(9)). Any member can run, except someone who is delinquent on money owed to the association when nominations close, or a person convicted of a felony whose civil rights haven't been restored for at least 5 years. A director who becomes more than 90 days delinquent is treated as having abandoned the seat. An election isn't needed if there are no more candidates than open seats. Unless the documents say otherwise, directors are elected by a plurality of the votes cast.

A challenge to an election must be brought within 60 days after the results are announced, either in court or through binding arbitration with the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes.

Right to Recall the Board

Whatever the documents say, members can recall any director, with or without cause, by a majority of the total voting interests (§720.303(10)). A recall can be done by written agreement or written ballots served on the association, without a meeting. The board then has 5 full business days to meet and either certify the recall, which takes effect immediately, or, within 5 more business days, file a court action or a petition for binding arbitration with the Division to challenge it. Recalled directors must hand over all association records and property within 5 business days.

Right to Challenge Violations

Before the HOA can fine you or suspend your use of common areas, it must give you written notice and a hearing before an independent committee (see Enforcement below). If you cure the violation before the hearing, no fine can be imposed.

Board Duties

Director education

Within 90 days of being elected or appointed, every director must complete a state-approved course for new directors covering financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, fines, and notice and meeting requirements (§720.3033). The certificate is valid for up to 4 years, and the course must be retaken at least every 4 years. Directors must also complete continuing education every year: 4 hours in associations with fewer than 2,500 parcels, or 8 hours in larger ones. A director who doesn't file the certificate is suspended from the board until they do.

Conflicts of interest and kickbacks

A contract between the association and a director, or a company a director is an officer of or has a financial interest in, needs the approval of two-thirds of the directors present, and it must be disclosed at the next members' meeting. Members can cancel it there by a majority vote of those present. Directors, officers and managers can't solicit or accept kickbacks.

Turnover from the developer

Members other than the developer can elect at least one director once 50 percent of the parcels have been sold, and a majority of the board three months after 90 percent are sold, or earlier if the developer abandons the community, goes bankrupt or loses the property (§720.307).

HOA Financial Requirements

Budget and Reserve Requirements

The board prepares an annual budget showing estimated revenues, expenses and any surplus or deficit, and every member must receive a copy or a notice that one is free on request (§720.303(6)). Chapter 720 doesn't give members a vote to approve or reject the budget, though some governing documents do.

Reserves are optional for most HOAs. The budget may include reserve accounts for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance. Members can require them by a vote of a majority of the total voting interests, and once reserves are established, members can later vote to waive or reduce them by a majority vote at a meeting with a quorum. If the budget doesn't fully fund reserves, the association's financial report must say so in conspicuous type. See HOA Finances Explained.

Annual financial reports

Within 90 days after the fiscal year ends, the association must prepare a financial report, and it must give every member a copy, or a notice that one is free on request, no later than 120 days after year-end (§720.303(7)). The type of report depends on revenue:

Special Assessments

The board can't levy an assessment at a meeting unless the notice says assessments will be considered and describes them. For special assessments, that notice must be mailed, delivered or emailed to members and posted at least 14 days before the meeting (§720.303(2)). Your governing documents may require a membership vote for larger assessments.

Buyer Disclosure Requirements

Florida Statute 720.401 requires that a buyer in an HOA community receive a disclosure summary before signing the sale contract. It says the buyer must join the association, that recorded covenants govern the property, that assessments and special assessments are owed and can change, and that unpaid assessments can become a lien.

If the buyer doesn't get the summary before signing, they can cancel the contract within 3 days after receiving it, or before closing, whichever comes first. That right can't be waived. To see the governing documents and finances themselves, see How to Find a Florida HOA's Governing Documents and Florida HOA Estoppel Certificates.

Assessments, Liens and Foreclosure

Under §720.3085:

• You're liable for assessments that come due while you own the parcel, and a buyer is jointly liable with the seller for anything unpaid at the time of transfer. You can't avoid assessments by not using the amenities.
• Interest and late fees: unpaid assessments bear simple interest at the rate in the documents, or 18 percent a year if they're silent. Compound interest isn't allowed. If the documents allow, the association can also charge a late fee of up to the greater of $25 or 5 percent of each late installment.
• Order of payments: payments go first to interest, then late fees, then collection costs and attorney fees, and only then to the assessment.
• 45 days before a lien: the association must send a notice of intent to record a claim of lien by certified or registered mail and give you 45 days to pay before recording it.
• 45 more days before foreclosure: after the lien is recorded, the association must give a further 45 days' notice of its intent to foreclose before it can file suit.
• Fines are different. A fine of less than $1,000 can't become a lien at all (§720.305(2)).

What Rules Can My HOA Actually Make?

Florida HOA rules come from three places, and they don't carry equal weight:

1. The recorded declaration (CC&Rs) — the highest authority. Recorded in county records and binding on every parcel. Unless the documents say otherwise, amending it takes a two-thirds vote of the voting interests (§720.306(1)).
2. The bylaws — how the association operates: meetings, elections, board procedure.
3. Board-adopted rules and regulations — the day-to-day rules. These are the easiest to create and the easiest to challenge, because a board may only make rules the declaration empowers it to make.

Where these conflict, the declaration wins. A board-adopted rule that contradicts the recorded declaration is invalid, no matter how it was announced.

Florida law also puts certain things beyond the reach of any HOA rule, regardless of what the documents say:

• Solar panels and clotheslines (§163.04).
• Flags: up to two portable, removable flags from the list in §720.304(2), such as the U.S. or Florida flag or a military or POW-MIA flag, displayed respectfully.
• Hurricane protection that meets the board's adopted specifications (§720.3035(6)).
• Parking your personal vehicle, including a pickup truck, or a non-commercial work vehicle in your own driveway (§720.3075(3)(d)).
• Contractors: an HOA can't bar a worker because they aren't on a preferred vendor list or don't hold a professional license (§720.3075(3)(e)).
• Florida-friendly landscaping (§720.3075(4)).
• Things not visible from outside: architectural rules can't regulate the interior of a structure, or an air-conditioning system, that can't be seen from the street, a neighbor, a common area or a golf course, and the HOA can't require you to get a building permit before it reviews your plans (§720.3035(1)).

For the full test of whether a specific rule binds you — including selective enforcement and improperly adopted rules — see unenforceable HOA rules in Florida and what your Florida HOA can and cannot restrict.

HOA Enforcement & Violations

Under Florida Statute 720.305, an HOA can fine a member, tenant or guest, or suspend their use of common areas, only after this procedure:

1. At least 14 days' written notice of your right to a hearing, describing the alleged violation and what you need to do to cure it.
2. A hearing within 90 days before a committee of at least three members who aren't officers, directors or employees of the association, or their close relatives. You can attend by phone or video.
3. The committee decides. If a majority doesn't approve the fine or suspension, it can't be imposed.
4. Written findings within 7 days after the hearing, including how to cure the violation and the date any fine is due, which must be at least 30 days later.

If you cure the violation before the hearing, or in the way the notice describes, no fine or suspension can be imposed. Attorney fees can't be charged to you for anything the board did before the fine's due date.

Fine limits:

• No more than $100 per violation, which can be levied for each day of a continuing violation
• No more than $1,000 in total for a continuing violation
• Either limit can be higher only if the governing documents say so
• A fine of less than $1,000 can't become a lien on your home

A suspension can't block access to your home or your right to park. Separately, an owner more than 90 days delinquent on money owed to the association can have common-area privileges suspended until paid. See What Happens If You Don't Pay HOA Fines in Florida.

Dispute Resolution

Chapter 720 sends most HOA disputes to presuit mediation before anyone can sue (§720.311). That covers disputes over the use of or changes to a parcel or the common areas, other covenant enforcement, amendments to the documents, board and committee meetings, membership meetings and access to official records. The party with the complaint serves a written demand for mediation first. Collecting assessments, fines and other money owed isn't subject to presuit mediation.

Election and recall disputes are different. They go to binding arbitration with the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, or to court. They aren't eligible for mediation.

The prevailing party in an HOA lawsuit is generally entitled to attorney fees (§720.305(1)). Keep detailed records of every letter, email and meeting note. Documentation is your most important asset in any dispute. See Florida HOA Dispute Resolution.

Local County Considerations

In addition to state law, Florida HOAs may be subject to county and municipal ordinances governing noise, landscaping, short-term rentals, and signage. Always check your local code in addition to the HOA's own governing documents when evaluating restrictions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Florida Statute 720? It's the Homeowners' Association Act, the chapter of Florida law that governs mandatory homeowners' associations: meetings, records, elections, budgets, fines, assessments and liens, and dispute resolution.

Does Chapter 720 override my HOA's documents? Where the statute sets a rule "regardless of" or "notwithstanding" the governing documents, such as the recall right, the records deadline, the fine procedure and the list of things an HOA can't restrict, the statute controls. Elsewhere, the documents often fill in details or set different rules the statute allows.

How much can a Florida HOA fine me? Up to $100 per violation and $1,000 in total for a continuing violation, unless the governing documents allow more, and only after 14 days' notice and a hearing before an independent committee. A fine under $1,000 can't become a lien.

Can a Florida HOA foreclose on my home? Yes, for unpaid assessments, after a 45-day notice of intent to record a lien and another 45-day notice of intent to foreclose. Fines under $1,000 can't be the basis for a lien.

How do I remove an HOA board member in Florida? By recall: a majority of the total voting interests can remove any director, with or without cause, by written agreement or ballot, without a meeting.

How long does an HOA have to give me records? 10 business days after it receives your written request. Send it by certified mail to preserve your right to damages.

Official Resources

• Florida Condo Laws: A Plain-Language Guide to Chapter 718
• Florida DBPR — Community Association Manager License Lookup
• Florida Statutes Chapter 720 — Homeowners' Associations (2026)
• Florida Statutes Chapter 718 — Condominiums (2026)

Statutory content on this page was last verified against the 2026 Florida Statutes on 2026-10-15. Confirm current statute text at flsenate.gov before relying on it.