For Homeowners & Residents

Your rights as a Florida HOA member under Chapter 720: attending and recording board meetings, running for the board, requesting records, challenging a fine, and resolving disputes.

• Attending, speaking at and recording board meetings
• Running for the board
• How to challenge a fine or violation
• Requesting HOA records in writing
• Mediation, arbitration and when you can sue

Your right to inspect HOA records under Florida Statute 720.303: what counts as an official record, the 10-business-day deadline, copy fees, what's off-limits, the website rule for 100+ parcels, and what to do if the board refuses.

• What records you're entitled to see
• The 10-business-day response rule
• What copies can cost
• Records the association may withhold
• Penalties for a board that refuses
• How to write an effective request

How to resolve a dispute with your Florida HOA or condo association: internal hearings, mandatory presuit mediation, Division arbitration, election and recall disputes, and when to go to court.

• Start with the internal process
• Mandatory presuit mediation for most HOA disputes
• Condo arbitration through the DBPR
• Recall and election disputes
• When court or small claims makes sense

How to tell whether a Florida HOA rule is actually enforceable — the four-part test, the rules statute overrides, selective enforcement, and what to do next.

• The four-part test for whether a rule is enforceable
• Rules Florida statute overrides outright
• How selective enforcement makes a valid rule unenforceable
• Rules that were never properly adopted
• What to do when you think a rule is unenforceable

What actually happens if you don't pay a Florida HOA fine — the fine cap, why fines under $1,000 can't become a lien, and how that differs from unpaid assessments.

• Why unpaid fines and unpaid assessments are completely different
• The most a Florida HOA can fine you
• Why a fine under $1,000 cannot become a lien
• The step-by-step escalation timeline
• How to challenge a fine before it grows

Parking, pets, rentals, solar, flags and more — what a Florida HOA is allowed to restrict, what state law protects, and how to tell the difference.

• The general test for whether a restriction is valid
• Parking and vehicles — what HB 1203 changed
• Pets, rentals, and short-term lets
• Solar, flags, and hurricane protection the law protects
• When a restriction is in your declaration but not in statute

The Villages, Florida has no mandatory HOA. Here's who runs it instead — community development districts, the monthly amenity fee, the bond and maintenance assessments, and who enforces the deed restrictions.

• Why The Villages has no mandatory homeowners' association
• What the community development districts do
• The monthly amenity fee and how it rises
• The bond and maintenance assessments on your tax bill
• Who enforces the deed restrictions
• The POA and VHA, and what they can't do

Florida law splits condo insurance between the association's master policy and the unit owner's HO-6 policy. Here's who insures what under §718.111(11), who pays deductibles and water damage, and how loss assessment coverage works.

• Where Florida law draws the line between the master policy and your HO-6
• Who pays for water damage, deductibles and upgrades
• Loss assessment coverage, and why the $2,000 minimum is rarely enough
• Whether you're required to carry an HO-6
• Flood insurance and Citizens
• What to check before you buy a condo

What Florida Statute 718.111(12) requires condo associations to keep, how long, what owners can inspect, the 10-working-day deadline, $50-a-day damages, what must be posted online, and how to force access if the board refuses.

• The records every Florida condo association must keep, and for how long
• Your right to inspect, and the 10-working-day deadline
• What the association can withhold
• Damages, criminal penalties and removal from office
• The website requirement for associations with 25 or more units
• How to write a request, and what to do if it's ignored