How Florida Condo and HOA Boards Can Lawfully Fine Owners or Suspend Their Privileges

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Published September 22, 2026
• Updated September 23, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 23, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Condominiums · HOAs · Cooperatives

A Florida condominium, cooperative or homeowners association may fine an owner, tenant or guest for violating the governing documents, and may suspend an owner's right to use the common facilities, but only by following a procedure the statutes prescribe to the day: written notice at least 14 days in advance, a hearing before an independent committee of owners, and a committee vote approving the penalty. Fines are capped at $100 per day and $1,000 per continuing violation unless an HOA's documents allow more. A separate, simpler rule allows the board to suspend the privileges of owners who are more than 90 days delinquent.

Authority to fine

The power to fine comes from the statute, but the governing documents must not prohibit it, and many declarations add procedures or limits of their own. Before adopting a fining program, the board should confirm what the declaration and bylaws say and adopt a written fining and suspension policy, so that the same rules apply to every owner. Consistency is a legal requirement, not just good practice: an association that has tolerated a violation for years, or fined one owner and not another for the same conduct, hands the owner a selective-enforcement defense.

The dollar limits

For condominiums and cooperatives, a fine may not exceed $100 per violation, and a fine may be levied for each day a continuing violation continues, up to an aggregate of $1,000. A condominium fine may not become a lien against the unit; it is collected like any other debt, and the statutes prohibit foreclosing to collect it.

For homeowners associations the same $100-per-day and $1,000-aggregate limits apply unless the governing documents provide otherwise, and a fine of $1,000 or more may become a lien against the parcel if the documents so provide. That difference makes HOA fines a more powerful tool and a more dangerous one when the procedure is not followed.

The mandatory procedure for violation fines and suspensions

Whether the penalty is a fine or a suspension of use rights for a violation of the documents, the association must:

1. Give at least 14 days' written notice to the owner (and to the tenant or occupant, if the violation is theirs) before the hearing. For HOAs, 2024 legislation requires the notice to describe the violation, state the amount of the proposed fine or the suspension, identify the date and location of the hearing, and, if the violation can be cured, state that no fine will be imposed if it is cured before the hearing.
2. Hold a hearing before a committee of owners. In a condominium, the committee members must be unit owners who are neither board members nor persons residing in a board member's household. In an HOA, the committee must have at least three members appointed by the board who are not officers, directors or employees of the association, or the spouse, parent, child, sibling or grandparent of one.
3. Obtain the committee's approval. The committee must approve the fine or suspension by majority vote. If it does not, the penalty may not be imposed. The committee decides only whether to approve or reject the board's proposed penalty; it may not increase it.
4. Give written notice of the decision. For HOAs, the committee must provide its written decision within seven days after the hearing, and an approved fine is due 30 days after the association delivers notice of the approved fine. Condominium associations should follow the same practice.

The hearing itself should be short and businesslike: the manager or a board member presents the violation and the evidence (photographs, letters, dates), the owner responds, and the committee votes. Minutes should be kept. The board should not attend as a body, and directors should not participate in the committee's deliberations.

What may not be fined

Fines must be tied to a violation of the declaration, bylaws or reasonable rules. Rules adopted by the board must themselves be within the board's authority under the documents and properly adopted with the notice the statute requires. Recent HOA legislation also prohibits fines for certain minor items, such as leaving garbage receptacles at the curb within a day of collection, and limits fines and enforcement for holiday decorations and items on a parcel that are not visible from the frontage or neighboring parcels. Boards should have counsel review their rules against these limits before fining under them.

Suspensions for delinquency: a different track

Separately from violation fines, both Chapter 718 and Chapter 720 allow the board to suspend an owner who is more than 90 days delinquent in paying any monetary obligation to the association. The board may suspend the owner's (and the owner's tenants' and guests') right to use the common elements and facilities until the obligation is paid in full, and may suspend the owner's voting rights; for a condominium, section 718.303(5) permits the voting-rights suspension only when the delinquency exceeds $1,000 as well as 90 days, and the suspension takes effect 30 days after notice to the owner. No hearing committee is required, but the suspension must be approved at a properly noticed board meeting and the association must notify the owner, and the tenant if applicable, in writing.

Two limits apply to every suspension. The association may not suspend the right to use limited common elements intended for the unit's use, parking or garage spaces, elevators, or utility services, and it may not deny access to the unit or parcel itself. A suspended voting interest is subtracted from the total voting interests when calculating quorum and the vote required for any action during the suspension.

Collecting fines

Because a condominium fine cannot become a lien, collection usually means a demand letter and, if necessary, a small-claims or county court action, where the prevailing party recovers attorney's fees under the statute. HOA fines of $1,000 or more may be liened and enforced like assessments if the documents allow, but the lien and foreclosure process for fines has its own notice requirements and should not be undertaken without counsel. In either community, an unpaid fine also supports a delinquency suspension once it is more than 90 days past due.

Dispute resolution

An owner who wants to challenge a fine or suspension in a condominium may petition for nonbinding arbitration with the Division or pursue presuit mediation, depending on the nature of the dispute, before litigating. HOA covenant disputes, including fines and suspensions, generally require presuit mediation under section 720.311 before either side may file suit, and the prevailing party in the eventual action recovers attorney's fees. Because fee exposure runs both ways, boards should fine only when the record is clean and the violation is worth the fight.

Condominium versus HOA at a glance

For community association managers: see An owner is violating the rules: how does a manager get from complaint to a lawful fine? in the Manager Resource Center.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes prepares fining policies, trains hearing committees, handles violation hearings and defends fine and suspension challenges for associations throughout Southwest Florida. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Covenant Enforcement page.