Every meeting of a Florida condominium or homeowners association board must be open to the owners and noticed by posting in a conspicuous place on the property at least 48 continuous hours in advance, except in an emergency. When the board will consider a nonemergency special assessment or a rule about unit or parcel use, the notice must also be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to every owner and posted at least 14 days before the meeting. The notice must list every item the board will take up, owners may speak on each of them, and only two subjects may be discussed behind closed doors. Sections 718.112(2)(c) and 720.303(2) set the rules; a vote taken in violation of them is voidable, and boards that treat notice as a formality lose assessments, rules, and contracts to that defect.
What counts as a board meeting
A meeting is any gathering of a quorum of the board at which association business is discussed or conducted, whether it is called a meeting, a workshop, a retreat, a site walk, or a group text. The statutes permit directors to use email to communicate but prohibit voting by email, and a reply-all thread in which a majority of directors reach a consensus is a meeting that was not noticed. The safe practice is to confine email to logistics and information and to bring every decision, including informal ones such as approving a proposal or authorizing counsel, to a noticed meeting.
The 48-hour rule
Notice of a regular board meeting must be posted conspicuously on the property at least 48 continuous hours before the meeting. "Conspicuous" means the location the association has designated for notices, typically a bulletin board at the mail kiosk or clubhouse, and boards should adopt a resolution identifying that location so that the question of where notice must be posted is never open. Condominium associations whose bylaws permit may broadcast notice on a closed-circuit channel instead, and associations that are required to maintain a website must post the notice and agenda there as well. An HOA that does not post notice may instead mail or deliver it to each member at least seven days before the meeting.
The 48 hours are continuous. A notice posted on Monday at noon supports a meeting on Wednesday at noon, not Wednesday morning, and a notice taken down early to make room for another has not been posted for 48 hours. Managers should photograph the posted notice with a timestamp and keep the photograph with the meeting file.
The 14-day rule
Longer notice is required when the board will consider:
- A nonemergency special assessment, regular or special. The notice must state that assessments will be considered, describe their purposes, and state the estimated cost. An assessment levied without that language is unenforceable, which is why the wording of the agenda item matters as much as its timing. Our special assessments guide covers the substance.
- An amendment to the rules regarding unit use (condominium) or parcel use (HOA). Rules about the use of common areas do not trigger the 14-day requirement, but the line between a "use" rule and an operational rule is not always clear, and the conservative course is to give 14 days for any rule that affects what owners may do on their property.
Fourteen-day notice is given by mailing, hand delivery, or electronic transmission to each owner at the address on the association's records, and by posting. Electronic transmission is permitted only to owners who have consented in writing to receive notice that way. An officer or the manager must sign an affidavit of compliance and place it in the official records. The annual budget meeting has its own 14-day requirement, with the proposed budget enclosed.
The agenda
The notice must specifically identify each agenda item. "Old business" and "new business" identify nothing; "Consider proposal from ABC Roofing for roof replacement, $412,000" identifies an item. Owners are entitled to know from the notice what the board may decide, and the board is limited to the items noticed. An item not on the agenda may be taken up only as an emergency, by a vote of at least a majority plus one of the directors, and the action must be ratified at the next regular meeting. Since 2024, condominium boards of associations with more than ten units must meet at least quarterly, and at least four times a year the agenda must include an opportunity for owners to ask questions of the board; the practical answer is a standing agenda item for owner questions at every meeting.
Under Chapter 720, if 20 percent of the voting interests petition the board to address an item, the board must place it on the agenda of its next regular meeting or a special meeting within 60 days. Condominium owners have no equivalent statutory petition right but may raise matters during the owner-comment period.
Owner participation
Owners have the right to attend every board meeting, to speak on every designated agenda item, and to record the meeting by audio or video, subject to reasonable written rules the board may adopt governing the frequency, duration, and manner of owner statements and the placement of recording equipment. A three-minute limit per owner per agenda item, comment taken before the board's vote on each item, and a requirement that recording devices not obstruct the meeting are common and enforceable. Rules that require owners to submit questions in advance, that limit comment to a single period at the end, or that prohibit recording are not. The rules must be adopted at a noticed meeting and made available to owners.
Closed sessions
Two exceptions to openness exist, and they are construed narrowly:
- Attorney-client meetings on litigation. The board may meet in closed session with the association's attorney to seek or render legal advice concerning proposed or pending litigation. The attorney must be present, the subject must be litigation (not general legal advice or contract review), and the meeting must still be noticed like any other, with the agenda identifying the closed session and its general subject. Decisions that follow from the advice, such as authorizing a lawsuit or approving a settlement, are voted on in open session. Minutes reflect that the closed session occurred and what it concerned in general terms.
- Personnel matters. The board may meet in closed session to discuss personnel matters concerning association employees. The exception does not extend to the management company's employees or to contractors.
Everything else, including budget workshops, interviews of contractors, and discussions of an owner's violation, is open.
Committee meetings
A committee that takes final action on behalf of the board, or that makes recommendations to the board on the budget, must give the same notice and meet in the open with minutes. Under Chapter 720, an architectural review committee that approves or disapproves work on a parcel is expressly subject to those requirements. Other advisory committees follow the bylaws, and many associations choose to notice all committee meetings to avoid the argument.
Membership meetings
The annual meeting and any special meeting of the owners requires at least 14 days' notice by mail, delivery, or electronic transmission and by posting, and the condominium election adds the 60-day first notice and the 14-to-34-day second notice with the ballot. Our annual meeting planning guide and election guide cover the sequence.
Emergencies and video conferences
During a declared state of emergency the board may meet with such notice as is practicable, and the emergency exception to the 48-hour rule applies whenever immediate action is needed to protect persons or property. Boards should minute the nature of the emergency and ratify emergency actions at the next regular meeting. Remote participation is governed by Chapters 718 and 719 for condominiums and cooperatives, and for homeowners associations by the governing documents, with Chapter 617 supplying the default.
For condominiums, section 718.112(2)(b)5. provides that a board or committee member who participates by telephone, real-time videoconferencing, or similar real-time electronic or video communication counts toward the quorum and may vote as if physically present. The notice requirements are separate. Section 718.112(2)(c)1. requires that if a board meeting will be conducted by video conference, the notice say so and include the hyperlink for owners to attend remotely, a conference telephone number, and the address of the physical location where owners may attend in person; the meeting must be recorded and the recording kept as an official record of the association. The physical location requirement does not go away because the meeting is also online.
Cooperatives have the same quorum and voting rule in section 719.106(1)(b)5., and a speaker system must let everyone at the meeting hear the remote member. Chapter 719 does not carry the condominium notice and recording requirements for video-conference meetings; those appear only in Chapter 718.
Chapter 720 contains no equivalent to either provision. A homeowners association board's authority to let directors participate remotely comes from its own bylaws, and, absent contrary language in the articles or bylaws, from section 617.0820(4), under which directors may participate by any means of communication through which all participating directors can simultaneously hear each other, and a director participating that way is deemed present in person. The meeting must still be noticed and open to members at a physical location. An HOA board that wants to meet by video conference should read its bylaws first; it cannot borrow the condominium statute.
A notice checklist for managers
- Confirm the designated posting location and post at least 48 continuous hours ahead; photograph the posting.
- Ask whether any agenda item is a special assessment, a rule on unit or parcel use, or the budget; if so, mail, deliver, or email to consenting owners and post 14 days ahead, and sign the affidavit.
- Write agenda items specifically; include estimated cost and purpose for any assessment.
- Add a standing owner-comment item and, for condominiums, the owner-question opportunity.
- Identify any closed session on the agenda with its statutory basis.
- Post the notice and agenda on the website if the association maintains one.
- Keep the notice, the posting photograph, the affidavit, and the sign-in sheet in the meeting file.
For community association managers: see An owner wants to speak at — or record — a board meeting: what are their rights? and Board Meetings Compared in the Manager Resource Center.
Frequently Asked Questions About Board Meeting Notices
Can the board hold an emergency meeting without notice?
Only in a true emergency, meaning a situation requiring immediate action to protect persons or property, such as a burst pipe or a storm. The board should give whatever notice is practicable, minute the nature of the emergency, and ratify the action at its next regular meeting. Convenience is not an emergency.
Do we have to mail notice of every board meeting?
No. Regular board meetings require only 48-hour posted notice (an HOA may mail seven days ahead instead of posting). Mailed or electronic notice 14 days ahead is required only for meetings at which nonemergency special assessments, rules on unit or parcel use, or the annual budget will be considered.
Can owners speak at board meetings?
Yes, on every designated agenda item, subject to reasonable written rules on frequency, duration, and manner. Owners may also record the meeting. A board may not require questions in advance or limit comment to the end of the meeting.
Can the board discuss a delinquent or violating owner in closed session?
No. The only closed sessions permitted are attorney-client meetings on proposed or pending litigation and meetings on association personnel matters. Discussions of an owner's account or violation are open, although the association should avoid disclosing protected information and may refer the owner to the fining committee process.
What happens if notice was defective?
Actions taken at an improperly noticed meeting are subject to challenge and are frequently invalidated, particularly assessments and rules. The cure is to re-notice properly and take the action again, or to ratify it at a properly noticed meeting where the statute permits ratification. Boards should not assume a defective vote can simply stand.
Can directors talk about association business by email?
They may share information by email but may not vote by email, and a quorum reaching decisions by email or text has held an unnoticed meeting. Our board email and text messages guide explains how to communicate without creating a meeting.
Contact Hamilton Mikes
Hamilton Mikes helps boards and managers adopt meeting procedures, draft notices and agendas, and cure defective actions. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.
Statutes and authorities referenced
- § 718.112(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (condominium board meetings: openness, 48-hour posted notice, 14-day notice for special assessments and rules on unit use, agenda, owner participation, closed sessions, quarterly meetings, email voting prohibition)
- § 718.112(2)(d)3, Fla. Stat. (14-day notice of unit owner meetings)
- § 718.111(12)(g), Fla. Stat. (website posting of meeting notices and agendas)
- § 719.106(1)(c), Fla. Stat. (cooperative board meetings)
- § 720.303(2), Fla. Stat. (HOA board meetings: openness, 48-hour posted or 7-day mailed notice, 14-day notice for assessments and rules on parcel use, owner petition for agenda items, closed sessions, email voting prohibition)
- § 720.306(5), Fla. Stat. (14-day notice of HOA membership meetings)
- § 718.1265 and § 720.316, Fla. Stat. (emergency powers: notice as practicable)
- § 617.0820(4), Fla. Stat. (directors may participate in meetings by any means through which all participating directors can simultaneously hear each other, unless the articles or bylaws provide otherwise)