An election is the easy half. The two weeks that follow decide whether the new board can actually function: who the officers are, who can sign, who holds the keys and the passwords, and whether the records arrived. Chapter 718 and Chapter 719 impose a five-day records deadline on departing directors. Chapter 720 does not, outside of a recall. Everything else on the list below is governance discipline rather than statute, and it is the part boards underestimate.
The organizational meeting and electing officers
In a condominium, where the number of vacancies equals or exceeds the number of candidates, the candidates become members of the board effective on adjournment of the annual meeting, and any remaining vacancies are filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the newly constituted board even if those directors are fewer than a quorum. § 718.112(2)(d)3. So the new board exists the moment the meeting ends. It just has no officers.
The organizational meeting is where officers are elected. Many associations hold it immediately after the annual meeting adjourns, which is efficient and generally accepted. Treat it as a board meeting all the same: it should be on the notice, it should be open to owners, and minutes should be taken. If the board intends to hold it later, notice it separately and post it like any other board meeting, at least 48 continuous hours in advance in a condominium under § 718.112(2)(c) and per § 720.303(2)(c) in an HOA.
Elect president, vice president, secretary and treasurer at minimum, and record the vote in the minutes by name and office. The minutes are what the bank, the insurer and the Division will ask for. Then adopt a signing resolution that names the officers authorized to sign checks and contracts and states any dollar threshold requiring two signatures.
One HOA-specific item belongs on the organizational meeting agenda or the one right after it. Section 720.303(2)(e) directs that at the first board meeting following the annual meeting, excluding the organizational meeting, the board consider the desirability of filing notices to preserve the covenants from extinguishment under the Marketable Record Title Act and authorize the appropriate officer to file under § 720.3032. Boards skip this for years and then discover the covenants are in question.
Banking, signatures and the fidelity bond
Start the banking change the same week. Banks are slow, and an association with stale signature cards has a real problem when a vendor needs paying.
- Certified copy of the minutes of the organizational meeting showing who was elected to each office, plus the signing resolution.
- New signature cards at every institution, including operating, reserve, money market and any certificate of deposit. Reserve accounts get forgotten because nobody touches them.
- Remove departing directors explicitly. Adding the new officers does not remove the old ones, and a former treasurer who remains on the card can still move money.
- Online banking and view-only access. Reset administrative credentials and re-establish read-only access for the treasurer and, if your documents provide for it, the finance committee.
- Lockbox, ACH and payment portal. Confirm who is authorized to change the deposit account. This is the single most common target of association payment fraud.
- Fidelity bonding. The association must maintain insurance or fidelity bonding for all persons who control or disburse association funds, which includes anyone authorized to sign checks and the president, secretary and treasurer, in an amount covering the maximum funds in custody at any one time. § 718.111(11)(h). Tell the carrier the names changed.
If the association uses a management company, the manager will usually drive this, but the board is responsible for confirming it happened. Ask for written confirmation from each institution and put it in the file. For the wider financial handover, our guide to reviewing financial reports covers what a new treasurer should ask for in the first month.
Records, keys, passwords and the association's own accounts
In a condominium, an outgoing board or committee member must relinquish all official records and property of the association in his or her possession or under his or her control to the incoming board within five days after the election. § 718.111(12)(f). Cooperatives have the same rule at § 719.104(2)(e). Chapter 720 has no general equivalent; the comparable HOA provision applies to recalled directors, who must turn over records and property within five full business days under § 720.303(10)(b)2.
| Condominium | Cooperative | HOA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outgoing member must turn over records | Within 5 days after the election, § 718.111(12)(f) | Within 5 days after the election, § 719.104(2)(e) | No general provision; 5 full business days after a recall, § 720.303(10)(b)2. |
| Consequence of refusing | Civil enforcement plus criminal exposure under § 718.111(12)(c)3., 4. | Civil penalties under § 719.501(1)(d) | Penalties under § 720.303(5) |
| Voting records kept | 1 year, § 718.111(12)(a)12. | 1 year, § 719.104(2)(a) | 1 year, § 720.303(4)(a) |
| Other official records kept | 7 years | 7 years | 7 years |
| Division online account | Required, § 718.501(3) | Required, § 719.501(3) | Not required by Ch. 720 |
Send the turnover letter the day after the election, to every departing director and committee member, listing what is expected: paper files, electronic files, keys, fobs, remotes, pool and gate access devices, association credit cards, equipment, and any association-owned phone or laptop. Ask for a signed acknowledgment that nothing has been retained.
Then deal with the digital assets, which is where the real damage happens. The association's domain name registration, website hosting login, email accounts, social media pages, cloud storage, accounting software, camera system and gate system all belong to the association. If any of them is registered to a departing director's personal email or paid on a personal credit card, recovering control can take weeks and occasionally fails. Move every one of them to an association-owned account, then change the passwords. Our guide to electronic records management covers how to set this up so the next transition is a password reset rather than a negotiation.
A departing director who refuses to hand things back is not just a nuisance. In a condominium the refusal can carry criminal exposure under § 718.111(12)(c)4., and the association should be talking to counsel rather than trading emails.
Who to notify, and in what order
- Association counsel. Send the new roster with offices, contact information and the minutes. Confirm who is authorized to give instructions, because a lawyer who takes direction from a director who is no longer president creates a privilege problem for everyone.
- The management company. Provide the roster and the signing resolution, and confirm which directors may approve work orders and at what dollar level.
- The insurance agent. Directors and officers coverage follows the office, not the person, but the carrier needs current names, and the fidelity bond schedule has to match the new signatories.
- The bank and any lender. If the association has a loan, the loan documents usually require notice of a change in officers.
- The Division. Condominium and cooperative associations must create and maintain an online account with the Division under § 718.501(3) and § 719.501(3), and the Division may require contact information, including board member names and titles, to be updated within 30 days after a change.
- Vendors with signing authority. Landscapers, elevator companies and restoration contractors who take direction from whoever calls need to know who that is now.
- The community. A short notice of the results and the new officer slate, posted and emailed. Owners who learn the outcome from a rumor start the term skeptical.
The clocks that start on election day
Three deadlines begin running the moment the meeting adjourns, and none of them is anyone's job by default, which is why all three get missed.
- Five days: records turnover in a condominium or cooperative, § 718.111(12)(f), § 719.104(2)(e).
- Ninety days: director certification and education. A new condominium director must submit the written certification that he or she has read the declaration, articles, bylaws and current written policies and will uphold them and discharge fiduciary duties, together with a certificate of having satisfactorily completed the division-approved educational curriculum, within 90 days after being elected or appointed. A course completed within one year before the election also satisfies the requirement. § 718.112(2)(d)5.b. An HOA director must submit an educational certificate within 90 days after election or appointment, and a director who does not timely file is suspended from the board until he or she complies. § 720.3033(1).
- One year: voting records retention. Ballots, sign-in sheets and voting proxies are kept one year from the date of the election in all three chapters.
Put all three in the association's calendar on election night, with the responsible person named. The 90-day certification deadline is the one that produces real consequences: a director who has not complied is suspended from the board in an HOA, the board may temporarily fill the vacancy, and the association has to retain the certificates for inspection. Our guide to director certification walks through the requirement in detail, and new director orientation covers what to give a first-time director in week one.
One nuance worth knowing. Failure to have the written certification or educational certificate on file does not affect the validity of any board action. That is a safety valve for the association, not permission for the director to ignore the deadline.
The first substantive board meeting
Within the first month the new board should sit down with a short, deliberate agenda rather than picking up whatever the old board left in progress.
- Confirm officers, committee appointments and committee charters, and decide which committees continue.
- Review the current budget against actual spending and identify anything that needs a decision before year end.
- Review open contracts, their renewal and termination dates, and any auto-renewal clause that fires in the next 120 days.
- Review open enforcement matters and any pending litigation or insurance claim, with counsel present for that portion.
- Review the status of milestone inspection and structural integrity reserve study obligations if the association has buildings that are subject to them.
- Confirm that insurance renewals, the annual financial report and the budget meeting are on the calendar with their notice dates.
Two habits set the tone for the term. Keep the minutes tight and factual, and make sure every director understands what the board may decide on its own and what requires an owner vote. Our note on the board's legal authority sets that boundary out plainly, and a board that agrees on it in month one argues about far less in month eleven.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Post-Election Board Transition
When do newly elected directors take office?
Ordinarily at the adjournment of the annual meeting. In a condominium, where the number of vacancies equals or exceeds the number of candidates, § 718.112(2)(d)3. says the candidates become board members effective on adjournment, and remaining vacancies are filled by a majority of the newly constituted board even if fewer than a quorum. Officers are elected separately, at the organizational meeting.
Does the organizational meeting have to be noticed?
Treat it as a board meeting. If it is held immediately after the annual meeting, include it on that notice and agenda. If it is held later, notice and post it like any other board meeting, at least 48 continuous hours in advance in a condominium under § 718.112(2)(c) and under § 720.303(2)(c) in an HOA. Take minutes either way.
A departing director will not return the records. What can we do?
In a condominium, § 718.111(12)(f) requires an outgoing board or committee member to relinquish all official records and association property to the incoming board within five days after the election, and cooperatives have the same rule at § 719.104(2)(e). Willfully refusing to produce records with intent to avoid detection or punishment can be a third degree felony under § 718.111(12)(c)4. Send a written demand and involve counsel promptly.
Does an HOA have the same five-day records turnover rule?
No. Chapter 720 has no general post-election turnover deadline. The comparable provision applies after a recall, where the recalled directors must turn over all records and property within five full business days under § 720.303(10)(b)2. An HOA that wants a general deadline can create one in its bylaws or by board policy.
What happens if a new director misses the 90-day education deadline?
In an HOA the director is suspended from the board until he or she complies, and the board may temporarily fill the vacancy, under § 720.3033(1). Condominium directors face a comparable consequence under § 718.112(2)(d)5.b. Failure to have the certification on file does not invalidate board action, but the director should not be voting while out of compliance.
Do we have to update anything with the state after an election?
Condominium and cooperative associations must create and maintain an online account with the Division under § 718.501(3) and § 719.501(3), and the Division may require contact information, including board member names and titles, to be updated within 30 days after a change. Chapter 720 does not impose an equivalent online account requirement on HOAs. The annual corporate report to the Division of Corporations is separate and still due.
Contact Hamilton Mikes
Hamilton Mikes helps newly seated boards in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties get through the first month: officer resolutions, banking authority, records turnover demands, and the notices that have to go out. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.
Statutes and authorities referenced
- § 718.112(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (board meeting notice; 48 continuous hours posting)
- § 718.112(2)(d)3., Fla. Stat. (candidates take office on adjournment; filling remaining vacancies)
- § 718.112(2)(d)5.b., Fla. Stat. (written certification and educational certificate within 90 days; effect on board action)
- § 718.111(11)(h), Fla. Stat. (insurance or fidelity bonding of persons who control or disburse association funds)
- § 718.111(12)(a)12., Fla. Stat. (voting records kept 1 year)
- § 718.111(12)(c)3., 4., Fla. Stat. (criminal penalties for destroying or withholding records)
- § 718.111(12)(f), Fla. Stat. (outgoing member relinquishes records and property within 5 days)
- § 718.501(3), Fla. Stat. (condominium Division online account; contact information updates)
- § 719.104(2)(a), (e), Fla. Stat. (cooperative records retention; outgoing member turnover)
- § 719.501(3), Fla. Stat. (cooperative Division online account)
- § 720.303(2)(c), (e), Fla. Stat. (HOA board meeting notice; MRTA preservation at the first board meeting after the annual meeting)
- § 720.303(4)(a), Fla. Stat. (HOA voting records kept 1 year)
- § 720.303(10)(b)2., Fla. Stat. (recalled directors turn over records within 5 full business days)
- § 720.3032, Fla. Stat. (notice of preservation of covenants)
- § 720.3033(1), Fla. Stat. (HOA director education within 90 days; suspension; 5-year retention of certificates)