How Fast Must a Florida Association Respond to a Records Request, and What Must It Provide?

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 or cooperative association must make its official records available for inspection within ten working days after the board or its designee receives a written request, and a homeowners association must do so within ten business days. The owner does not have to explain why; the association may ask, but access cannot be conditioned on the answer. If the association misses the deadline, the law presumes the failure was willful, and the owner can recover minimum damages of $50 a day for up to ten days plus attorney's fees. Records disputes are among the most common complaints the state receives about associations, and most of them are avoidable.

Who may request records

Any unit owner or parcel owner, or an owner's authorized representative, may request to inspect and copy the official records. Tenants, prospective purchasers and the general public have no statutory right of access, although the association may choose to share documents such as the rules with them. An owner's attorney or agent should present written authorization, and the association may ask for it.

What counts as a written request

The statutes require a written request. A letter, a fax, an email to the association's or manager's address, or a form the association provides all qualify. Recent amendments to the condominium statute address requests sent by certified mail, return receipt requested, which create a rebuttable presumption that the association received the request on the date shown on the receipt. Associations that want owners to use a particular email address or form may say so in their inspection rules, but they may not refuse a request simply because the owner used another reasonable method, and a request buried in a longer complaint email still starts the clock.

The deadlines and how they run

"Making the records available" means offering the owner a reasonable opportunity to inspect and copy them within the period. The association does not have to mail copies within ten days, but it must set an inspection appointment (or provide electronic access) within that time, and it must actually produce the records on the date offered.

What owners may inspect

The official records include essentially every written record relating to the operation of the association: the recorded governing documents and rules; plans, permits and warranties; the owner roster; insurance policies; current management, maintenance and service contracts; bids received; accounting records, bank statements, ledgers, budgets and financial reports; minutes of board, committee and membership meetings; election materials; and all other written records of the association, which can include emails and text messages among directors and with the manager that concern association business. Owners may take photographs of records with their own phones or scanners at no charge, and the association may charge only its actual copying costs for copies it makes.

What may be withheld

The statutes protect a short list of records from owner inspection:

• Records protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine, and records prepared in connection with pending or anticipated litigation until the matter concludes
• Information obtained in connection with the approval of a lease, sale or other transfer of a unit or parcel
• Personnel records of association or management employees, other than compensation
• Medical records of owners and residents
• Owners' personal identifying information: Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, email addresses, telephone numbers, emergency contact information, and any address other than the property address and the address for association notices (owners may consent in writing to have their email or phone shared in a directory)
• Electronic security measures, and the software and operating systems the association uses

Everything else on the list is open. Redacting a bank statement to hide a vendor's name, refusing to produce a management contract because it is "confidential," or withholding association-account emails because the subject is uncomfortable are all violations we see regularly. So is the opposite error: producing an owner's ledger or a screening file to another owner.

Reasonable rules the board may adopt

The board may adopt reasonable written rules governing the frequency, time, location, notice and manner of inspections, and, for condominiums, may limit inspections to one eight-hour business day per month. The rules may not make a stated purpose a condition of inspection, may not impose fees for inspection, and may not shorten the statutory rights in any way. Nothing in the statutes prohibits the association from asking why an owner wants particular records. Section 718.111(12)(c)1.a. and § 720.303(5)(g) forbid the association to require a member to demonstrate a purpose or state a reason; neither forbids the question. The request must be honored whether or not the owner answers, and the board may not refuse or delay access because it disagrees with the stated purpose. Our advice is to ask rarely. The question is lawful, but to most owners it reads as the opening move toward a refusal, and an owner who has been asked why tends to arrive at the inspection treating it as a fight. Where knowing the concern would genuinely help the manager find the right documents, ask, and say in the same sentence that the records are available either way. Rules should be adopted at a properly noticed board meeting and provided to owners.

A response procedure that works

1. Log the request the day it arrives, with the date received, the requester, and the records requested. Recent condominium amendments require the association to keep a checklist of the records made available in response to each request; keep it for every request regardless of community type.
2. Acknowledge in writing within two business days and offer an inspection date within the ten-day window, or provide electronic access.
3. Gather and review. Pull the records requested; segregate protected records; consult counsel before withholding anything other than the obviously protected categories.
4. Produce on the offered date. Note on the checklist exactly what was made available and what, if anything, was withheld and why.
5. Follow up on copy requests promptly, and keep the checklist with the association's records.

Managers should have standing authority to schedule inspections without waiting for a board meeting; a request that arrives the day after a meeting cannot wait a month.

Digitize everything and post it

The procedure above is per-request work, and per-request work is where the cost sits. Our recommendation is to remove most of it. Florida already requires condominium associations with 25 or more units and homeowners associations with 100 or more parcels to post specified records on a website or application, with owner-specific material behind a password. Those lists are a floor. An association that goes further and digitizes all of its non-protected records, including older minutes, closed contracts, bank statements, insurance policies, permits and correspondence, and posts them in the password-protected owner section can answer most requests by directing the owner to the site. The retrieval work disappears, because there is nothing to retrieve. The disputes go with it, because an owner who can read the file whenever they like generally stops writing letters about it.

Boards below the statutory thresholds should adopt the same practice voluntarily. Scanning a filing cabinet is a one-time project; responding to records requests by appointment is a permanent expense.

Be precise about the limits, because a board that overstates them will fall foul of the statute it was trying to satisfy. The portal answers a request only as to what is actually on it. A request for a record that is not posted is an ordinary request and gets an ordinary response. Posting does not extend or excuse the ten-working-day and ten-business-day deadlines, which run from receipt whatever the site contains, and the checklist still has to state what was made available and what was not. And the protected categories listed above never go on the site at all. A condominium association must keep the records described in § 718.111(12)(c)5.a.–h. off its website and redact protected information from the documents it does post; a homeowners association has the same duty under § 720.303(4)(b)4. as to the records described in § 720.303(5)(g)1.–9. Counsel should review the posting plan before the site goes live.

Website posting

Many associations are now required to post digital copies of specified records on a website or application with an owner-only section. Condominium associations with 25 or more units must comply by January 1, 2026, and homeowners associations with 100 or more parcels became subject to the requirement on January 1, 2025. Posting the governing documents, budget, financial report, contracts, meeting notices and inspection reports online does not eliminate an owner's right to request other records, but it answers most requests before they are made.

Penalties beyond damages

In addition to the $50-a-day minimum damages and attorney's fees, condominium and cooperative owners may pursue records complaints through the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, which may impose civil penalties; HOA owners proceed through presuit mediation and the courts. In 2024 the Legislature added criminal penalties: a director, officer or manager who knowingly, willfully and repeatedly violates the access requirements commits a misdemeanor, and refusing to release records in order to conceal a crime, or knowingly destroying accounting records, is a more serious offense. A director charged with such an offense may be removed from the board.

For community association managers: see An owner asked for association records: what does the manager do next? and Official Records Compared in the Manager Resource Center.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes helps Southwest Florida boards and managers adopt records procedures, respond to contentious requests, and defend records complaints before the Division and in court. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Official Records page.