Florida Fining Committee Hearing Checklist

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

Checklist
Published September 26, 2026
Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
Applies to: Condominiums · HOAs · Cooperatives

The fining committee is the step boards treat as a formality and courts treat as the whole case. A committee that includes a director's spouse, a hearing held on day 13, a vote nobody wrote down, or an HOA findings letter sent on day 9 will each cost the association the fine. This checklist runs one hearing from seating the committee through closing the file.

Download the PDFThe PDF is a designed, printable copy for the board packet, the bulletin board or your meeting portfolio. On screen, you can tick the boxes below; nothing you tick is saved or sent anywhere.

Work down it in order. Items marked for one chapter apply only to that chapter, and the differences are real: the HOA track has notice contents, a statutory cure bar, a 7-day findings requirement and a 30-day payment date that Chapters 718 and 719 simply do not contain.

Seating the committee

Confirm the board appointed the committee. The committee is a board appointment, not a volunteer sign-up sheet.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(b)
Confirm the committee has at least three members, and that at least three will actually be present at this hearing.Two people cannot hold the hearing, and a member appearing after the vote cannot be counted.
Screen every member against the statutory disqualifications: no officer, no director, no employee of the association.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(b)
Screen every member for relation to an officer, director or employee: spouse, parent, child, brother or sister.The list is the statute's list. An in-law, a cousin, a roommate and a business partner are not on it, which does not make appointing them a good idea.
Ask whether the manager or any management company staff member will sit on the committee, and treat the answer as no.A manager performing the association's work is on the wrong side of the employee line in most arrangements. Do not build a fine on that question.
Screen for the unwritten disqualification: a member who owns the unit next door, who made the complaint, or who has a running dispute with this owner.Not statutory. It is the first thing the owner's lawyer will ask about, and a committee member who recuses costs the association nothing.
Write down, before the hearing, the names of the members serving and a one-line confirmation that none is disqualified.Contemporaneous. A list reconstructed after a challenge is worth very little.
Confirm the board has already levied the fine or suspension the committee is being asked to review.The committee's role is limited to confirming or rejecting what the board levied — § 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(c)

The notice of hearing

Count at least 14 days between delivery of the notice and the hearing date, and count them conservatively.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(b)
Send the notice to the owner and, where a tenant, licensee or invitee is involved, to that person as well.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)
HOA only: state a description of the alleged violation in the notice.§ 720.305(2)(b)
HOA only: state the specific action required to cure the violation, if a cure is applicable.This is the sentence boards leave out. Leaving it out is also what disables the owner's statutory right to cure in the manner the notice specifies, which is the association's problem, not the owner's.§ 720.305(2)(b), (2)(e)
HOA only: state the hearing date and location, and, if the hearing will be held by telephone or other electronic means, the access information.§ 720.305(2)(b)
Condominium and cooperative: include the same four elements even though the statute does not require them.Chapters 718 and 719 do not prescribe the contents of the notice. Nothing stops a board from giving the owner the same information, and a notice that says what the violation is and how to fix it is the one that produces a cure instead of a hearing.
Keep proof of how the notice was sent and when it was delivered.The payment clock in an HOA runs from delivery of a later notice, but the 14 days run from this one.
Do not include a demand for attorney fees or a fee estimate in the notice.In an HOA, fees and costs may not begin to accrue until after the noticed payment date and the time for an appeal has expired — § 720.305(2)(g)

What the committee should have in front of it

The provision relied on, printed in full, from the recorded declaration or the adopted rule.
For a rule, the minutes showing its adoption and the notice of that meeting.
The dated photographs, inspection notes or correspondence documenting the condition.
The courtesy notice, if one was sent, and the owner's response, if any.
The notice of hearing and proof of delivery.
The board's action levying the fine or suspension, with the amount and, for a continuing violation, the daily rate and the start date.
Nothing about the owner's payment history, prior unrelated complaints, or personality.The committee is confirming or rejecting one fine on one violation. Everything else in the packet is a reason for a court to think the association was doing something other than enforcing a covenant.

Running the hearing

Start by stating the provision, the alleged violation, and the fine or suspension the board levied.
Confirm on the record that the owner received the notice, and note the date.
Give the owner an opportunity to be heard, and let the owner bring counsel, a family member or a witness.The statutes give the owner an opportunity for a hearing. A committee that tells an owner the association's lawyer may attend but the owner's may not has created a problem that no fine is worth.
HOA only: ask expressly whether the violation has been cured before the hearing or in the manner the notice specified.If it has, a fine or suspension may not be imposed — § 720.305(2)(e)
Condominium and cooperative: ask the same question, and understand that a cure does not bar the fine by statute; it is a reason for the committee to reject it.There is no § 720.305(2)(e) equivalent in Chapter 718 or 719. The committee still has the discretion to reject.
Keep the hearing to this violation. Do not let it become a general meeting about the owner or about the board.
Do not take evidence the owner has not seen.
Note who attended, in what capacity, and the start and end time.

The vote

State the question as the statute frames it: does the committee confirm or reject the fine or suspension the board levied?§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(c)
Take the vote of each member present and record it as a number, not as a consensus.
Understand what a rejection does: the fine or suspension may not be imposed, and the board cannot overrule it.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3); § 720.305(2)(c)
Do not let the committee reduce the fine, impose a different amount, or substitute a suspension for a fine.Confirm or reject. The committee that negotiates has exceeded the role the statute gives it, and the amount it lands on is not a fine the board levied.
Do not let the committee direct the board to take other action, order the owner to do anything, or make findings about a different violation.
Record the vote the same day.

Findings, delivery and payment

HOA only: send written notice of the committee's findings within 7 days after the hearing.§ 720.305(2)(d)
HOA only: state in that notice what was approved and what was rejected, and how to cure if a cure remains possible.§ 720.305(2)(d)
HOA only: set the payment date at least 30 days after delivery of that written notice, and record the delivery date.§ 720.305(2)(f)
Condominium: provide notice of the approved fine; payment is due 5 days after that notice is provided to the owner and, if applicable, to any tenant, licensee or invitee.§ 718.303(3)
Cooperative: payment is due 5 days after the date of the committee meeting at which the fine is approved.The trigger is the meeting date, not the notice date. Confirm the current wording with counsel before you rely on either date to call a fine late.§ 719.303(3)
Condominium and cooperative: do not calendar anything as a lien deadline. A fine may never become a lien against a unit under either chapter.§ 718.303(3); § 719.303(3)
HOA: a fine of less than $1,000 may not become a lien against a parcel either.§ 720.305(2)
Communicate the outcome to the owner in writing whichever way it went, including when the committee rejected the fine.The rejection letter is the association's best evidence, in the next case, that the committee is real.
Tell the complaining neighbor that the matter was addressed. Do not tell the neighbor the amount, the vote or the outcome.The hearing file is about one owner. Broadcasting results invites a defamation or privacy claim and adds nothing.

Closing the file

File the provision, the notice, the delivery proof, the packet, the attendance note, the vote, and the findings letter together as one file.
Retain it as an official record for the period your chapter requires.§ 718.111(12); § 719.104(2); § 720.303(4)
Calendar the payment date, and calendar a review date 30 days past it.
If the violation is continuing, decide now whether daily fines continue and on what notice, and write the decision down.
Send the file to counsel if the owner has retained a lawyer, if fair housing has come up, if the association is considering a lien or suit, or if the fine exceeds the cap the documents allow.

	Condominium	Cooperative	HOA
Notice period	14 days	14 days	14 days
Notice contents set by statute	No	No	Yes, three required elements
Committee size and disqualifications	3+, no officer, director, employee or their spouse, parent, child, brother or sister	Same	Same
Committee's role	Confirm or reject	Confirm or reject	Confirm or reject
Cure before the hearing	No statutory bar	No statutory bar	Bars the fine or suspension
Written findings deadline	None	None	7 days after the hearing
Fine due	5 days after notice of the approved fine	5 days after the committee meeting	At least 30 days after delivery of the findings notice
Fine as a lien	Never	Never	Only $1,000 or more

Statutes and authorities referenced

§ 718.303(3), Fla. Stat. (condominium fines and suspensions; committee; payment)
§ 719.303(3), Fla. Stat. (cooperative fines and suspensions; committee; payment)
§ 720.305(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (HOA notice contents and committee)
§ 720.305(2)(c)-(g), Fla. Stat. (vote, findings, cure bar, payment date, fee accrual)
§ 718.111(12), § 719.104(2), § 720.303(4), Fla. Stat. (official records and retention)

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes trains fining committees, drafts the notice and findings forms boards use, and sits in on hearings where the file is likely to end up in litigation. We also review the committee's composition before the first hearing, which is the cheapest legal work an association will ever buy. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Covenant Enforcement page.

About this article. This article is published by Hamilton Mikes, P.A. for general educational purposes. It is not legal advice, it is not a legal opinion, and it is not a substitute for advice from a lawyer who has reviewed your association's governing documents and the facts of your situation. Reading it, downloading it, or corresponding with the firm about it does not create an attorney-client relationship. No such relationship arises until the firm and the client have signed a written engagement agreement. Please do not send confidential or time-sensitive information to the firm until a conflicts check has been completed and an engagement is confirmed in writing; information sent before that point may not be treated as privileged.

Scope and currency. This article addresses Florida law as applied to Florida community associations, and the firm is licensed to practice in Florida only. Nothing here should be taken as a statement of the law of any other jurisdiction. Florida's community association statutes have been amended in every regular session since 2021, and subsection numbering has moved more than once in that period. Each article states the edition of the Florida Statutes it was written against. The law may have changed after that date, an appellate court may have construed a provision differently, and an administrative rule or a local ordinance may impose requirements this article does not address.

Your governing documents control. Much of what governs a Florida association is not in the statutes at all. Declarations, articles of incorporation, bylaws, rules, plats and recorded amendments differ from community to community, and on many questions they set the rule while the statute sets only a floor or a default. A procedure that is correct in one association may be a breach of the documents in the association next door. No general article can tell you which is which for your community.

Why general information is not advice. Legal questions are resolved by applying the law to particular facts as a judge, jury, arbitrator or hearing officer finds them. An outcome that appears clear in the abstract frequently turns on the documents, the chronology, the board's own prior conduct, and the procedural posture, none of which an article can anticipate. A lawyer supplies what information cannot: the judgment to identify which facts matter, the experience to know how a court or the Division is likely to treat them, the ability to choose among the courses of action actually available, and the advocacy to carry the association's position through negotiation, hearing or trial.

The standard of care, and the protection the statute attaches to counsel. A director of a Florida community association is held to the standard in section 617.0830, Florida Statutes: to act in good faith, in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and to discharge the duties of the office with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate under similar circumstances. That standard is measured against the decision the board actually faced, on the record actually before it. The same statute supplies the protection that goes with the duty. Under section 617.0830(4) and (5)(b), a director who has no knowledge making reliance unwarranted is entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports and statements prepared or presented by legal counsel retained by the association as to matters the director reasonably believes are within counsel's professional competence. The Legislature has written the prudent course into the statute. A board that obtains advice on its own documents and its own facts, and acts on that advice, is standing on ground the statute expressly protects. Nothing on this website confers that protection. General information, however carefully prepared, is not advice on your declaration, your amendments, your board's history or your dispute, and a director who relies on it in place of counsel forgoes a statutory protection that was available for the asking.

Personal exposure is real. Service on an association board is usually uncompensated, but volunteer status is not itself immunity. Under section 617.0834, Florida Statutes, a director or an officer is not personally liable in monetary damages for a statement, vote, decision, or failure to act in that role unless two things are both true: the director or officer breached or failed to perform the duties of the office, and that breach was a violation of the criminal law, a transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit, conscious disregard or willful misconduct in a proceeding brought by or in the right of the corporation, or recklessness or bad faith in a proceeding brought by anyone else. That protection turns on how the director acted, not on whether the director was paid. Chapters 718, 719 and 720 add consequences of their own, including removal from office, civil penalties assessed against the individual for certain willful and knowing violations, and in defined circumstances criminal liability. Whether any of that reaches a particular director depends entirely on the facts and on the director's conduct. The practical point is narrower and more useful: the decisions that generate this exposure — levying an assessment, enforcing a covenant, denying a transfer, withholding a record, entering a unit, terminating a contract, signing for construction work — are precisely the decisions on which general information is least adequate, and on which counsel costs least relative to what is at stake.

No guarantee; prior results. The firm makes no representation or warranty that the information in this article is complete, current or applicable to any particular matter, and disclaims liability to any person for any action taken or not taken in reliance on it. Any description of prior results does not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any other matter; every case turns on its own facts, documents and record.

Do not act on this article alone. If your association faces a decision of consequence, obtain advice from a Florida-licensed attorney who has read your governing documents and the relevant record before the board votes, signs, sends or forecloses. Hamilton Mikes, P.A. represents community associations throughout Southwest Florida and can be reached at 239-594-7227.

Fining Committee Hearing Checklist: Running a Hearing That the Fine Survives