Florida Official Records Request 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

Records requests are the cheapest claim an owner can bring and the easiest one for a board to lose. The statute does not ask whether the board acted in good faith. It asks whether the records were produced within the window, and it presumes willfulness if they were not. This checklist runs one request from the day it lands to the day the file closes.

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. The chapters are not the same, so the citation under an item tells you which one you are reading. Where a step applies to only one chapter, the item says so. For the underlying rules see our official records guide and the page on responding to records requests.

Log the request the day it arrives

Record the date the request was received, not the date it was written or postmarked.The clock runs from receipt by the board or its designee. A request sitting unopened at the management office is still received.§ 718.111(12)(b); § 719.104(2)(b); § 720.303(5)(a)
Record how it arrived: hand delivery, regular mail, certified mail, e-mail or management portal. Keep the envelope or the transmittal.In an HOA the rebuttable presumption of willful failure attaches only to a written request sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. Chapters 718 and 719 attach it to any written request.§ 720.303(5)(b); § 718.111(12)(c)1.a.; § 719.104(2)(c)
Confirm the requester is a member or a member's authorized representative, and obtain the written authorization where someone is acting for an owner.
Treat an e-mail or portal message as a written request unless a valid rule says otherwise.A rule that will only accept a paper form is where associations most often lose the argument that no request was made.
Open one file for this request and keep everything in it: the request, the response, the checklist, the invoice and the proof of delivery.

Start the right clock

Condominium and cooperative: 10 working days from receipt. HOA: 10 business days from receipt.The two phrases are not identical in the statutes even if they usually land on the same date. Use the words your chapter uses.§ 718.111(12)(b); § 719.104(2)(b); § 720.303(5)(a)
Calendar the deadline the same day the request is logged, and calendar a check-in three days before it.
Confirm the records will be made available within 45 miles of the property or within the county in which the association is located.§ 718.111(12)(b); § 720.303(5)(a)
If you cannot produce everything in time, produce what you have by the deadline and state in writing what is still being gathered.Partial production on time beats complete production late. The presumption attaches to the deadline, not to completeness.
Know what missing the deadline costs: a rebuttable presumption that the failure was willful, and minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days beginning on the 11th day.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.a.; § 719.104(2)(c); § 720.303(5)(c)

What you may and may not ask the requester

Do not ask why the owner wants the records.Both chapters say it outright: the association may not require a member to demonstrate a purpose or state a reason.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.a.; § 720.303(5)(g)
Do not make use of an association form a condition of responding.You may adopt reasonable rules on frequency, time, location, notice and manner. Conditioning the statutory right on a form is a different thing.
Check your written inspection rules against the statute before relying on them. An HOA rule may not cut a parcel owner's inspection right to less than one 8-hour business day per month.§ 720.303(5)(g)
If the request does not identify records, ask the owner in writing to narrow it, and do not treat the exchange as pausing the clock.The statute does not stop the response period while you negotiate scope.
Ask whether the owner wants to inspect or wants copies. They are different obligations with different costs.

Pull the records and build the checklist

Search every place the records actually live: the management company's system, the association's own drive and e-mail, the prior manager's files, counsel's file, and any director holding paper.
Condominium only: prepare a checklist of all records made available for inspection and copying.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.b.
Condominium only: make the checklist identify the official records that were not made available to the requester.The checklist is where you disclose a withholding. Silence about a withheld record is what turns a defensible exemption into a denial.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.b.
Condominium only: deliver the checklist simultaneously with the response, not afterward.Delivering the checklist creates a rebuttable presumption that the association complied. Delivering it late gives that presumption up.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.b.
Condominium only: file the checklist and keep it for 7 years.§ 718.111(12)(c)1.b.
HOA and cooperative: produce a checklist anyway.Chapters 719 and 720 do not require one. It is still the cheapest evidence you will ever create that the response was complete.

Identify protected material and withhold it properly

Read your chapter's exemption list before withholding anything, and match each withheld document to a specific item on that list.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.; § 719.104(2)(c); § 720.303(5)(g)
Pull records protected by the lawyer-client privilege and attorney work product prepared for the association.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.; § 720.303(5)(g)
Pull personnel records of association employees and medical records of owners.The employee's file is exempt. The board's decision to hire or fire, if it was a board action, is in the minutes and is not.
Pull information obtained in connection with the approval of a lease, sale or other transfer of a unit or parcel.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.; § 720.303(5)(g)
Pull electronic security measures and passwords, and the association's software and operating systems.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.; § 720.303(5)(g)
Redact rather than withhold where redaction will do: social security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, telephone and facsimile numbers, and emergency contact information.Withholding an entire contract because one page carries a password is the most common over-withholding error. Redact the page and produce the contract. See records exempt from inspection.
HOA only: gated-community records of guest visits appear on the Chapter 720 exemption list and do not appear on the condominium list.§ 720.303(5)(g)
Identify the withheld record and the exemption item it falls under. Do not write the owner a legal opinion explaining the privilege.

Copy charges and delivery

HOA: charge no more than 25 cents a page for copies made on the association's photocopier.§ 720.303(5)(g)
HOA: charge personnel time only where retrieval and copying exceeds one-half hour, at no more than $20 an hour, and never on a request producing 25 or fewer pages.§ 720.303(5)(g)
HOA: if there is no photocopier where the records are kept, or the request exceeds 25 pages, you may use an outside duplicating service and charge the actual cost supported by the vendor invoice.§ 720.303(5)(g)
Condominium and cooperative: there is no per-page figure in the statute. Charge actual costs of preparing and furnishing the documents, and be able to show how the figure was built.Do not borrow the HOA's 25 cents as if it were a condominium cap. It is not, and an inflated invoice is a denial of access by another route.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.
Let the owner photograph or scan the records with a portable device, and do not charge for use of the device.§ 718.111(12)(c)5.; § 720.303(5)(a)
Where the record is already posted on the association website or app, you may direct the owner there.The statutes let the association comply by making records available electronically via the Internet or by allowing them to be viewed on a computer screen and printed on request. That is an option, not an excuse: if the record is not actually posted, or the owner cannot reach it, the duty is unchanged. See the electronic records management checklist.§ 718.111(12)(b); § 719.104(2)(b); § 720.303(5)(a)

Close the file

Send the response in a way that proves delivery and the date of delivery.
Keep a copy of exactly what was produced, in the form it was produced, including the redacted versions.
HOA: remember that access to the official records is one of the disputes subject to a presuit mediation demand before it can be filed in court.That cuts both ways. It buys the association a forum before suit, and it means a demand for mediation is a signal the matter is heading to court.§ 720.311(2)(a)
If the request arrived while a dispute is brewing, tell counsel before anything responsive is destroyed or overwritten.A retention period is a floor. It is not permission to destroy under a hold. Use the record preservation checklist.

Statutes and authorities referenced

§ 718.111(12)(b), Fla. Stat. (condominium records location, 10 working days, electronic compliance)
§ 718.111(12)(c)1.a.-b., Fla. Stat. (inspection right, presumption, damages, checklist of records)
§ 718.111(12)(c)5., Fla. Stat. (copy costs, portable devices, records not accessible to unit owners)
§ 719.104(2)(b)-(c), Fla. Stat. (cooperative records, 10 working days, exemptions)
§ 720.303(5)(a)-(c), Fla. Stat. (HOA inspection, certified-mail presumption, damages)
§ 720.303(5)(g), Fla. Stat. (HOA inspection rules, copy charges, records not accessible to members)
§ 720.311(2)(a), Fla. Stat. (HOA presuit mediation, including records access disputes)

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes advises Southwest Florida boards and managers on records requests, inspection rules and what may properly be withheld, and defends associations when a request becomes a claim. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Official Records 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.

Official Records Request Checklist: Handling an Incoming Request From Receipt to Closure