HOA Architectural Review Attorneys, Florida

Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA · September 23, 2026 · Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026

Florida Community Association Architectural Review Attorneys

Architectural review is often among the most visible responsibilities of a community association. Owners want to improve their properties. Associations seek to preserve aesthetics, protect infrastructure, maintain property values, and promote community consistency. When the two collide, the dispute usually turns on a question of authority: did the governing documents actually give the association the power it exercised, and did the committee exercise it the way the documents and the statute require?

Hamilton Mikes advises Florida community associations regarding architectural review authority, application procedures, committee operations, design standards, and enforcement matters. We draft the guidelines boards rely on, train the committees that apply them, and defend the decisions owners challenge.

Authority Comes From the Documents

For homeowners associations, Chapter 720 is explicit: an association or architectural review committee may review and approve plans for the location, size, type, or appearance of a structure or improvement, or enforce standards for external appearance, only to the extent that authority is specifically stated or reasonably inferred in the declaration or in published guidelines and standards the declaration authorizes. Where the documents offer owners options for materials, colors, or sizes, the committee may not narrow them, and it may not enforce a policy inconsistent with the rights and privileges the declaration grants owners. An HOA that denies a fence, a paint color, or a roofing material based on an unwritten preference, or on guidelines the declaration never authorized, will generally lose, and under Chapter 720 the prevailing party recovers attorney's fees.

Recent legislation has tightened these rules further. Homeowners associations may not restrict items that are not visible from the parcel's frontage, an adjacent parcel, or adjacent common areas, such as boats, recreational vehicles, artificial turf, and flags stored or displayed behind the home; may not require architectural review of certain equipment, such as central air-conditioning systems, that is not visible from those vantage points; and must, when they deny an application, state in writing the specific rule or covenant relied upon. Associations must also adopt hurricane protection specifications and may not deny hurricane protection that conforms to them. Guidelines written before these changes should be reviewed against them.

For condominiums, the analysis begins with the distinction between the unit, the limited common elements, and the common elements. An owner may generally alter the interior of the unit but may not do anything within the unit or on the common elements that would adversely affect the safety or soundness of the common elements or any portion of the property the association maintains. Changes to the exterior, to limited common elements such as balconies and lanais, and to the common elements require the approval the declaration specifies, and a material alteration or substantial addition to the common elements requires the approval of 75 percent of the total voting interests unless the declaration provides otherwise. Florida courts define a material alteration as a change that palpably or perceptively varies the form, shape, elements, or specifications of the property from its original design or existing condition in a way that appreciably affects its function, use, or appearance, and boards are often surprised by how many "upgrades" meet that test.

Statutory Limits on Design Control

Several Florida statutes override the governing documents regardless of what they say. An association may not prohibit solar collectors, clotheslines, or other renewable energy devices, although it may direct where roof-mounted solar collectors are placed within the southerly orientation the statute describes, so long as the location does not impair their operation. Deed restrictions may not prohibit Florida-friendly landscaping. Owners may display the United States flag, the Florida flag, and specified military and first responder flags in a respectful manner within statutory limits. Condominium owners may install electric vehicle charging equipment within their limited common element parking areas at their own expense. Condominium boards must adopt hurricane protection specifications, and owners may install conforming protection. Each of these areas has conditions and exceptions, and each generates disputes when committees apply guidelines written before the statute existed.

Committee Procedures

How a decision is made matters as much as what it is. In a homeowners association, a committee with authority to approve or disapprove architectural decisions for a specific parcel holds a board-style meeting: notice must be posted at least 48 hours in advance, the meeting must be open to members, and minutes must be kept. Committees should act within the time the documents allow (many declarations deem an application approved if the committee does not act within a stated period), should decide on written applications with complete plans, and should issue written decisions that cite the specific standard applied. Consistency is essential. An association that has tolerated similar improvements for years may be barred from enforcing the standard against the next owner unless it first adopts and publishes a clear, prospective enforcement policy.

We prepare application forms, review checklists, and decision templates; draft or update architectural guidelines and design standards so they are actually authorized by the declaration; and train committee members on the standards, meeting procedures, and conflict-of-interest rules that apply.

Enforcement of Architectural Violations

When an owner builds without approval or departs from the approved plans, the association's remedies depend on the type of community. Homeowners associations may impose fines and suspensions after 14 days' written notice and a hearing before an independent committee, may require removal or correction, and, before filing suit over most covenant disputes, must offer presuit mediation under Chapter 720. Condominium associations follow the fining and hearing procedures of Chapter 718 and may seek injunctive relief. In every case the association's own compliance with its procedures is the first thing the owner's attorney examines. We handle violation notices, hearings, mediation, and, when necessary, litigation to compel removal of unapproved improvements.

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We assist Condominium Associations with unit alterations, limited common element modifications, architectural standards, and material alterations.

Homeowners Associations

We advise Homeowners Associations (HOAs) regarding landscaping, fencing, roofing, exterior modifications, drainage projects, and architectural standards.

Cooperative Associations

We assist Cooperative Associations with additions, landscaping, improvements, accessory structures, and site-modification approvals.

Mobile Home Communities

We help Mobile Home Communities address replacement homes, sheds, carports, setbacks, modular homes, drainage facilities, and home-placement issues.

Frequently Asked Questions About Architectural Review

Can our HOA deny an application because the committee doesn't like the design?

Only if the declaration, or guidelines it authorizes, contains a standard the design fails to meet. Chapter 720 limits architectural authority to what is specifically stated or reasonably inferred in the declaration or published guidelines, and a denial must state the specific rule or covenant relied upon. Taste alone is not a standard.

What is the difference between a repair and a material alteration in a condominium?

Replacing a common element with materials of like kind and quality is maintenance the board may perform. Changing the design, materials, color, or appearance in a way that appreciably affects function, use, or appearance is a material alteration, which requires 75 percent approval of the total voting interests unless the declaration sets a different procedure. Roof color changes, balcony enclosures, and landscape redesigns frequently fall on the alteration side of the line.

Can we prohibit solar panels?

No. Florida law prohibits deed restrictions and association rules from preventing the installation of solar collectors and other renewable energy devices. The association may determine the specific location of roof-mounted collectors within the southerly orientation the statute describes, provided the location does not impair the system's effective operation.

Do architectural committee meetings have to be open to owners?

In a homeowners association, yes, when the committee has the power to approve or disapprove architectural decisions for a specific parcel. Notice must be posted at least 48 hours in advance, members may attend, and minutes must be kept. Condominium committee meetings follow the notice and openness rules of Chapter 718 and the bylaws.

An owner built a fence without approval. What can the association do?

Send written notice of the violation, offer the hearing the statute requires before any fine or suspension, and, if the violation is not cured, require removal or correction. Homeowners associations must offer presuit mediation before filing suit over most covenant disputes. Acting promptly matters; long delays can support a waiver or selective-enforcement defense.

Our guidelines are 20 years old. Do they need to be updated?

Almost certainly. Statutes governing solar, flags, hurricane protection, items not visible from the street, and written denial requirements have changed substantially, and guidelines that conflict with them are unenforceable to that extent. A review also confirms that the declaration actually authorizes each standard the committee applies.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 for guidance regarding architectural standards and review procedures. Related services: Covenant Enforcement, Governing Documents, Construction, and Litigation and ADR.

About this page. This page 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 page 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 page 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 page 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 a general page 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 on this page 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 page 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.

Architectural Review