Condo & HOA Official Records Attorneys

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

Florida Community Association Official Records Attorneys

Official records requirements are among the most heavily regulated aspects of community association operations. Board minutes, contracts, financial records, election materials, owner information, governing documents, and other records often become central to owner requests, regulatory inquiries, governance disputes, and litigation. Records complaints are among the most common matters handled by the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, and recent legislation has raised the stakes for boards and managers who mishandle them, including criminal penalties for certain knowing and repeated violations.

Hamilton Mikes advises Florida community associations regarding official records obligations, inspection requests, retention practices, website posting requirements, and compliance procedures, and defends associations when records disputes turn into Division complaints, arbitration, or litigation.

What the Statutes Require

Chapter 718 (condominiums), Chapter 719 (cooperatives), and Chapter 720 (homeowners associations) each define the official records an association must maintain, how long it must keep them, where they must be kept, and how owners may inspect and copy them. The lists are long and specific. They include the recorded governing documents and rules; plans, permits, and warranties; the owner roster; insurance policies; current management and service contracts; bids received; accounting records and financial reports; minutes of board and membership meetings; ballots and other election records; and all other written records related to the operation of the association. Most records must be retained for at least seven years, the governing documents, plans, and permits must be kept permanently, election materials must be kept for a year, and recent amendments have moved additional categories into longer or permanent retention.

Condominium records must be maintained within the state and within 45 miles of the property or within the county where it is located, although records may be kept electronically and made available online. Records must be maintained in a form that can be converted to writing within a reasonable time, which is what makes cloud-based records systems lawful and, when set up correctly, the easiest way to comply.

Owner Access

Owners have a statutory right to inspect and copy the official records. A condominium or cooperative association must make records available within ten working days after receiving a written request, and a homeowners association within ten business days. The association may adopt reasonable written rules governing the frequency, time, location, notice, and manner of inspections. Nothing in the statutes prohibits the association from asking why an owner wants the records, but the answer cannot be made a condition of inspection or copying, and access may not be delayed or refused because the owner declines to say. The association must allow owners to make copies with their own phones, scanners, or other portable devices at no charge. Failure to provide access within the statutory period creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply, exposing it to minimum statutory damages of $50 per day for up to ten days in addition to actual damages, and the prevailing party in a records enforcement action recovers attorney's fees. Recent legislation also requires condominium associations to maintain a checklist of the records made available in response to each request.

The statutes also protect certain records from disclosure to owners: attorney-client privileged communications and work product prepared in connection with litigation; information obtained in connection with the approval of a sale, lease, or transfer; personnel records other than compensation; medical records; owners' personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, and, unless the owner consents in writing, email addresses and telephone numbers; and information about the association's electronic security measures and software. Producing a protected record can be as serious a violation as withholding an accessible one. Our attorneys review requests and productions for both.

Website and Application Posting

Florida now requires many associations to post digital copies of specified records on a website or mobile application, with owner-specific information available through a password-protected section. Condominium associations with 25 or more units must comply by January 1, 2026, extending a requirement that previously applied only to associations of 150 or more units, and homeowners associations with 100 or more parcels became subject to a parallel requirement on January 1, 2025. The required postings include, among other things, the governing documents and rules, the annual budget and financial report, current contracts and summaries of bids, conflict-of-interest disclosures, meeting notices and agendas, and, for condominiums, milestone inspection and structural integrity reserve study materials. We help associations select compliant platforms, decide what belongs behind the password, and adopt procedures for keeping the site current, because a stale website is itself a violation.

The posting requirement is also the most practical answer to records requests. An association that digitizes all of its records, not only the categories the statute requires, and posts them in the password-protected section of its website can respond to most requests by directing the owner to the site, where the records are already available for inspection and copying at any hour. Requests that once consumed a manager's week become a link in an email, the ten-day clock is satisfied the day the request arrives, and the association's compliance is documented by the website itself. We recommend that every association, including those below the statutory thresholds, begin scanning its paper records and adopting a posting practice now, and we help boards decide which records must remain behind a password and which protected records are never posted.

Enforcement and Penalties

Owners may enforce records rights through the Division's complaint process and arbitration for condominiums and cooperatives and through presuit mediation and the courts for homeowners associations. The Division may impose civil penalties on associations that violate the statute. In 2024, the Legislature added criminal penalties: a director, officer, or manager who knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly violates the records-access requirements commits a misdemeanor, knowingly destroying or failing to maintain accounting records is a misdemeanor, and refusing to release records in order to conceal or facilitate a crime is a felony. Directors charged with such offenses may be removed from the board. Boards that once treated records requests as an annoyance now treat them as compliance events, and we help them respond accordingly.

Retention Policies and Records Practices

The best defense to a records dispute is a records system that makes compliance routine. We help associations and their managers:

Adopt written records-retention policies that track the statutory categories and retention periods
Adopt reasonable inspection rules that satisfy the statute and are actually followed
Structure electronic records systems, cloud storage, and website postings so records can be produced quickly and protected records are segregated
Handle transitions between management companies so records are returned intact
Preserve records when litigation is anticipated and respond to subpoenas and public agency requests
Respond to Division investigations and owner complaints

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We assist Condominium Associations with Chapter 718 records requirements, electronic record systems, financial records, inspection requests, meeting documentation, website posting, and Division inquiries.

Homeowners Associations

We advise Homeowners Associations (HOAs) regarding Chapter 720 disclosure obligations, records production, retention systems, financial records, website posting, and owner inspections.

Cooperative Associations

We counsel Cooperative Associations regarding records maintenance, inspections, meeting records, financial disclosures, and Chapter 719 compliance requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions About Official Records

What records must the association maintain?

Chapters 718, 719, and 720 each list the official records: the governing documents and rules, plans and permits, the owner roster, insurance policies, contracts and bids, accounting records and financial reports, meeting minutes, election materials, and all other written records relating to the operation of the association. Most must be kept for at least seven years, some permanently, and election materials for one year.

How quickly must we respond to a records request?

Condominium and cooperative associations must make records available within ten working days after receiving a written request; homeowners associations within ten business days. Missing the deadline creates a presumption of willful violation and exposes the association to statutory damages of $50 per day for up to ten days, plus attorney's fees.

Can we ask an owner why they want to see the records?

The association may ask, but the answer cannot be a condition of access. The statutes do not prohibit the question; they prohibit requiring an answer: a condominium association "may not require a member to demonstrate any purpose or state any reason for the inspection" (section 718.111(12)(c)), and Chapter 720 says the same for homeowners associations (section 720.303(5)). Knowing an owner's concern often helps the manager locate the right records or resolve the issue directly. What the association may not do is refuse or delay inspection or copying because the owner declines to explain, or because the board disagrees with the stated purpose. The association may still adopt reasonable rules about the time, place, frequency, and manner of inspection.

Can records be stored electronically?

Yes. Records may be maintained in any form that can be converted to writing within a reasonable time, and they may be made available to owners electronically or through the association's website. Condominium associations with 25 or more units and homeowners associations with 100 or more parcels must post specified records online. Associations that digitize and post all of their non-protected records can satisfy most inspection requests by directing the owner to the website.

Which records may we withhold from owners?

Attorney-client privileged records, information obtained in approving sales and leases, personnel records other than compensation, medical records, owners' personal identifying information such as Social Security numbers and, absent written consent, email addresses and telephone numbers, and information about the association's electronic security and software. Everything else on the statutory list is open to inspection.

Can a director be prosecuted over records?

Under 2024 legislation, yes. Knowing, willful, and repeated refusal to provide access is a misdemeanor, knowingly destroying or failing to maintain accounting records is a misdemeanor, and refusing to release records to conceal a crime is a felony. Directors and managers should treat every records request as a compliance matter and involve counsel when a request is unusual or contentious.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 for guidance regarding official records compliance. Related services: Regulatory Compliance, Corporate Governance, Sales, Leases and Occupancy, 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.

Official Records