Condo & HOA Regulatory Compliance Attorneys

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

Florida Community Association Regulatory Compliance Attorneys

A Florida community association is regulated more heavily than most small businesses. A condominium board that adopts a budget, holds an election, signs a landscaping contract, and answers a records request in a single month has touched a dozen provisions of Chapter 718, several administrative rules, the corporate statute, and its own declaration and bylaws. Each of those provisions carries a deadline, a notice requirement, or a vote threshold, and most of them changed at least once between 2022 and 2025.

Hamilton Mikes provides regulatory compliance counsel to condominium associations, homeowners associations, cooperatives, mobile home communities, clubs, marinas, and resort communities throughout Southwest Florida. The work has two halves: building a compliance calendar and set of procedures so that routine decisions are made correctly the first time, and responding when a complaint, Division inquiry, or owner challenge arrives. This page explains the framework; the pages linked below explain each subject in depth.

Who Regulates Florida Community Associations

The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, regulates condominiums (Chapter 718), cooperatives (Chapter 719), timeshares (Chapter 721), and mobile home parks (Chapter 723). The Division investigates complaints, conducts arbitration of certain disputes, requires annual reporting and per-unit fees, and may impose civil penalties on associations and, in some cases, on individual directors. Condominium and cooperative associations pay the Division an annual fee for each unit and must keep their registration current.
Homeowners associations (Chapter 720) are not generally regulated by the Division. Election and recall disputes go to Division arbitration, and other disputes proceed through statutory presuit mediation and the courts. That does not make Chapter 720 optional; it means enforcement comes from owners, and owners' attorneys, rather than from a regulator.
The Division of Corporations requires every association organized as a Florida corporation to file an annual report each year between January 1 and May 1 under Chapter 617. Missing the deadline adds a late fee; ignoring it dissolves the corporation administratively, which clouds the association's authority to contract, sue, and lien until it is reinstated.
Other regulators reach associations by subject rather than by entity type: the Florida Commission on Human Relations and HUD for fair housing; the Department of Environmental Protection, the South Florida Water Management District, and the Army Corps of Engineers for stormwater systems, seawalls, docks, and submerged land leases; county and municipal building departments for permits, milestone inspections, and floodplain rules; the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco for clubs that serve alcohol; the Department of Health for pools; and licensing boards for the managers, contractors, and professionals the association hires. Community association managers are licensed under Chapter 468, Part VIII, and an association that allows an unlicensed person to perform management functions has its own exposure.

The Compliance Calendar

Most compliance failures are calendar failures. The dates below recur every year for a typical condominium; homeowners associations and cooperatives follow parallel schedules with different citations, and every association's bylaws add dates of their own.

Annual meeting and election. First notice of election at least 60 days before the election; candidate notices due 40 days before; second notice with ballot 14 to 34 days before; annual meeting notice mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted and posted at least 14 days before. Newly elected directors must complete the state-approved education requirement and file the certificate within 90 days, and condominium directors now complete continuing education annually.
Budget. The proposed annual budget, with reserve schedules, must be mailed, delivered, or electronically transmitted to owners with notice of the budget meeting at least 14 days before the meeting. Reserve funding for a condominium's structural components can no longer be waived or reduced by owner vote for buildings three stories or higher, and the budget must reflect the association's Structural Integrity Reserve Study.
Financial reporting. Within 90 days after the end of the fiscal year the association must complete the financial report the statute requires for its revenue level, from compiled statements to an audit, and must provide it to owners within 21 days after completion and no later than 120 days after year end. Owners may vote to reduce the reporting level only within limits, and not in consecutive years beyond what the statute allows.
Insurance. Full replacement-cost property coverage based on an independent appraisal performed at least every 36 months, fidelity coverage for everyone who controls or disburses association funds, and the liability and directors' and officers' coverage the documents require, each renewed before it lapses and each reviewed against the appraisal.
Structural safety. Milestone inspections for buildings three stories or higher at 30 years (25 years where the local enforcement agency so determines, including for proximity to salt water) and every ten years afterward, and a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every ten years, with the report and study posted for owners and filed with the local building official as required.
Records posting. Condominium associations with 25 or more units must maintain a website or application and post the governing documents, budget, financial report, contracts, bids, conflict disclosures, meeting notices, and structural reports, with owner-specific material behind a password. Homeowners associations with 100 or more parcels have a parallel requirement.
Division and corporate filings. The Division's annual per-unit fee and the corporate annual report, each with its own deadline and penalty.

We prepare a written compliance calendar for each client, keyed to its fiscal year and documents, and we review it with the manager each year after the legislative session, because the calendar changes when the statutes do.

Meeting and Notice Requirements

Board meetings must be open to owners, noticed by posting at least 48 hours in advance, and, for a residential condominium with more than ten units, held at least once each quarter. Fourteen days' mailed and posted notice is required when the board will consider a nonemergency special assessment or an amendment to rules regarding unit use. Owners have the right to speak on designated agenda items and to record the meeting. The two exceptions to openness are meetings with the association's attorney concerning proposed or pending litigation, and meetings on personnel matters. Directors may communicate by email but may not vote by email, and a quorum of directors discussing association business, in a hallway or a group text, is a meeting that should have been noticed. Committees that take final action on behalf of the board, or that make budget recommendations, follow the same rules, and a homeowners association architectural committee that approves or disapproves work on a parcel holds an open, noticed meeting with minutes.

Membership meetings of condominiums and homeowners associations require at least 14 days' mailed and posted notice, with additional lead time for elections and for votes on amendments, material alterations, reserve waivers, and other matters the statute treats specially. The proof of notice belongs in the official records. When an association cannot document that notice was given, it usually cannot defend the action taken.

Compliance Reviews After Each Legislative Session

The 2024 session rewrote significant parts of Chapters 718 and 720: criminal penalties for records violations, kickbacks, and election fraud; mandatory director education and continuing education; expanded website posting; new conflict-of-interest disclosures; restrictions on homeowners association fines and parking and interior rules; and management-company obligations. The 2025 session adjusted reserve funding and Structural Integrity Reserve Study rules, authorized condominium board and owner meetings by video conference, and expanded electronic voting. Documents, rules, and procedures written for the statutes of 2019 are not compliant with the statutes of 2025. We conduct an annual compliance review for clients that compares the community's bylaws, rules, policies, and forms against current law and lists the changes required, in priority order, with the vote or board action each one needs.

Responding to Complaints and Division Inquiries

When an owner files a complaint with the Division, the association typically receives a letter identifying the alleged violation and requesting records and a written response within a stated period. The response matters. A complete, documented answer often ends the inquiry; an incomplete or defensive one leads to a warning letter, a Division-ordered corrective action, or a civil penalty, and the file is public. We prepare responses to Division inquiries, negotiate corrective plans, represent associations in Division arbitration and enforcement proceedings, and advise directors on personal exposure, which since 2024 can include criminal referral for certain records and election conduct.

When the compliance problem is the association's own discovery, such as an election held on defective notice, an assessment levied without the required 14-day notice, or a rule adopted without authority, prompt correction usually costs far less than defending the defect. Depending on the issue, the fix may be re-noticing and repeating the action, ratifying it at a properly noticed meeting, amending the document that was missing, or disclosing the defect and obtaining owner approval. We identify the cure that will hold up if challenged.

Communities We Serve

Condominium Associations

We advise Condominium Associations on Chapter 718 and Division rules: meetings, elections, recalls, budgets and reserves, financial reporting, official records and website posting, milestone inspections, Structural Integrity Reserve Studies, insurance requirements, director education, and Division complaints and inquiries.

Homeowner Associations

For Homeowner Associations (HOAs), we provide Chapter 720 compliance guidance on board and membership meetings, elections and recalls, records and website posting, reserves and financial reporting, fining and suspension procedures under the 2024 amendments, architectural review operations, and the statutory limits on rules governing parking, flags, landscaping, and the interior of homes.

Cooperative Associations

We assist Cooperative Associations with Chapter 719 compliance, including meetings, elections, official records, reserves, financial reporting, share transfers, and the relationship between share ownership and occupancy rights.

Mobile Home Communities

We advise Mobile Home Communities, park owners, and homeowners' associations regarding Chapter 723: prospectus obligations, lot rental increase notices and the 90-day notice requirement, statutory mediation, rule changes, and the Division's mobile home program.

Timeshare and Hotel Condominiums

Timeshare Condominiums answer to Chapter 721 as well as Chapter 718, and Hotel Condominiums layer hospitality licensing, rental-program regulation, and transient-occupancy taxes on top of association law. We help these communities reconcile the statutes with resort operations.

Country Clubs and Golf Communities

We counsel Country Clubs and Golf Communities on the regulatory issues particular to clubs: membership classifications and transfers, alcoholic beverage licensing, food service permits, employment and wage law for club staff, equity membership and refund obligations, and the interaction between club documents and the community's declaration.

Marinas and Waterfront Communities

For Marinas and Waterfront Communities, compliance involves sovereignty submerged land leases, environmental resource permits, mangrove trimming rules, dredging and seawall permits, dock and slip regulation, vessel and liveaboard restrictions, and Clean Marina requirements.

RV Resorts and Other Planned Communities

We advise Recreational Vehicle Resorts on governance, occupancy and length-of-stay rules, elections, rule adoption, and collections, and we assist Master Associations, Sub-Associations, Multi-Condominium Associations, and Mixed-Use Developments with the compliance obligations that attach to each entity in a layered structure and with shared-facility cost allocations.

Frequently Asked Questions About Association Compliance

Which Florida statute governs our community?

Condominiums are governed by Chapter 718, cooperatives by Chapter 719, homeowners associations by Chapter 720, mobile home parks by Chapter 723, and timeshares by Chapter 721, with Chapter 617 (not-for-profit corporations) applying to nearly all of them. The label in your recorded declaration controls, and some communities, such as a condominium within a master homeowners association, answer to more than one chapter at once.

Do our governing documents control if they conflict with Florida law?

Generally, no. Mandatory statutory provisions override inconsistent documents, and condominium bylaws are deemed to include the provisions Chapter 718 requires. Some statutes, however, apply only if the documents do not address the subject, and others apply to older documents only if the declaration incorporates the statute "as amended from time to time." Which category a provision falls into is a legal question that should be answered before the board relies on either the statute or the document.

Should legal counsel review board procedures before a vote?

For routine matters, a well-designed compliance calendar and a trained manager are usually sufficient. Legal review before the vote is warranted for elections, amendments, special assessments, reserve decisions, material alterations, rule changes affecting use, enforcement actions, contracts above the bidding threshold, and any decision the board expects to be challenged.

Can an association correct a procedural compliance problem?

Often, yes. Depending on the defect, the board may re-notice and repeat the action, ratify it at a properly noticed meeting, obtain the owner approval that was missing, or amend the governing document that caused the problem. Some defects cannot be cured retroactively, and the cost of a challenge rises with time, so the review should happen as soon as the problem is discovered.

What happens if we miss the corporate annual report?

The Division of Corporations assesses a late fee after May 1 and administratively dissolves the corporation in the fall if the report is still unfiled. A dissolved association may still be reinstated by filing and paying the fees, but during the gap its authority to act is open to challenge. We recommend that the manager calendar the filing for January.

Can directors be personally liable for compliance failures?

Directors who act in good faith within the scope of their authority are protected by the business judgment rule and by the volunteer-director immunity in Chapter 617. The 2024 legislation created personal criminal exposure for specific conduct: knowing and repeated records violations, accepting kickbacks, and fraudulent voting activities. Directors' and officers' liability insurance covers most civil claims; it does not cover intentional misconduct.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Contact Hamilton Mikes, P.A. at 239-594-7227 to schedule a compliance review or to respond to a Division inquiry. Related services: Corporate Governance, Governing Documents, Official Records, Budgeting and Financial Reporting, and Covenant Enforcement.

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.

Regulatory Compliance