This page is current through the 2026 regular session and states the law as of July 1, 2026. Section 718.111(12) has been amended in five of the last six sessions. The list of what counts as an official record grew, the response clock acquired a presumption, a checklist duty appeared, three records offenses became crimes, and a website posting obligation reached associations of 25 units. Nothing new arrived in 2026, so the work in front of your board comes from 2024 and 2025.
The 2026 session: no substantive change, but the section was touched twice
No 2026 bill amended the condominium records rules. Boards should not plan around anything in the bills that died. CS/SB 1498, which addressed records violations and electronic voting, died in Senate Appropriations on March 13, 2026. The community association omnibus, CS/CS/CS/CS/HB 657, passed the House 108 to 2 on March 5, 2026 and then died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026.
Two 2026 chapter laws do appear in the history line of § 718.111, which causes confusion when a board or a manager pulls the statute and sees a 2026 citation. Ch. 2026-14 is the reviser's bill, effective May 12, 2026, and is technical only. Ch. 2026-168 rewrote Chapter 617, the Not For Profit Corporation Act, and made conforming amendments to § 718.111. Neither changed a records duty.
If your association complied with the records rules as they stood on July 1, 2025, it complies today. That is the whole of the 2026 records story.
What HB 913 (2025) added to the records list
CS/CS/HB 913, Ch. 2025-175, was approved June 23, 2025 and took effect July 1, 2025, with the Division online account provisions effective October 1, 2025. Its records work was mostly additive. The § 718.111(12)(a) list now expressly reaches bank statements and ledgers, video recordings of board meetings held by video conference, and the affidavits the statute requires elsewhere, including the affidavit acknowledging receipt of a completed structural integrity reserve study.
That last point matters more than it looks. A recording made because the board met by video conference is not a courtesy copy. It is an official record, which means it is subject to inspection, subject to the retention rule, and subject to the criminal provisions if it is destroyed. Boards that record meetings on a manager's personal device or on a platform that purges files after 30 days are creating a records problem, not solving one.
HB 913 also moved the condominium financial report delivery window from 120 days to 180 days after the fiscal year end under § 718.111(13). That change is condominium only. Chapter 720 and Chapter 719 still run on 120 days, and treating 180 as universal will make every HOA and cooperative report late.
What HB 1021 (2024) changed, and why it is the one that bites
HB 1021, Ch. 2024-244, is the condominium omnibus that reshaped this subsection. Three of its changes reach a board directly.
- It lowered the website posting threshold from 150 units to 25 units, which pulled several thousand small and mid-size Florida condominiums into a duty they had never had.
- It added the records checklist duty and the presumption that goes with it.
- It made three records offenses criminal and attached mandatory removal from office to each.
The criminal provisions sit at § 718.111(12)(c)2. through 4. A director, board member or community association manager who willfully and knowingly or intentionally violates the access requirements commits a misdemeanor of the second degree. A person who willfully and knowingly or intentionally defaces or destroys accounting records during the retention period, or who fails to create or maintain them, with intent to cause harm to the association or a member, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree. A person who willfully and knowingly or intentionally refuses to release records with intent to avoid detection, arrest, trial or punishment for a crime, or to help someone else do so, commits a felony of the third degree. Each of those provisions carries the same consequence for a sitting director: the person must be removed from office and a vacancy declared.
The retention tiers: what is permanent and what is seven years
The statute sorts official records into two tiers, and boards routinely get the sort wrong when they clear out a storage unit.
| Tier | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent, from the inception of the association | § 718.111(12)(a)1.–6. | Plans, permits and warranties delivered by the developer; the recorded declaration and all amendments; the recorded bylaws and all amendments; a certified copy of the articles of incorporation and all amendments; the current rules; and the minute books |
| At least 7 years, maintained within Florida | All other items on the (12)(a) list | Accounting records, contracts, bids, insurance policies, ballots and election materials, correspondence, the owner roster, board and committee meeting notices, and the rest |
Two traps follow. First, the seven-year records must be kept within the state. A management company that stores everything on a server outside Florida, or a cloud account under the manager's name rather than the association's, is a problem waiting for a records request. Our guide to condominium records retention sets out a workable filing structure.
Second, the seven-year clock is a floor, not a ceiling. If litigation is pending or reasonably anticipated, a litigation hold overrides the routine destruction schedule, and destroying records after that point is a far worse problem than storing them.
The 10 working day clock, the checklist, and the two presumptions
A written records request must be answered within 10 working days after receipt. Working days, not calendar days, which in a week with a holiday buys you a day. The failure to provide the records in that window creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply under § 718.111(12)(c)1.a. Willfulness is what unlocks the statutory damages and the prevailing party attorney's fee provision in § 718.303(1), so the presumption is the entire fight in most records cases.
The checklist duty at § 718.111(12)(c)1.b. is the board's counterweight. When the association makes records available, it must simultaneously provide the requestor a checklist of all records made available for inspection and copying. The association must keep that checklist for seven years. Delivering it creates a rebuttable presumption that the association has complied.
Read those two presumptions together and the operating rule writes itself. A board that answers within 10 working days and hands over a dated checklist has flipped the burden onto the owner. A board that answers late and produces no checklist is defending a case in which the law assumes it acted willfully. Our page on responding to records requests walks through the mechanics.
What you may charge, and what you must withhold
Chapter 718 does not set a per-page copy fee. The statute says only that the right to inspect includes the right to make or obtain copies at the reasonable expense, if any, of the member. There is no statutory 25 cents a page figure for condominiums and no statutory personnel charge. The 25 cents a page cap, the $20 an hour personnel charge and the no-charge-under-25-pages rule are Chapter 720 provisions at § 720.303(5)(g), and a condominium board that adopts them by rule is adopting them voluntarily, not following the statute. The Division has approved condominium rules setting a reasonable per-page amount, but the number comes from your rule, not from the Act.
The exemption list is at § 718.111(12)(c)5. It is a closed list, and a record is not exempt because the board would prefer not to produce it. The categories are attorney-client privileged and work product material prepared in connection with a claim or litigation; information obtained in connection with the approval of a lease, sale or other transfer of a unit; personnel records of association employees; medical records; personal identifying information, including Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses; electronic security measures and software; and the software and operating systems used by the association.
Redaction is the right tool for most of these, not refusal. An invoice does not become exempt because it carries a vendor's account number. A fuller treatment is in our guide to records exempt from inspection.
The website posting list and the 30 day rule
An association operating a condominium with 25 or more units that contains no timeshare units must maintain a website or an application and post the items listed at § 718.111(12)(g)2. The list runs from the recorded declaration, articles, bylaws and rules through the current budget, the financial report, executed contracts, bids, insurance policies, the milestone inspection report, the structural integrity reserve study, and board and owner meeting notices and agendas.
The deadline is 30 days after the association receives or creates the record. It is not 30 days after the next board meeting, and it is not annually. A contract executed on the fifteenth of the month is posted by the fifteenth of the next month. This is the single most commonly missed condominium deadline we see, because nothing prompts it: no owner asks, no agenda item raises it, and the manager's software does not always flag it.
Cooperatives have no posting obligation at all. HOAs post at 100 or more parcels under § 720.303(4)(b). If your management company administers all three forms, do not assume one posting calendar covers them. Our overview of association websites and electronic records compares the three chapters.
2021 through 2023: what did and did not happen
2021. Two acts reached § 718.111. SB 56, Ch. 2021-91, rewrote the assessment notice provisions and touched § 718.111 in the process. Ch. 2021-209 also amended § 718.111. Neither changed the inspection and copying rules in a way a board would notice today.
2022. SB 4-D, Ch. 2022-269, was the post-Surfside act. It created milestone inspections and the structural integrity reserve study. Its records effect was indirect but permanent: it generated two new documents that are official records and that now appear on the website posting list.
2023. SB 154, Ch. 2023-203, refined the milestone and reserve study provisions. It did not rewrite the records subsection. For records purposes, 2023 was a quiet year, and a board that hears otherwise is probably hearing about the HOA side, where Chapter 720 was busier.
The useful way to hold this: the shape of the current records subsection was set in 2024, extended in 2025, and left alone in 2026.
What to do with this before the next records request
- Put the 30 day website posting rule on a monthly calendar item and assign it to a named person, not to "management."
- Adopt a written records request procedure that produces a dated checklist every time, and keep the checklists for seven years.
- Confirm where the association's seven-year records physically live, and that the location is in Florida and under the association's name.
- Review your copy charge against your own rule, and adopt a rule if you do not have one, rather than borrowing the Chapter 720 figures.
- Route any request that touches litigation, personnel or medical material to counsel before producing it, and redact rather than refuse.
None of that is expensive. The cost of skipping it is a presumption of willfulness, an owner's attorney's fee award, and for the individual director a criminal provision with the person's own name on it. For the broader session-by-session picture, see our annual condominium legislative update.
Frequently Asked Questions About Condominium Records Law Changes
Did the 2026 session change condominium records law?
No. No bill amending the condominium records rules passed in 2026. CS/SB 1498, which covered records violations and electronic voting, died in Senate Appropriations on March 13, 2026, and the omnibus HB 657 died in Senate Rules the same day. Two 2026 chapter laws appear in the history line of § 718.111, but Ch. 2026-14 is the reviser's bill and Ch. 2026-168 made conforming changes as part of the Chapter 617 rewrite.
How long do we have to answer a records request?
Ten working days after receipt of the written request, under § 718.111(12)(c)1.a. Missing that window creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply, and willfulness is what triggers statutory damages and the prevailing party fee provision in § 718.303(1). Note that the HOA figure in § 720.303(5) is 10 business days, which is a different phrase in a different chapter.
What is the records checklist and do we really have to provide one?
Yes. Under § 718.111(12)(c)1.b., when the association makes records available it must simultaneously give the requestor a checklist of the records made available for inspection and copying, and must keep that checklist for seven years. Delivering it creates a rebuttable presumption that the association complied, which is the board's best defense in a records dispute.
Can we charge for copies?
You may charge the reasonable expense of making or obtaining copies, but Chapter 718 sets no per-page figure and no personnel charge. The 25 cents a page cap and the $20 an hour personnel charge are Chapter 720 rules at § 720.303(5)(g). A condominium that wants a fixed per-page amount should adopt it by board rule and apply it consistently.
Which records go on the website, and how quickly?
A condominium of 25 or more units with no timeshare units posts the items listed at § 718.111(12)(g)2., which include the governing documents, the budget, the financial report, executed contracts and bids, insurance policies, the milestone inspection report, the structural integrity reserve study, and meeting notices and agendas. Each item is posted within 30 days after the association receives or creates it.
Can a director actually be prosecuted over records?
Yes, and the provisions are in § 718.111(12)(c)2. through 4. Willfully and knowingly violating the access rules is a second degree misdemeanor. Defacing or destroying accounting records with intent to harm the association or a member is a first degree misdemeanor. Refusing to release records to avoid detection or arrest for a crime is a third degree felony. Each also requires removal from office.
Contact Hamilton Mikes
Hamilton Mikes writes and reviews records request procedures, checklists and retention schedules for condominium boards in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties, and advises boards on how to respond when a request is broad, hostile or aimed at litigation. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Official Records page.
Statutes and authorities referenced
- § 718.111(12)(a)1.–6., Fla. Stat. (records maintained permanently from the inception of the association)
- § 718.111(12)(b), Fla. Stat. (all other official records maintained within the state for at least 7 years)
- § 718.111(12)(c)1.a., Fla. Stat. (10 working day response; rebuttable presumption of willful failure)
- § 718.111(12)(c)1.b., Fla. Stat. (records checklist; 7 year retention; rebuttable presumption of compliance)
- § 718.111(12)(c)2., Fla. Stat. (second degree misdemeanor; removal from office)
- § 718.111(12)(c)3., Fla. Stat. (first degree misdemeanor for defacing, destroying or failing to maintain accounting records)
- § 718.111(12)(c)4., Fla. Stat. (third degree felony for refusing to release records to avoid detection or arrest)
- § 718.111(12)(c)5., Fla. Stat. (records exempt from inspection and copying)
- § 718.111(12)(g)1.–2., Fla. Stat. (website or application posting; 25 or more units; 30 day posting deadline)
- § 718.111(13), Fla. Stat. (financial reporting; 180 day condominium delivery window)
- § 718.303(1), Fla. Stat. (owner enforcement; prevailing party attorney's fees)
- § 720.303(4)(b), § 720.303(5)(g), Fla. Stat. (HOA posting threshold; HOA copy fee caps, for contrast)
- Session laws: Ch. 2021-91 (SB 56); Ch. 2021-209; Ch. 2022-269 (SB 4-D); Ch. 2023-203 (SB 154); Ch. 2024-244 (HB 1021); Ch. 2025-175 (CS/CS/HB 913); Ch. 2026-14 (SB 104, reviser's bill); Ch. 2026-168 (CS/CS/HB 797, Ch. 617 revision)