Who May Serve on a Florida Condominium Board: Candidate Eligibility Under Chapter 718

Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA
Founder & Managing Shareholder

• Published September 25, 2026
• Reviewed by Jason Hamilton Mikes, JD, MBA, September 26, 2026
• Florida Statutes as of July 1, 2026
• Applies to: Condominiums

Chapter 718 sets a short list of hard disqualifications for condominium board service, and almost all of them are tested on a single date: the 40-day deadline for filing a notice of intent to run. A person who is delinquent, who was suspended or removed by the Division, or who has a disqualifying felony record is not eligible to be a candidate and may not appear on the ballot. A separate set of rules can cost a sitting director the seat after the election is over.

The filing window, and why the date matters

A unit owner or other eligible person who wants to be a candidate must give the association written notice of intent to be a candidate at least 40 days before a scheduled election. Section 718.112(2)(d)3. defines a candidate as an eligible person who has timely submitted that written notice. In a residential condominium there is no nomination from the floor, no write-in, and no mechanism to add a late filer to the ballot.

The statute then does something boards often miss. A unit owner desiring to be a candidate must be eligible to serve "at the time of the deadline for submitting a notice of intent to run in order to have his or her name listed as a proper candidate on the ballot or to serve on the board." Eligibility is a snapshot taken on the 40th day.

Two consequences follow, and they cut in opposite directions. A candidate who was delinquent at the deadline and pays the account current the following week does not become eligible; the snapshot has already been taken. A candidate who was current at the deadline and falls behind before the meeting does not lose candidacy on that ground, though a sitting director who later goes more than 90 days delinquent has a different problem.

Because the 40-day date does so much work, the records must be right on that date. Pull the delinquency report as of the deadline, not the day the ballot is printed, and keep a copy. If eligibility is later questioned, that report is the association's evidence.

Delinquency: three rules that get confused

Delinquency appears in Chapter 718 three separate times with three different thresholds, and mixing them up is the most common eligibility error in Florida condominium elections.

For candidacy the statute is unforgiving and deliberately mechanical. A person is delinquent if payment is not made by the due date specifically identified in the declaration, bylaws or articles. If no due date is identified there, it is the first day of the assessment period. There is no dollar floor, no statutory grace period, and no discretion to overlook a small balance because it is disputed.

The same paragraph also disqualifies a person who has been suspended or removed by the Division under Chapter 718. That is a distinct ground and it does not expire on its own.

Felony conviction and restoration of civil rights

A person convicted of any felony in Florida or in a United States District or Territorial Court, or convicted of any offense in another jurisdiction that would be a felony if committed in Florida, is not eligible for board membership unless the person's civil rights have been restored for at least five years as of the date the person seeks election to the board.

Each element matters. The conviction may come from any jurisdiction, and out-of-state offenses are measured against Florida's felony definitions. The bar is not lifted by the passage of time alone; it is lifted by restoration of civil rights, and then only after that restoration has been in place for five years, measured to the date the person seeks election.

The statute adds a stabilizing sentence: the validity of an action by the board is not affected if it is later determined that a board member was ineligible due to a felony conviction. An association that discovers the problem two years later does not have to unwind two years of budgets and contracts. It does have to address the seat.

Be careful how this information is gathered. A board has no statutory authority to demand a background check from a candidate, and an amateur criminal-history investigation run by volunteers on a neighbor is a good way to turn an election dispute into something worse. If a credible question arises, route it to counsel.

Co-owners of the same unit

In a residential condominium association of more than 10 units, or in one that does not include timeshare units or interests, co-owners of a unit may not serve on the board at the same time. Two exceptions are written into the statute: the rule does not apply if the co-owners own more than one unit, and it does not apply if there are not enough eligible candidates to fill the vacancies at the time of the vacancy.

The rule reaches co-owners of a unit, which turns on title. Two spouses who hold a single unit jointly are co-owners and cannot both sit. Two people who each own a separate unit are not co-owners and both may sit, even if they live together. A unit held in a trust or an entity raises a harder question, and the answer usually comes from the deed and the voting certificate rather than the statute.

The second exception matters in small communities where recruiting is hard. If there are three vacancies and two candidates, it can permit a result the general rule would forbid. Record in the minutes, at the time, that the exception applied and why.

Term limits and the vote that overrides them

A board member may not serve more than eight consecutive years. The limit is not absolute. It is overcome by an affirmative vote of unit owners representing two-thirds of all votes cast in the election, or by a finding that there are not enough eligible candidates to fill the vacancies at the time of the vacancy.

Note what the two-thirds is measured against: all votes cast in the election, not total voting interests and not a quorum. Where 300 units vote, the threshold is 200, regardless of how many units exist. A term-limited incumbent therefore needs a strong showing, and the board should settle before the ballot is printed how that question will be presented and tabulated.

Only board service occurring on or after July 1, 2018 may be used in calculating the term limit. A director who joined in 2006 and has served continuously does not reach eight years for this purpose until 2026. The limit is also expressly inapplicable to a board member of a nonresidential or timeshare condominium.

Two further points. Board members may serve terms longer than one year if the bylaws or articles permit it. And unless the bylaws provide otherwise, the terms of all board members expire at the annual meeting and they may stand for reelection. Staggered terms change that, which is why the first question in any election calendar is which seats are up.

Removal on a criminal charge

Section 718.112(2)(q) does not wait for a conviction. A director or officer charged by information or indictment with any of a listed group of crimes must be removed from office. The list covers forgery under § 831.01 of a ballot envelope or voting certificate used in a condominium association election, theft under § 812.014 or embezzlement involving association funds or property, destruction of or refusal to allow inspection or copying of an official record in furtherance of any crime, obstruction of justice under Chapter 843, and any criminal violation of Chapter 718.

While the charges are pending, the person may not be appointed to or hold any position with the association and has no access to the official records except by court order. The board fills the vacancy under § 718.112(2)(d) until the end of the suspension or the end of the director's term, whichever comes first. If the charges are resolved without a finding of guilt, the director or officer is reinstated for the remainder of the term, if any remains.

This is one reason election materials matter so much. Forging a ballot envelope is not merely an election irregularity in Florida. It is a listed offense, and the charge alone removes the person from the board.

Education and certification as a condition of continued service

Section 718.112(2)(d)5.b. is not a candidacy requirement. It is a condition of continued service after election, and it has teeth. Each newly elected or appointed director of a residential condominium must deliver two things to the secretary: a written certification that he or she has read the declaration, articles, bylaws and current written policies, will work to uphold them, and will faithfully discharge the fiduciary duty owed to the members; and a certificate of completing the educational curriculum of the Division or a Division-approved provider.

The curriculum must be at least four hours long and must cover milestone inspections, structural integrity reserve studies, elections, recordkeeping, financial literacy and transparency, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements. The certificate must be submitted within one year before being elected or appointed, or within 90 days after the date of election or appointment.

The certification and educational certificate are valid for seven years from issuance and need not be resubmitted while the director serves without interruption during that period. An annual obligation sits on top of that: one year after the most recent submission, and annually thereafter, a director must submit a certificate of at least one hour of continuing education, administered by the Division or a Division-approved provider, on recent changes to Chapter 718 and the related administrative rules.

A director who fails to timely file is suspended from service until he or she complies, and the board may temporarily fill the vacancy. The secretary must retain the documents for member inspection for seven years after election, or for the duration of the director's uninterrupted tenure, whichever is longer. Failure to have them on file does not affect the validity of any board action. Our page on director certification and education works through the timing, and new director orientation covers what a newly seated director should read first.

Who decides whether a candidate qualifies

The statute does not name a decisionmaker. It says a disqualified person is not eligible and may not be listed on the ballot, which as a practical matter puts the first decision on whoever prepares the ballot: the board, with counsel and the manager. The Division's arbitrators, and ultimately the courts, decide whether that call was right.

That asymmetry is the reason to be careful. A board that wrongly excludes a candidate has created an error capable of affecting the outcome, and the usual remedy is a new election. A board that wrongly includes an ineligible candidate has a problem too, but one often survivable if the candidate loses. Where the question is genuinely close, the safer course is usually to put the candidate on the ballot, document the concern in writing, and let the challenge process resolve it.

A workable procedure for a contested eligibility question:

1. Fix the facts as of the 40-day deadline. Print the delinquency report, the title information and the term-limit history that day.
2. Tell the candidate in writing, before the ballot is printed, what the concern is and what documentation would resolve it. Give a real deadline.
3. Get counsel's view in writing before the ballot mails. This is not a call to make at a board meeting by a show of hands.
4. Record the decision and its basis in the minutes, and keep the supporting documents with the election file.
5. If the candidate is excluded, expect a challenge and preserve everything accordingly.

An eligibility dispute handled this way and still ending up in arbitration is manageable. One handled by a whispered decision in a hallway is not. The procedural exposure is covered in our guide to condominium election mistakes, and what happens once someone files is covered in challenging a condominium election. Owners weighing whether to run should start with what the job actually requires.

Contact Hamilton Mikes

Hamilton Mikes advises condominium boards and managers in Lee, Collier and Charlotte Counties on candidate eligibility questions before the ballot is printed, when the answer is still cheap, and defends the association when an eligibility call is challenged. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Corporate Governance page.