After a hurricane the board's communications problem is not a shortage of information. It is that the information changes weekly, the owners are frightened, and every word the board writes becomes a record that an owner, an adjuster or opposing counsel will read later. The answer is to communicate often, communicate in one place, describe only what has actually happened, and never tell an owner what the outcome will be.
What owners are entitled to, and why that is the wrong starting point
Chapter 718 does not require the board to send storm updates. What it requires is access to official records. Under § 718.111(12)(c) the association's records must be made available to a unit owner within 10 working days after receipt of a written request, on the condominium or association property, electronically via the internet, or by allowing the records to be viewed on a computer screen and printed on request. The association may adopt reasonable written rules governing the frequency, time, location, notice and manner of inspections.
The consequences of failing are specific. Failure to provide access within 10 working days creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply, and minimum damages are $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days, beginning on the eleventh working day after receipt of the request.
Treating that floor as the plan is the mistake. In the weeks after Ian, the associations that said very little received records requests measured in the dozens, and every one started a 10-working-day clock in an office with no power. The associations that sent a short update every Friday received almost none. Communication here is records-request avoidance, and it is much cheaper. Directors also owe a fiduciary relationship to the owners under § 718.111(1)(a), and a board that has gone dark for a month has usually lost the ability to get an assessment approved.
Everything you write is a record someone will ask for
Write every post-storm communication as though it will be read aloud in a deposition, because a meaningful number of them will be.
The official records are broad. Minutes of all meetings of the association, the board, any committee and the unit owners are records under § 718.111(12)(a)6., and under § 718.111(12)(b) the records specified in § 718.111(12)(a)1. through 6. must be permanently maintained from the inception of the association, while all other official records must be maintained within the state for at least 7 years unless otherwise provided by general law. Insurance policies, contracts, invoices, bids and accounting records are all in the set.
A narrow but important category is not accessible. Section 718.111(12)(c)5. introduces the list with "Notwithstanding this paragraph, the following records are not accessible to unit owners:" Sub-subparagraph a. exempts "Any record protected by the lawyer-client privilege as described in s. 90.502 and any record protected by the work-product privilege," and then defines that second category as a record reflecting the attorney's or the association's mental impressions, conclusions, litigation strategy or legal theory, "prepared exclusively for civil or criminal litigation or for adversarial administrative proceedings, or . . . in anticipation of such litigation or proceedings until the conclusion of the litigation or proceedings." Personnel records, medical records of unit owners, and identifying information such as Social Security, driver license and credit card numbers are excluded by other items on the same list.
Boards read that sentence backwards, and after a storm it costs them. It protects two categories joined by "and," and the litigation language belongs to the second. The lawyer-client clause in front of it carries no litigation condition, and § 90.502 has none of its own. So counsel's written advice on whether the association must repair a unit interior, on the scope of the carrier's duty, or on whether an emergency assessment is authorized is exempt from inspection in week two of a recovery, with nothing filed. In our view that is what the text says. We are not aware of any Florida appellate decision construing the clause either way, and we do not claim appellate authority for the reading. Our guide on confidentiality and privilege sets out the full text and the reasoning.
What the exemption does not do is cover the recovery. The engineer's report, the contractor's proposal, the adjuster's correspondence, the mitigation invoices and the board's own updates to owners do not become privileged because counsel was copied on them, and they do not become work product because a claim is disputed. Sort the file record by record. Withhold counsel's advice and the material genuinely prepared for the litigation, and produce the rest. A board that stamps the whole storm folder "attorney-client" will lose that position and pay for the delay.
The meeting rule is separate, and stricter. Section 718.112(2)(c)5.a. permits a closed session with the association's attorney only "with respect to proposed or pending litigation" and only where the meeting is "held for the purpose of seeking or rendering legal advice." A board that wants counsel's read on a coverage position in week three, with nothing yet filed, cannot go behind closed doors to hear it, even though the written memo on that same question stays out of the records. Get the advice in writing, let the directors read it, and keep the meeting open.
Two habits protect that protection, and both go to the one condition § 90.502 does impose. Under § 90.502(1)(c) a communication is confidential only if it is "not intended to be disclosed to third persons other than" those to whom disclosure furthers the rendition of legal services and those reasonably necessary to transmit it. Advice read out at an open meeting or forwarded into an owner mailing may stop being confidential, and when the confidentiality goes, the privilege and the records exemption go with it. So do not forward the association attorney's advice to the membership or into an email chain that includes owners. And do not write the blast email summarizing counsel's analysis of the carrier's position. Say the board has consulted counsel and will act on that advice; say nothing about what the advice was. The same discipline applies to directors' texts and group chats, which can be official records and are the least careful writing most boards produce. Our guides on confidentiality and privilege and on responding to records requests go further.
The difference between a status update and a legal representation
A status update describes what has already happened and what the board has decided. "The engineer completed his walkthrough on Tuesday. The board met Thursday and authorized dry-out in Buildings 2 and 3. The mitigation contractor started Friday." All of it is verifiable, dated and past tense.
A representation tells an owner something about the future that the owner may then act on. "You'll be back in by March." "Insurance is going to cover the flooring." "There won't be an assessment." Owners act on statements like these. They sign leases elsewhere, turn down settlement offers, decline to file their own claims, buy cabinets. When the statement turns out wrong, the board has handed them a grievance.
| Instead of | Say |
|---|---|
| "You'll be back in your unit by March." | "The contractor's current schedule shows Building 2 drywall complete in February. Schedules have moved twice and may move again." |
| "Insurance will cover it." | "The claim has been submitted. The carrier has not issued a coverage determination. We will circulate it when we receive it." |
| "There will be no special assessment." | "The board has not determined whether a special assessment will be needed. That decision will be made at a noticed meeting." |
| "Your unit is habitable." | "Based on the engineer's report of October 14, the board has determined that Building 1 can be safely occupied. That is not a determination of habitability under the declaration." |
| "The association will replace your cabinets." | "Cabinets are excluded from the association's policy under § 718.111(11)(f) and are the owner's responsibility. Please contact your own carrier." |
Build the habit of attributing and dating. "As of October 14, the engineer reports" is safe in a way that "the building is structurally sound" is not, because the first accurately describes what the board was told and the second is the board's own guarantee.
Do not promise a timeline and do not predict the claim
On timelines: give the contractor's current schedule, name it as the contractor's, date it, and say plainly that it has changed before and may change again. Nobody in Southwest Florida who lived through the eighteen months after Ian believes a schedule anyway. What they resent is being told a date and then hearing nothing when it passes. Publish the slip the week it happens, with the reason.
On insurance: the board should never characterize coverage. Report events. The claim was submitted on this date. The adjuster inspected on that date. The carrier issued a partial payment in this amount. A supplemental claim was submitted. None of that requires predicting an outcome, and a board that predicts one is making a statement about a contract it does not control. Our guide on insurance claim documentation explains what the board should be capturing behind the scenes.
On assessments: say what the board has decided and what it has not. Owners can handle "we do not know yet." What they cannot handle is being told there will be no assessment in November and receiving one in January, which is also how recall petitions begin. The sequencing is covered in our guide on post-storm special assessments.
The owner who wants to move back into an uninhabitable unit
This conversation happens in every recovery, usually in week two, usually with an owner who has nowhere else to go. Handle it with the statute in front of you, because the legal position is narrower than boards think.
Under § 718.1265(1)(i) the board may determine, on the advice of emergency management officials, public health officials, or licensed professionals retained by or available to the board, whether the property can be safely inhabited, accessed or occupied, and it may restrict access to portions of the property on the advice of licensed professionals. But § 718.1265(3) provides that during a declared state of emergency the association may not prohibit owners, tenants, guests, agents or invitees from accessing the unit and its appurtenant common and limited common elements for ingress and egress, for the sale or lease of the unit, or to determine habitability, subject to reasonable restrictions and to any governmental order.
Occupancy is also frequently controlled by someone other than the board. A building official's placard, a red or yellow tag, a suspended certificate of occupancy, or a utility that has not been restored will each decide the question regardless of what the board prefers. Say so, name the authority, and put the owner in touch with it. The board takes far less heat for relaying a building official's decision than for appearing to make one.
Put the position in writing to the owner, individually, every time: the professional advice the board relies on and its date, what the owner may do, what the owner may not do and why, and what would have to change. Be careful with the word uninhabitable, because the board's determination under § 718.1265(1)(i) is expressly not conclusive as to habitability under the declaration, where assessment abatement and termination questions live. Say the board has determined the building cannot be safely occupied, and let the declaration questions be answered separately.
Adjusters and contractors will be soliciting your owners
Within days of a major storm, owners will hear from public adjusters, restoration contractors, roofers and attorneys, several of whom drove in from out of state and none of whom has read the declaration. Some will tell an owner the association is not protecting them and that they should sign on the spot. The board cannot stop owners from retaining anyone they want. What it can do is get there first and be factual.
- Tell owners which claim is which. The association's policy covers the property the association must insure. The owner's policy covers the items excluded by § 718.111(11)(f), including floor, wall and ceiling coverings, cabinets and countertops, appliances, water heaters, window treatments and personal property.
- Tell owners the association has not authorized anyone to solicit them, and name the vendors it has actually retained and the scope of each.
- Tell owners to report damage to the association in writing and promptly, because under § 718.111(11)(j)4. the association is not obligated to pay as a common expense for losses that were known or should have been known to the owner and were not reported until after the association's claim was settled or resolved with finality, or denied as untimely.
- Ask owners to send the association a copy of any document they are asked to sign that concerns the common elements, before signing it.
Do not tell owners whether to hire a public adjuster or an attorney, and do not tell them a particular firm is a problem. Both are the board straying outside its role, and both are how a defamation letter arrives.
Keeping communications consistent with the claim
The association's communications to owners and its communications to its carrier are two accounts of the same events, and they will eventually be compared. A newsletter saying the roof had been leaking since 2023 will be read against a claim asserting the roof failed in the storm.
A few rules keep the accounts aligned. Route facts through one person, usually the manager or the president, so the same event is described the same way to every audience. Do not publish scope or damage estimates the board has not verified. Do not characterize causation, which is the adjuster's and the engineer's job. Do not publish an internal condition report or a consultant's draft without asking counsel. And once a dispute with a carrier or a contractor is reasonably foreseeable, suspend routine deletion of email, texts and photographs. Our guide on litigation holds and record preservation sets out how.
Make the website the single source of truth
Rumor fills a vacuum, and after a storm the vacuum is filled by a private owners' Facebook group the board does not control and cannot correct. The fix is a single place that is always current and that the board can point to every time.
For most Southwest Florida condominiums this is already a legal obligation. A condominium with 25 or more units that does not contain timeshare units must maintain a website or mobile application and post the official records listed in § 718.111(12)(g), and a record must be posted within 30 days after the association receives or creates it. A board already meeting that obligation has most of the infrastructure it needs.
Structure the storm section so owners can self-serve: a dated log of board actions, most recent first; the current contractor schedule, labeled with its date and source; claim milestones as events rather than predictions; building-by-building status; the vendors retained and their scope; and the records the board is required to post, kept current.
Then hold to it. Every email, notice and answer at a meeting ends with the same sentence: the current information is on the portal. A weekly update sent on the same day each week, even when the update is that nothing changed, is worth more than a detailed email sent whenever someone gets around to it. Owners calibrate to a rhythm, and when it breaks they assume something is wrong. None of this substitutes for the underlying decisions, covered in our guide on post-hurricane board duties. But the association that recovered well from Ian was rarely the one with the best contractor. It was the one whose owners knew what was happening.
Frequently Asked Questions About Post-Hurricane Owner Communications
Are we legally required to send owners storm updates?
No. Chapter 718 requires access to official records, not periodic updates. Under § 718.111(12)(c) records must be made available within 10 working days of a written request, and failure creates a rebuttable presumption of willful noncompliance with minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days. Regular updates are not required, but they sharply reduce the volume of requests the association has to answer.
Can owners get copies of our communications with the insurance adjuster?
Usually yes. Correspondence about the claim is generally an official record. What § 718.111(12)(c)5.a. excludes is a record protected by the lawyer-client privilege as described in § 90.502 and, separately, a record protected by the work-product privilege prepared exclusively for or in anticipation of litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings. Counsel's advice about the claim is exempt whether or not anything has been filed. The adjuster correspondence itself is not. Assume claim correspondence will be produced, and write it accordingly.
An owner insists on moving back into a unit we have said is not safe. What can we do?
Document the professional advice supporting the board's determination under § 718.1265(1)(i) and give it to the owner in writing. Remember that § 718.1265(3) protects access for ingress and egress, for sale or lease, and to determine habitability, subject to reasonable restrictions and governmental orders. If a building official has tagged the building or the certificate of occupancy is suspended, that decision is not the board's, and you should say so and identify the authority.
Should the board tell owners whether insurance will cover their flooring?
No. Report events, not predictions. The board can say the claim was submitted, the adjuster inspected, and a payment was issued in a stated amount. It should not characterize coverage. On unit interiors, the accurate statement is that floor, wall and ceiling coverings, cabinets, countertops, appliances and similar items are excluded from the association's policy by § 718.111(11)(f) and owners should contact their own carriers.
Do we have to post storm information on the association website?
A condominium with 25 or more units that does not contain timeshare units must maintain a website or mobile application and post the official records listed in § 718.111(12)(g), within 30 days after the association receives or creates the record. Storm updates themselves are not on that list, but the contracts, insurance policies, budgets and minutes generated during a recovery generally are, and the portal is the sensible place to put everything.
Can we tell owners not to sign with a public adjuster?
The board should not advise owners for or against retaining a public adjuster or an attorney. What it can do is give facts: which claim covers what, who the association has actually retained and for what scope, that nobody is soliciting on the association's behalf, and that owners should send the association a copy of anything they are asked to sign that concerns the common elements before signing it.
Are board members' text messages about the storm official records?
They can be, if they relate to the operation of the association. Section 718.111(12) defines official records broadly, and directors' informal messages are the least careful writing a board produces. Keep substantive discussion at noticed meetings where the minutes will capture it, and once a dispute becomes reasonably foreseeable, preserve texts and email rather than deleting them.
Contact Hamilton Mikes
Hamilton Mikes reviews post-storm owner communications, records responses and website postings for condominium boards throughout Southwest Florida, and we would rather read the draft than the deposition. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Official Records page.
Statutes and authorities referenced
- § 90.502, Fla. Stat. (lawyer-client privilege; client defined at (1)(b) to include a corporation or association; confidentiality defined at (1)(c); general rule at (2))
- § 718.111(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (fiduciary relationship of officers and directors to unit owners)
- § 718.111(11)(f), Fla. Stat. (items excluded from the association's policy and left to the unit owner)
- § 718.111(11)(j)4., Fla. Stat. (no common-expense obligation where an owner's known loss was not timely reported)
- § 718.111(12)(a)6., Fla. Stat. (minutes of association, board, committee and owner meetings as official records)
- § 718.111(12)(b), Fla. Stat. (records in (a)1.–6. permanently maintained; all other official records kept within the state at least 7 years)
- § 718.111(12)(c), Fla. Stat. (inspection within 10 working days; rebuttable presumption of willful noncompliance; minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days beginning on the 11th working day; reasonable rules on inspection)
- § 718.111(12)(c)5.a., Fla. Stat. (records not accessible to unit owners: any record protected by the lawyer-client privilege as described in s. 90.502, and any record protected by the work-product privilege prepared exclusively for or in anticipation of litigation or adversarial administrative proceedings; the same list also covers personnel records, medical records and identifying numbers)
- § 718.111(12)(g), Fla. Stat. (website or mobile application for condominiums of 25 or more units, non-timeshare; posting within 30 days of receipt or creation)
- § 718.1265(1)(i), Fla. Stat. (determination of safe habitation, access or occupancy on professional advice; not conclusive as to habitability under the declaration)
- § 718.1265(3), Fla. Stat. (owner access during a declared state of emergency for ingress and egress, sale or lease, and determination of habitability)
- § 718.112(2)(c), Fla. Stat. (board meeting notice and agenda requirements; at (2)(c)5.a., closed meetings with the association's attorney with respect to proposed or pending litigation, held for the purpose of seeking or rendering legal advice)
- § 718.116(10), Fla. Stat. (specific purpose of a special assessment stated in the written notice)