A Florida homeowners association is a Florida corporation responsible for the operation of a community in which the voting membership is made up of parcel owners, membership is a mandatory condition of owning a parcel, and the association is authorized to impose assessments that, if unpaid, may become a lien on the parcel. That is the definition in section 720.301, and each element matters: a voluntary civic association is not an HOA, and a community whose covenants do not authorize assessments and liens is not governed by Chapter 720. Unlike a condominium, the owners in an HOA hold fee title to their lots and homes, and the association itself owns the roads, lakes, gates, and amenities as common areas.
What makes a community an HOA
Homeowners associations are created by a recorded declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions that binds every parcel in the community to a set of promises: to pay assessments, to comply with use and architectural restrictions, and to accept the association's authority to enforce them. The declaration, together with the articles of incorporation, bylaws, and rules, makes up the governing documents defined in section 720.301. Chapter 720 applies to every residential community that meets the statutory definition regardless of size, from a six-lot subdivision to a 3,000-home master-planned community, and it applies to master associations and sub-associations alike.
Chapter 720 does not apply to condominiums (Chapter 718), cooperatives (Chapter 719), mobile home parks (Chapter 723), or timeshares (Chapter 721), even though those communities often sit inside a larger community that Chapter 720 does govern. A condominium building within a gated master community is subject to both statutes: Chapter 718 for the building and Chapter 720 for the master association that maintains the gate.
What the association owns and controls
The common areas are real property owned or leased by the association, or dedicated to it, for the use of the members: roads, drainage lakes and retention ponds, entry features and gates, clubhouses, pools, and preserve tracts. Everything else is a parcel owned by an individual member. That structure is simpler than a condominium's, where owners hold undivided shares in a single structure, but it creates its own recurring questions: who maintains the lake bank behind a lot, who is responsible for the sidewalk, whether a drainage easement across a parcel is the owner's or the association's to maintain. The declaration answers them, and when it does not, Chapter 720 and Florida property law fill the gaps.
Powers and duties under Chapter 720
Section 720.303 gives the association the powers of a Florida corporation and the powers granted by its governing documents, and it imposes duties that the documents cannot waive:
| Duty or power | Source | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Hold open board meetings with 48-hour posted notice; 14 days' notice for special assessments and rule amendments affecting parcel use | § 720.303(2) | Owners may speak on agenda items; quorum discussions by email are prohibited |
| Maintain official records and provide access within 10 business days | § 720.303(4)–(5) | $50/day minimum damages for willful failure; 100-parcel associations post records online |
| Adopt an annual budget; fund or waive reserves under the statutory procedure | § 720.303(6) | Reserves may be waived or reduced by majority vote at a members' meeting where the documents or a prior vote established them |
| Prepare annual financial reports | § 720.303(7) | Compiled, reviewed, or audited depending on revenue, within 90 days after fiscal year end |
| Levy and collect assessments; lien and foreclose | § 720.3085 | Statutory 30-day and 45-day notices precede fees, liens, and foreclosure |
| Enforce the covenants by fines, suspensions, and suit | § 720.305 | Fines up to $100 per violation and $1,000 aggregate unless documents allow more; 14-day notice and hearing before a committee of at least three non-officer, non-director owners; fines of $1,000 or more may become liens |
| Amend the documents by the vote the documents or statute require | § 720.306(1) | Two-thirds of voting interests if the documents are silent; rental amendments bind only consenting and later owners |
| Regulate architecture through a committee | § 720.3035 | Authority must be stated in or reasonably inferred from the declaration or published guidelines |
Directors must complete an approved education course within 90 days of taking office and four or eight hours of continuing education annually depending on the community's size. Unlike condominium directors, homeowners association directors are subject to no statutory term limit, although the governing documents may impose one.
What the association may not do
The Legislature has steadily narrowed HOA authority. Section 720.304 protects the display of the United States flag and specified state, military, first-responder, and other flags, and protects solar collectors and other renewable energy devices under section 163.04. Section 720.3075 voids declaration clauses that prohibit Florida-friendly landscaping or that give the developer unilateral amendment rights beyond the statute. Section 720.3035(1)(b) bars associations from regulating the interior of a structure not visible from the frontage or adjacent parcels, and section 720.3045 bars them from restricting items on a parcel, such as artificial turf, boats, flags, vegetable gardens, clotheslines, and recreational vehicles, that are not visible from the frontage, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area, or a community golf course. Since July 1, 2026, section 720.3035(1)(c) bars an association or its architectural committee from requiring a building permit as a prerequisite for its review of a proposed structure or improvement on a parcel; the association may still condition its approval on the owner obtaining any permit the work requires. Section 720.3075 protects the parking of personal vehicles, including pickup trucks and work vehicles, in an owner's driveway. Section 720.305(7), as amended in 2024, prohibits fines for garbage receptacles left out within 24 hours before or after collection day and for holiday decorations until a week after written notice, and section 720.303 requires associations to give every member a copy of the rules and covenants. Our covenant enforcement guide lists the current limits.
Who regulates HOAs
No state agency supervises homeowners associations the way the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes supervises condominiums. The Division's role under Chapter 720 is limited to arbitrating election and recall disputes. Every other dispute between an owner and an HOA proceeds under section 720.311: a statutory demand for presuit mediation, and, if mediation fails, a lawsuit in county or circuit court where the prevailing party recovers attorney's fees. That structure means an HOA's compliance is tested by its own members rather than by a regulator, and that a board that ignores Chapter 720 will hear about it from an owner's attorney rather than from Tallahassee.
The problem of aging covenants
Chapter 712, the Marketable Record Title Act, extinguishes covenants 30 years after the root of title unless they are preserved, and many Southwest Florida subdivisions platted in the 1970s and 1980s have covenants at or past that point. Chapter 720 requires the board to consider a "statement of marketable title action" at its first meeting after each annual meeting, allows the association to preserve its covenants by recording a notice, and provides a revitalization procedure for covenants that have lapsed. An HOA whose declaration has expired cannot collect assessments or enforce restrictions until it revitalizes. Our article on enforcing old restrictions explains the process.
How an HOA differs from a condominium association
The differences run deeper than the statute number. Condominium owners share a building; HOA owners share a neighborhood. Condominium associations must insure the structure, fund structural reserves, and conduct milestone inspections; HOAs insure only the common areas and may waive reserves by member vote. Condominium elections follow a rigid statutory procedure; HOA elections follow the bylaws. Condominiums answer to the Division; HOAs answer to their members and the courts. Our HOA versus condominium association comparison sets the two side by side.
Frequently Asked Questions About Florida Homeowners Associations
Is my community an HOA or a condominium?
Look at your deed and the recorded declaration. If you own a lot described by lot and block or metes and bounds, and the declaration is titled a declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions, your community is a homeowners association under Chapter 720. If your deed describes a unit and an undivided share of common elements, it is a condominium under Chapter 718. Some communities contain both.
Can I refuse to join the HOA?
No. Membership is a mandatory condition of owning a parcel in a Chapter 720 community. The covenants run with the land and bind every owner from the moment title transfers, regardless of whether the buyer read them.
Who enforces Chapter 720 if the board ignores it?
The members. Except for election and recall disputes, which the Division arbitrates, an owner's remedy is a presuit mediation demand under section 720.311 followed by a lawsuit, in which the prevailing party recovers attorney's fees. Directors who act in bad faith may also face personal claims.
What can an HOA fine me for?
Violations of the declaration, bylaws, or rules, after 14 days' written notice and a hearing before a committee of owners who are not board members or their relatives, and only if the committee approves the fine. The 2024 amendments forbid fines for certain conduct, including garbage cans placed out around collection day, holiday decorations within the statutory period, and personal vehicles parked in driveways.
Does an HOA have to fund reserves?
Only if its governing documents require them or the members have voted to establish them, and even then the members may vote annually to waive or reduce the funding. This is one of the sharpest differences from condominiums, which must fund structural reserves without a waiver option for buildings three stories or taller.
How often does Chapter 720 change?
Nearly every year. The 2024 session alone added director education, website posting, criminal penalties for records violations, and limits on rules and fines. Boards should have their documents and procedures reviewed after each session.
Contact Hamilton Mikes
Hamilton Mikes advises homeowners associations throughout Southwest Florida on Chapter 720 governance, enforcement, and compliance. Call 239-594-7227 or visit our Homeowners Associations and Regulatory Compliance pages.
Statutes and authorities referenced
- § 720.301, Fla. Stat. (definitions: homeowners' association, community, parcel, common area, governing documents)
- § 720.302, Fla. Stat. (purposes and scope of Chapter 720)
- § 720.303, Fla. Stat. (association powers and duties; meetings; records; financial reporting; reserves; website)
- § 720.304, Fla. Stat. (rights of parcel owners: flags, solar, other protected items)
- § 720.305, Fla. Stat. (obligations of members; remedies; fines and suspensions)
- § 720.306, Fla. Stat. (meetings of members; amendments; elections)
- § 720.3085, Fla. Stat. (assessments; lien; collection)
- § 720.311, Fla. Stat. (dispute resolution: Division arbitration for elections and recalls; presuit mediation)
- § 720.3045 and § 720.3075, Fla. Stat. (limits on HOA rules: interior and not-visible items; prohibited clauses)
- Chapter 712, Fla. Stat. (Marketable Record Title Act)