2024 New Laws for Homeowners' Associations
In this article:
- New Website Requirements
- Official Records Policy Now Required
- Financial Reporting
- New Right for Owners to Request an Accounting
- New Board Director Education Requirements
- New Architectural Control Requirements
- Hurricane Protection Standards
- New Requirements for Fining/Suspension
- Prohibited Provisions
- Association Required Delivery of Governing Documents to Owners
HB 1203, HB 293, and HB 59, effective July 1, 2024 unless stated otherwise
New Website Requirements
A homeowners' association with 100 or more parcels must have a website by January 1, 2025 that contains the following documents:
The governing documents (Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, Declaration of Covenants, and any Rules and Regulations) and each amendment to same.
A list of contracts to which the association is a party, or under which the association or the parcel owners have an obligation or responsibility.
A list of all bids received by the association in the past year, after bidding for the related materials, equipment, or services has been closed.
The annual budget and any proposed budget will be considered at the next meeting.
The annual financial report and any monthly income or expense statement to be considered at a meeting.
All current insurance policies.
Certificates of completion of statutory educational curriculum for each board director.
All contracts between the association and an outside party.
Any contract or document showing a conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest where a board director has a potential financial interest.
Notices and agendas for membership meetings, which must be posted at least 14 days before the meeting, with the following additional requirements:
The notice must be posted "in plain view on the homepage of the website," or on a subpage labeled "Notices," which is "conspicuously visible."
Posted with the notice must also be any document to be considered and voted on by the members during the meeting and/or any document listed on the meeting agenda.Such documents must be posted at least 7 days before the meeting.
Notices and agenda for any board meetings, including any other documents "required" for the meeting, all of which must be posted no later than 48 hours prior to the meeting.
§720.303(4)(b), Florida Statutes
The website must have both public access and a "members only" private subpage or portal that is only accessible to parcel owners and employees of the association, and the association must provide a username and password to parcel owners for access to the private section of its website.§720.303(4)(b), Florida Statutes.
Official records protected from owner review (per §720.303(5)(g), Florida Statutes) shall not be posted on the website, or redacted if included in documents that are required to be posted.§720.303(4)(b), Florida Statutes.
Official Records Policy Now Required
Associations must adopt written rules or a policy stating how official records are maintained and the time period such records must be retained per §720.303(4)(a), Florida Statutes, which is, with some exceptions, generally 7 years.The adopted rules or policy must be posted on the association's website.
Financial Reporting
Associations can no longer reduce their minimum level of financial reporting for consecutive fiscal years, but rather must comply with the minimum reporting requirement at least once every 2 years.Associations with at least 1,000 parcels are now required to prepare audited financial statements, regardless of revenue.§720.303(7), Florida Statutes.
New Right for Owners to Request an Accounting
Owners may now make a written request for a "detailed accounting" of amounts they owe to the association, and the board must provide that accounting within 15 business days after receipt of the request.If the board does not timely respond, that failure "constitutes a complete waiver of any outstanding fines" owned by the owner who made the request that "are more than 30 days past due and for which the association has not given prior written notice of the imposition of the fines."Owners can only request an accounting once every 90 calendar days.§720.303(14), Florida Statutes.
New Board Director Education Requirements
Newly elected or appointed board directors must complete Department of Business and Professional Regulation ("DBPR") approved education within 90 days after being elected or appointed.Such education course must include "training relating to financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements."§720.3033(1)(a), Florida Statutes.
All directors must complete the education specific to newly elected and appointed directors at least every 4 years.§720.3033(1)(a), Florida Statutes.
Certificates of education completion are valid for up to 4 years.§720.3033(1)(a), Florida Statutes.
In addition to the requirements for education for newly elected or appointed directors, for associations fewer than 2,500 parcels, directors must complete at least 4 hours of continuing education per year.For associations 2,500 parcels or larger, directors must complete 8 hours of continuing education per year.§720.3033(5), Florida Statutes.
New Architectural Control Requirements
Associations are now required by statute to "reasonably and equitably apply and enforce" their architectural and construction improvement standards on all parcel owners.So, selective enforcement is now prohibited per statute.§720.3035(1)(a), Florida Statutes.
The following architectural, construction, and/or improvement restrictions are now prohibited:
Requirements for or limitations on improvements to the interior of a structure that are "not visible from the parcel's frontage or an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area, or a community golf course."
Requirements for review and approval of plans and specifications for central air-conditioning, refrigeration, heating, or ventilation systems, if such systems are "not visible from the parcel's frontage, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area, or a community golf course and is substantially similar to a system that is approved or recommended by the association or a committee thereof."
§720.3035(1)(b), Florida Statutes.
If an association or a committee of the association denies an owner's request or application for the construction of a parcel or improvement on a parcel, the association or its committee, it "must provide written notice to the parcel owner stating with specificity the rule or covenant on which the association or committee relied when denying the request or application and the specific aspect or part of the proposed improvement that does not conform to such rule or covenant."§720.3035(4)(a), Florida Statutes.
Hurricane Protection Standards
All associations are now required to adopt hurricane protection architectural specifications.Those specifications may include the color and style of hurricane protection products "and any other factor deemed relevant by the board."All specifications must comply with applicable building codes.§720.3035(6)(a), Florida Statutes.
Associations cannot deny owner applications for hurricane protection which conforms to the association's specifications.But they can require that owners adhere to an existing unified building scheme of the structure or its improvements.§720.3035(6)(b), Florida Statutes.
"Hurricane protection" is broadly defined to include not only shutters, panels, and impact windows and doors, but also "roof systems," "reinforced garage doors, erosion controls, exterior fixed generators, fuel storage tanks, and other hurricane protection products used to preserve and protect the structures or improvements on a parcel."§720.3035(6)(c), Florida Statutes.
New Requirements for Fining/Suspension
Specifies that fining/suspension hearing notices must be in writing.§720.305(2)(b), Florida Statutes.
Fining/suspension hearings must now be held within 90 days after issue of the hearing notice.§720.305(2)(b), Florida Statutes.
Fining/suspension committees may hold fining/suspension hearings by telephone or other electronic means.§720.305(2)(b), Florida Statutes.
The fining/suspension committee must provide written notice of its findings, including any applicable fines or suspensions that were approved or rejected, within 7 days after the fining hearing.Also, as applicable, the notice shall state how the violation can be cured, a suspension be fulfilled, or the date by which a fine must be paid.§720.305(2)(d), Florida Statutes.
A fine or suspension may not be imposed if the violation has been cured before the hearing, or in the manner specified in the written notice of the hearing or the written notice of the committee's findings.§720.305(2)(e), Florida Statutes.
If the violation is not cured, the fining committee must set a date by which the fine must be paid, which must be at least 30 days after the delivery of the written notice of its findings.§720.305(2)(f), Florida Statutes.
Attorney fees and costs may not be awarded against a parcel owner before the date set for a fine to be paid or until after the time for an appeal has ended.§720.305(2)(f), Florida Statutes.
Regardless of what is stated in their governing documents, associations now cannot fine/suspend for:
Leaving garbage receptacles at the curb or the end of the driveway within 24 hours before or after the designated garbage collection day or time.
Leaving holiday decorations or lights on a structure or other improvement on a parcel longer than indicated in the association's governing documents, unless such decorations or lights are left up for longer than 1 week after the association provides written notice of the violation to the parcel owner.
§720.305(7), Florida Statutes.
Prohibited Provisions
Associations may not prohibit an owner, tenant, guest, or invitee from parking their "personal vehicle, including a pickup truck" or work vehicle, other than statutory "commercial vehicles" (defined in §320.01(25), Florida Statutes as a vehicle that uses special fuel and weighs at least 26,001 pounds or has three or more axels regardless of weight) in the owner's driveway, or any other area where there is a governmental right to park (in sum, public streets).§720.3075(3)(b), Florida Statutes.
Associations may not prohibit owners from using vendors who are not on an association approved or preferred vendor list.Also, they cannot prohibit owners from using unlicensed contractors or workers on their own parcel.§720.3075(3)(c), Florida Statutes.
Associations may not prohibit vegetable gardens on a parcel which are not visible from parcel's frontage, an adjacent parcel or common area, or a community golf course.§720.3045, Florida Statutes.
Associations may not prohibit "first responders" from parking their assigned first responder vehicles where the owner otherwise has the right to park.§720.318, Florida Statutes.
Association Required Delivery of Governing Documents to Owners
By October 1, 2024, all associations must deliver a physical or digital copy of the association's governing documents to all current owners.Also, they are required to provide all new owners with same.Further, governing document amendments must be provided to all owners.Compliance with these requirements can be made by posting the documents on the association's website if it provides owners with notice that the website is being used for that purpose.§720.303(13), Florida Statutes.
There are a number of new provisions which make certain actions by board directors or managers crimes, however, we have not included those provisions in this summary since they will only apply to community associations in unusual circumstances.
