Florida Pre-Suit Mediation for HOAs and Condos: Demand and Response

Before you sue your Florida HOA or condominium association over most community disputes, state law requires you to try to resolve it first. Florida pre-suit mediation for HOAs and condos is governed by Section 720.311 for homeowners associations and Section 718.1255 for condominiums, and skipping the process can get your lawsuit dismissed and strip your right to recover attorney fees even if you would have won on the merits. The two statutes cover overlapping but not identical disputes, carve out different exclusions, and offer condo owners an arbitration path that HOA members do not have.

Disputes That Have to Go to Mediation First

For HOAs, Section 720.311 requires pre-suit mediation for disputes between an association and a parcel owner over the use of or changes to the parcel or common areas, enforcement of community covenants, amendments to the association’s governing documents, how the board conducts its meetings, and an owner’s right to inspect official association records.¹ If your disagreement falls into any of these buckets, you cannot file a lawsuit without first serving a written demand for mediation.

The condominium list under Section 718.1255 is similar. Covered disputes include disagreements over the board’s authority to require an owner to take or refrain from taking action involving their unit, changes to common areas, the board’s failure to properly conduct meetings or elections, inadequate notice of meetings, denial of access to books and records, and disputes over a plan of termination under Section 718.117.²

Classification matters. Filing suit on a dispute that actually belonged in mediation is one of the fastest ways to see your case dismissed.

Disputes You Can Take Straight to Court

Not every fight with your association has to be mediated. The HOA exclusions are narrow. Section 720.311 exempts only the collection of any assessment, fine, or other financial obligation (including attorney fees and costs), and any action to enforce a prior mediation settlement agreement.¹

The condominium exclusion list is broader. Under Section 718.1255, disputes that primarily involve the following do not require pre-suit mediation:

Title to a unit or common element
Interpretation or enforcement of any warranty
The levy or collection of fees and assessments
The removal of a tenant from a unit
Alleged breaches of fiduciary duty by one or more directors
Claims for damage to a unit based on the association’s alleged failure to maintain common elements or condominium property

Two of those matter especially: fiduciary duty claims and maintenance-damage claims are excluded for condos but not for HOAs.² A condo owner suing the board for breach of fiduciary duty can head straight to court. An HOA owner with a similar complaint may still need to mediate first if the underlying conduct touches covenant enforcement or records access.

One more boundary: election and recall disputes are outside both mediation statutes. Those go to binding arbitration with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.¹

The Condo-Only Arbitration Option

Condominium owners have a choice HOA members do not. Section 718.1255 lets a condo party pick between pre-suit mediation under Section 720.311 or petitioning the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes for nonbinding arbitration.² One or the other has to happen before you can file in court.

DBPR arbitration works differently from mediation. An attorney-arbitrator acts as a hearing officer, takes evidence and testimony, and issues a written decision. The filing fee is $50. If neither side appeals within 30 days, the order becomes binding.³ Before filing the petition, you must give the other side advance written notice of the dispute, a demand for relief, a reasonable chance to comply, and notice that you intend to file arbitration or a lawsuit if it is not resolved.p>

Mediation gives you more control over the outcome because nothing is decided unless both sides agree. Arbitration hands the decision to a third party but produces a result even when the other side refuses to negotiate. Which route makes sense depends on whether a conversation or a ruling is more likely to solve the problem.

Serving a Valid Demand for Mediation

Starting the process means serving the other party with a written demand in the form prescribed by Section 720.311. The demand has to identify the specific disputes and the legal authority supporting each claimed violation.¹ General complaints that the board is “unfair” will not do. You need to name the governing document provision at issue and explain how it was violated.

The demand must also list five certified mediators with their names, addresses, phone numbers, and current hourly rates. Each one has to hold certification as a circuit court civil mediator under standards set by the Florida Supreme Court. The responding party picks any one of the five, and both parties split the mediator’s fees equally unless they agree otherwise.¹ The statute does not cap mediator rates; certified circuit mediators in Florida typically charge between $200 and $500 per hour depending on experience and case complexity.

A demand that omits required information or fails to follow the statutory form can invalidate the entire pre-suit attempt and reset the clock. Check every field before mailing.

The 20-Day Response Window

Once the demand is mailed, the responding party has 20 days to serve a written response. This is where a lot of disputes go sideways. Ignoring the demand, refusing to agree on a mediator, failing to pay the mediator’s fees on time, or not showing up for a scheduled session without the mediator’s approval all count as a failure to participate.¹

That failure has two consequences. It operates as an automatic impasse, letting the other side file suit immediately and seek reimbursement of mediation costs and fees. And the party that refused to participate loses the right to recover attorney fees in any later litigation over the same dispute, even if that party wins.¹

What Happens at the Mediation

Once both sides agree on a mediator, the conference must be held within 90 days of the demand. If the parties cannot schedule it inside that window, an impasse is deemed to have occurred automatically unless both sides agree in writing to extend.¹

The session usually starts with ground rules and each side’s view of the dispute, then moves into private caucuses where the mediator shuttles between rooms. The mediator does not decide who is right. The role is to help both sides understand each other’s positions and explore settlement options.

Section 720.311 requires mediation to follow the applicable Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, which means each party has to send someone with full authority to settle the dispute on the spot, without phoning anyone else for approval. For an association, that usually means a designated board representative who can commit to specific dollar amounts or actions. If an insurance carrier is involved, its representative also has to have authority up to the last demand or policy limits, whichever is less. Showing up without settlement authority can be treated as a failure to participate, with the same attorney fee penalty attached.

Non-parties may not attend without everyone’s consent, except for each side’s attorney and a corporate representative designated by the association.¹

Everything said inside the mediation stays confidential. Florida Statute Section 44.405 makes mediation communications privileged, and participants can refuse to testify about what was said if the dispute later lands in court.⁴ The protection is strong enough that you can speak candidly about what you would accept or what compromises you would consider without worrying that your words end up in front of a judge. Narrow exceptions exist (waiver, evidence of a crime, mediator misconduct, mandatory abuse reports), but in an ordinary community-association dispute the confidentiality holds.

Settlement, Impasse, and What Comes Next

If mediation produces a deal, the mediator helps put it in writing. Once signed, that document is a binding contract enforceable in court. Good settlement agreements spell out every specific action, dollar amount, and deadline; vague language leaves the door open for the same fight to come back. If one side does not follow through, the other can move to enforce, and the prevailing party in an enforcement action is entitled to attorney fees and costs.¹

If the parties cannot reach agreement, the mediator declares an impasse. No formal certificate is required; the declaration satisfies the pre-suit requirement and clears the path to court. After impasse, either side can file in a court of competent jurisdiction, or the parties can agree together to enter binding or nonbinding arbitration under Section 718.1255. If everyone does not agree to arbitration, any party may go directly to court. The prevailing party in the eventual litigation can recover the costs and attorney fees incurred during the mediation itself, on top of the litigation fees.¹

Filing the demand also tolls the statute of limitations on the underlying dispute, so weeks or months spent in mediation will not eat your filing window.

The Attorney Fees Penalty Is the Real Stake

The single most important thing to understand about this process: a party that fails or refuses to participate in the full mediation cannot recover attorney fees in any subsequent litigation over the same dispute, regardless of who wins.¹ The statute says this applies “notwithstanding the provisions of any other law or document,” which means the penalty overrides fee-shifting clauses in your governing documents, other Florida statutes, or any contract.

The rule cuts both ways. A board that ignores a mediation demand gambles away its ability to collect fees from a losing owner. An owner who blows off the process gives up the chance to make the association pay legal bills after a favorable verdict. In community association cases where fees routinely run into tens of thousands of dollars, this is not a technicality. It is often the biggest number in the case.

Failure to participate is broader than not showing up. It includes missing the 20-day response window, refusing to agree on a mediator, not paying the mediator’s fees on time, and leaving the session without the mediator’s approval. Any one of those triggers the same consequence. Sitting through a few hours of negotiation, even when you doubt it will settle anything, preserves rights that can be worth far more than the mediator’s bill.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 720.311 – Dispute Resolution
2
Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.1255 – Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediation, Nonbinding Arbitration, Applicability
3
Florida DBPR. Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes – Arbitration
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 44.405 – Confidentiality, Privilege, Exceptions