Florida Statute 718 Official Records Request Form: Fees and Damages

Florida Statute 718.111(12) does not require any specific form to request your condominium association’s official records. Any written request works, and once the association receives it, the board has ten working days to make the records available. You do not have to say why you want them, and the association cannot ask.¹

How to Write and Send the Request

The statute is silent on format, so a short letter or email is enough. Practical contents: your name, unit number, the date, and a clear description of the records you want. Dating the request and identifying yourself gives the association what it needs to respond and gives you a paper trail if things go sideways.¹

Delivery method is also up to you. Hand delivery, regular mail, and certified mail all satisfy the statute. Certified mail with return receipt is the safest because it proves the date the association received the request, which is the date the ten-working-day clock starts running. If you expect resistance, that proof matters later.

You do not need to state a purpose. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation is explicit that the association cannot require you to explain why you want the records or demonstrate any particular purpose for the inspection.²

Be specific when you can. “All bank statements and monthly income statements for fiscal year 2025” produces a faster, cleaner response than a blanket demand for everything the association has. Broad requests are still your right, but they give the board more room to argue about compilation time.

What Counts as an Official Record

The Section 718.111(12)(a) definition is deliberately broad. It covers almost every document the association creates or receives running the condominium, including:¹

The recorded declaration, bylaws, articles of incorporation, current rules, and all amendments
Minutes of every board, committee, and unit-owner meeting, plus recordings of video-conference meetings
Itemized receipts and expenditures, bank statements, invoices, and a current account for each unit
A current roster of unit owners with mailing addresses, unit designations, and voting certifications
Management agreements, leases, vendor contracts, and insurance policies in effect
All bids received for work, materials, equipment, or services
Developer plans, permits, and warranties turned over at transition
Structural integrity reserve studies and milestone inspection reports

Retention floors vary. Governing documents, rules, developer materials, and meeting minutes are kept permanently. Structural integrity reserve studies and milestone inspection reports run 15 years. Ballots, sign-in sheets, proxies, and other voting materials run one year. Bids run at least one year after receipt. Everything else runs at least seven years.³

Records the Association Can Withhold

The inspection right is broad but not unlimited. The statute exempts specific categories regardless of how you word your request:¹

Attorney-client privileged and work-product materials, including litigation strategy documents, until the matter concludes
Information gathered when approving a sale, lease, or other transfer of a unit
Personnel records of association or management company employees (payroll, disciplinary, health, insurance), though written employment agreements and budget records showing compensation remain accessible
Medical records of unit owners
Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, credit card numbers, email addresses, phone and fax numbers, emergency contacts, and any address other than the one an owner provided for association notices
Electronic security measures such as passwords, and the software or operating system used to manage association data, though the underlying data remains an official record

When a document mixes accessible and exempt content, the association is expected to redact the protected portions rather than withhold the whole document. Any records withheld should appear on the checklist the association provides with its response.

What the Association Must Do Within Ten Working Days

Once the request lands, the ten-working-day deadline is hard. Missing it triggers a rebuttable presumption of willful noncompliance, which is where the money starts running.¹

Records must be made available within 45 miles of the condominium or within the county where it sits. In practice that usually means the management office or a room on the property. The association can also satisfy the requirement electronically, either by posting records to its website or by letting you view them on a screen and print copies on request.⁴

The association must also give you a checklist identifying every record made available and flagging any records not provided. The checklist is itself an official record and must be kept for seven years. A proper checklist creates a rebuttable presumption that the association complied, so review it carefully at the inspection. If something is missing and the checklist does not account for it, note the discrepancy in writing that day.⁴

If the records you asked for are already posted on the association’s website, the board can satisfy the request by directing you there. On written request, the association must give you a username and password for any owner-only sections.¹

Fees and Bringing Your Own Device

Inspection itself is free. The statute permits the association to charge the “reasonable expense” of copies, meaning actual reproduction cost. It does not permit administrative fees, convenience charges, or blanket surcharges on top.¹

You can also skip copy fees entirely. The statute explicitly allows unit owners and their authorized representatives to use a smartphone, tablet, portable scanner, or any similar device to make electronic copies at the inspection, and the association cannot charge you for doing it.⁴ For most requests this is the fastest and cheapest route: show up with a phone, photograph what you need, and the fee question disappears.

If You Rent Rather Than Own

Renters have far narrower rights. A tenant may inspect and copy only the declaration of condominium, the bylaws and rules, and any structural inspection reports. Financials, minutes, contracts, and the owner roster are off-limits.¹ A renter who needs broader access has to work through the unit owner, who can designate an authorized representative.

When the Association Refuses or Delays

The statute builds in escalating consequences for boards that stonewall.

$50 Per Day in Statutory Damages

Once the ten-working-day deadline passes, the willful-noncompliance presumption attaches automatically. A denied unit owner can recover actual damages or minimum statutory damages of $50 per calendar day, starting on the eleventh working day and running up to ten days. That is a $500 cap on the minimum figure; if your actual losses are higher, you can pursue those instead.¹

Attorney’s Fees

Anyone who prevails in an enforcement action to compel access can recover reasonable attorney’s fees from the person in control of the records who knowingly denied access, directly or indirectly.¹ Section 718.303 adds that a prevailing unit owner can also recover the amount needed to reimburse their share of any assessments the association levied to fund its own litigation expenses, which otherwise leaves the owner paying for both sides.⁵

Filing a DBPR Complaint

Court is not the only path. The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes within DBPR investigates records-access complaints under Section 718.111(12). If you sent the initial request by certified mail and got no response within ten working days, send a second certified-mail request. If ten more days pass with silence, the Division can subpoena the records from the association and then provide them to you at no charge.⁶ Complaint forms are available through the Division’s website, and the Division also handles complaints about missing website postings.⁷

Criminal Backstop

Destroying official records or refusing inspection to further a crime can be prosecuted as tampering with physical evidence or obstruction of justice. Anyone who knowingly destroys or fails to create required accounting records with intent to harm the association or its members also faces a separate civil penalty.⁸ These rarely surface in ordinary disputes, but they exist for the worst cases.

1
Justia Law. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association
2
Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Official Records of Condominium Associations
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association
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The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718.303 – Obligations of Owners and Occupants; Remedies
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.501 – Authority; Scope
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Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Instructions for Filing a Condominium or Cooperative Complaint
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Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association