Florida Statute 718, the Condominium Act, is the chapter of Florida law that governs how every residential condominium association in the state is run, how money is collected and reserved, what rights unit owners have, and what safety inspections buildings must complete. It sets the rules your board has to follow, gives you tools to hold that board accountable, and, since the Champlain Towers South collapse, requires structural inspections and reserve funding that owners can no longer vote to waive.1Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718 – Condominiums
How the Association Is Governed
Every Florida condominium is operated by an association organized as a Florida corporation, and the association acts through an elected board of directors. Those directors owe a fiduciary duty to unit owners: they must act in good faith, exercise ordinary care, and make decisions they reasonably believe serve the association’s interests.2Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association
The board enforces the declaration of condominium, the bylaws, and any rules the association has adopted. In residential associations with more than ten units, the board must meet at least once per quarter, and at least four meetings a year must include time for owners to ask questions. Board meetings where a quorum is present are open to all unit owners, with two narrow exceptions: discussions of personnel matters, and meetings with the association’s attorney about active or potential litigation.3Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718.112 – Bylaws
Notice of every board meeting must be posted in a conspicuous location on the condominium property at least 48 continuous hours in advance, and the notice has to list all agenda items. Emergency meetings are the only exception. Directors are elected by written ballot or voting machine, and proxies cannot be used in board elections.
One note on new buildings: the developer initially controls the board, and the Act phases in owner control based on how many units have sold and how much time has passed since the declaration was recorded, with a full transfer no later than seven years after recording.4Justia. Florida Code 718.301 – Transfer of Association Control If you bought into a new development, ask where your association is in that timeline.
Your Rights as a Unit Owner
Chapter 718 gives you several concrete tools to keep your board in check. You can attend any open board meeting, speak on designated agenda items, and ask questions about construction or repair projects, association finances, and other issues affecting the community. The association may adopt reasonable rules about how long and how often owners speak, but it cannot cut off the right to participate. You can also record or videotape any meeting you are entitled to attend.3Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718.112 – Bylaws
Access to Official Records
Owners have a broad right to inspect the association’s official records. Those records include the declaration and bylaws, board meeting minutes, the current roster of owners, all insurance policies, management contracts, accounting records, building permits, and inspection reports, among other documents. The association must make records available within 10 working days of a written request. If it doesn’t, the law presumes the failure was willful, and an owner who has to enforce that right can recover the costs of doing so, including attorney’s fees.5Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association You may make copies at your own reasonable expense.
What You Are Responsible For
Every owner, tenant, and guest has to comply with the declaration, bylaws, and rules. Owners maintain the interior of their units; the association maintains the common elements. Where the line falls between “your problem” and “the association’s problem” depends on the declaration, and it’s worth reading that specific allocation before any dispute over a leak, wall, or window escalates.
Budgets, Reserves, and the Post-Surfside Rules
The annual budget process is meant to be transparent. The board must adopt the budget at least 14 days before the fiscal year begins and send every owner a copy of the proposed budget at least 14 days before the budget meeting, and that meeting must be open to all owners. The proposal has to break out estimated revenues and expenses by account and expense category.
Beyond operating expenses, the budget must include reserve accounts for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance. Reserves must cover roof replacement, building painting, and pavement resurfacing regardless of cost, plus any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $25,000 (or a higher inflation-adjusted figure published by the Division). The required amount is calculated from each item’s estimated remaining useful life and estimated replacement cost.6Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.112 – Bylaws
For years, owners could vote to waive or reduce reserve funding, and many associations did. That is no longer possible for structural components. For any budget adopted on or after December 31, 2024, an owner-controlled association required to obtain a Structural Integrity Reserve Study cannot vote to waive or reduce reserves for the components the SIRS covers. Those reserve funds, plus any interest they earn, can only be spent on replacing or maintaining the specific components they were set aside for. This is the provision driving large assessment increases across Florida, and it was a direct legislative response to the Surfside collapse.
The SIRS Itself
Buildings three or more habitable stories tall must have a Structural Integrity Reserve Study completed at least every 10 years. The SIRS is a visual inspection by a qualified professional that assesses remaining useful life and estimated replacement cost for the components the association is responsible for under its declaration. At a minimum, the study covers:
- Roof
- Load-bearing walls and other primary structural members and systems
- Fireproofing and fire protection systems
- Plumbing
- Electrical systems
- Waterproofing and exterior painting
- Windows and exterior doors
- Any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $25,000
The findings feed directly into the required reserve funding, and, as above, the funding for these items cannot be waived by owner vote.
Special Assessments and the Association’s Lien
When routine assessments don’t cover an unexpected expense or a major project, the board can levy a special assessment. The written notice to owners has to describe the specific purpose, and the money collected can only be used for that purpose. Anything left over becomes common surplus, which the board may refund to owners or credit against future assessments.7Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 718.116 – Assessments; Liability; Lien and Priority; Interest; Collection
The association holds a lien on every unit to secure payment of assessments, and that lien relates back to the recording of the original declaration. If an owner falls behind, the association can foreclose on the unit in the same manner as a mortgage foreclosure, and it can also sue for a money judgment without giving up its lien rights. It’s entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees in either action.
Before foreclosing, the association must give the delinquent owner at least 45 days’ written notice of its intent to foreclose. Skip that notice, and if the owner pays what’s owed before final judgment, the association loses its right to attorney’s fees and costs on the action.
When a first mortgage holder acquires a unit through foreclosure or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, its liability for unpaid assessments that accrued before it took title is capped at the lesser of 12 months of unpaid common expenses or one percent of the original mortgage debt, and only if the mortgage holder was named as a defendant in the foreclosure. Whatever the lender doesn’t pay becomes a common expense shared by the rest of the owners.
Milestone Inspections
Separately from the SIRS, buildings three or more habitable stories tall must undergo a milestone inspection performed by a licensed architect or engineer. The first phase is a visual examination of habitable and non-habitable areas focused on major structural components, producing a qualitative assessment of the building’s structural condition. If phase one turns up substantial structural deterioration, a more detailed phase-two inspection with testing is required.8Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 553.899 – Mandatory Structural Inspections for Condominium and Cooperative Buildings
Buildings must complete their initial milestone inspection by December 31 of the year they turn 30 years old, measured from the certificate of occupancy, and every 10 years after that. Buildings that had already reached 30 years of age before July 1, 2022, had a deadline of December 31, 2024. Buildings that turned 30 between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024, had until December 31, 2025.
Fines and the Hearing You’re Entitled To
When an owner, tenant, or guest violates the declaration, bylaws, or association rules, the board can levy a fine of up to $100 per violation. For a continuing violation, fines can accrue daily but cannot exceed $1,000 total. Before any fine takes effect, the board must give at least 14 days’ written notice and provide a hearing before a committee of at least three association members who are not officers, directors, or employees. If that committee does not approve the fine, it cannot be imposed. Fines do not become liens against the unit.9Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.303 – Obligations of Owners and Occupants; Remedies
Any party can also sue for damages or an injunction when someone violates the Act or the governing documents. The prevailing party recovers reasonable attorney’s fees. If an owner prevails against the association, the owner can also recover additional amounts to offset the owner’s share of any assessments the association levied to fund its own litigation. That fee-shifting rule exists so associations can’t use the common fund to outspend individual owners.
Resolving Disputes Before You Sue
Most condominium disputes cannot go straight to court. Before filing a lawsuit, the complaining party must either petition the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes for nonbinding arbitration or initiate pre-suit mediation. This covers disagreements over the board’s authority to require an owner to take or stop taking an action, alter common areas, conduct elections, give proper meeting notice, or allow records inspection.10FindLaw. Florida Code 718.1255 – Alternative Dispute Resolution; Voluntary Mediation; Mandatory Nonbinding Arbitration; Legislative Findings
Some disputes are excluded from that process and can be filed in court directly: disputes over title to a unit or common element, warranty claims, collection of assessments, evictions, alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, and damage claims based on the association’s failure to maintain the property. Election and recall disputes are the reverse — they must be arbitrated by the Division, and mediation is not an option.
To file for arbitration, the petitioner pays a $50 filing fee and must show the other party was first given written notice of the dispute, a demand for relief with a reasonable time to comply, and notice of intent to file if the issue wasn’t resolved. Skipping any of those prerequisites will get the petition dismissed, which is where a lot of owner complaints stall out: the demand letter never went out in writing, so the petition goes nowhere.
Where to Complain
The Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, housed within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, is the state regulator. While a condominium is still under developer control, the Division can investigate and enforce the full Act. After turnover to unit owners, its jurisdiction narrows to specific categories: financial records and reporting, elections and recall, records access, meeting procedures, conflicts of interest, director removal, and the procedural completion of structural integrity reserve studies.11Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.501 – Authority, Responsibility, and Duties of Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes
Florida also maintains an Office of the Condominium Ombudsman, which can appoint election monitors, attend board meetings, and help owners work through disputes. Division staff and ombudsman employees may observe any board or owner meeting open to members. If your complaint is procedural, filing with the Division is often a more practical first move than hiring a lawyer.
Insurance, Managers, and Fair Housing
A few obligations sit alongside Chapter 718 and often come up together.
Insurance: every residential condominium association must carry adequate property insurance based on replacement cost, and that cost must be redetermined by an independent appraisal at least once every 36 months.12Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association The master policy covers common elements and building structure; owners generally insure their personal property and interior improvements, subject to the declaration. In Florida, confirm whether the policy covers named windstorms and what the hurricane deductible is, because a large deductible after a storm can produce a special assessment on top of the damage.
Community association managers: under a separate statute, anyone paid to perform management services (disbursing funds, preparing budgets, running meetings, calculating assessments, drafting notices, negotiating contracts) needs a Community Association Manager license once the association has more than 10 units or a budget above $100,000.13Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 468.431 – Definitions Maintenance and purely clerical work under a licensed manager’s supervision does not require a license.
Fair housing: condominium associations are housing providers under the federal Fair Housing Act, and that federal law overrides anything to the contrary in the declaration or bylaws. Two areas produce most of the complaints. First, an association must grant a reasonable accommodation for a resident with a disability to keep an assistance animal (service animal or emotional support animal), even when pets are otherwise banned, and cannot charge a pet fee or deposit for the animal. The request can be denied only if the specific animal would pose a direct threat to health or safety or cause significant property damage no other accommodation could address.14U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assistance Animals Second, buildings with four or more units built for first occupancy after March 13, 1991, have to meet federal accessibility design standards for covered units.15HUD. Fair Housing Act Design Manual