Kaufman language in Florida is a short phrase inside a condominium or HOA declaration — usually “as amended from time to time” — placed next to the reference to Chapter 718 or Chapter 720. If your declaration contains it, future changes the Legislature makes to those statutes apply to your community automatically. If it doesn’t, your community’s substantive legal obligations may be stuck at the version of the law that existed when the declaration was first recorded.
How to Check Whether Your Declaration Has It
Pull the recorded declaration from the clerk of court in the county where the property sits. For a condominium, that’s the Declaration of Condominium. For an HOA, it’s the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions.
The phrase almost always sits in the first few pages, in a section titled something like “Definitions,” “Applicability of the Act,” or “Governing Law.” You’re looking for a sentence that cites Florida Statutes Chapter 718 or Chapter 720 and then adds wording such as “as amended from time to time” or “as may be hereafter amended.”1Florida Senate. Chapter 718 – 2025 Florida Statutes – Condominiums The exact wording varies. What matters is that the drafters signaled an intent to pick up future statutory changes, not just the version in effect on the recording date.
If nothing resembling that phrase appears, your community probably lacks Kaufman language. That’s common in older communities whose declarations were drafted before the issue drew wide attention.
What It Does When It’s Present
When a declaration incorporates the phrase, new legislation folds into the association’s governing framework on its own. The board doesn’t have to call a membership vote, record an amendment, or pay an attorney to rewrite documents every time Tallahassee acts. Owners and directors can rely on the current version of Chapter 718 or Chapter 720 when they make decisions.2The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 720 – Homeowners Associations Compliance happens by default.
What Happens When It’s Missing
A declaration without Kaufman language has its substantive legal framework effectively frozen at the recording date. A condominium created in 1985, for example, may still be governed by the 1985 version of Chapter 718 for purposes of ownership rights and financial obligations. Decades of later legislative updates don’t automatically apply.
Florida courts, though, don’t treat every new statute the same way. They separate procedural laws from substantive ones.
Procedural Rules Apply Either Way
Procedural laws govern how the association operates: how much notice to give before a board meeting, how ballots are formatted, how votes are counted. These rules don’t shift anyone’s property rights or financial obligations, so courts apply them to all associations regardless of what the declaration says.
Substantive Rules Face a Constitutional Hurdle
Substantive laws affect rights owners relied on when they bought: the right to rent a unit, the authority to levy certain assessments, restrictions on how property can be used. Article I, Section 10 of the Florida Constitution prohibits laws impairing the obligation of contracts, and a recorded declaration is a contract between the association and its members.3Office of Attorney General. Contracts – Assessments Kaufman language solves that problem by building the owners’ consent to future changes into the contract itself. Without that consent, a new substantive statute has to clear the multi-factor test the Florida Supreme Court set out in Pomponio v. Claridge of Pompano Condominium, Inc., 378 So. 2d 774 (Fla. 1979), which weighs the state’s interest against the owners’ contract rights. That analysis is expensive to litigate, and the outcome is uncertain. That’s exactly why practitioners push so hard to get Kaufman language into declarations.
Adding Kaufman Language by Amendment
The reliable fix for a declaration that lacks the phrase is a formal amendment. For condominiums, an amendment generally needs approval from at least two-thirds of the unit owners unless the declaration sets a different threshold, and declarations recorded after April 1, 1992 cannot require more than four-fifths approval.4Florida Senate. Chapter 718 Section 110 – 2025 Florida Statutes For HOAs, the default is also two-thirds of the voting interests unless the governing documents say otherwise.5Florida Senate. Chapter 720 Section 306 – 2025 Florida Statutes
Reaching a supermajority of all voting interests is hard. Many owners don’t vote, and persistent outreach is usually required. The amendment then has to be recorded with the county clerk, and drafting, legal review, and recording fees aren’t trivial. Even so, adding Kaufman language is one of the single most impactful amendments an association can make. It’s a one-time effort that keeps the problem from recurring every time the Legislature acts.
Statutes That Apply Regardless of Your Declaration
Kaufman language is not the whole story. The Legislature has written some rules that apply to all communities on their own terms, outside the Kaufman framework.
Rental Restriction Amendments
Florida Statute 718.110(13) addresses amendments that prohibit rentals, shorten rental terms, or cap how many times a unit can be rented. Those restrictions apply only to owners who voted for the amendment and to anyone who buys a unit after it takes effect. Existing owners who did not consent keep their pre-amendment rental rights.6The Florida Legislature. The 2025 Florida Statutes Section 718.110 The protection operates independently of what any declaration says.
Milestone Structural Inspections
After the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside in 2021, the Legislature enacted Florida Statute 553.899, requiring milestone structural inspections for condominium and cooperative buildings that are three or more habitable stories tall. The first inspection must occur by December 31 of the year the building turns 30 years old, based on the certificate of occupancy date, and every 10 years after that.7Florida Senate. Chapter 553 Section 899 – 2025 Florida Statutes The requirement is codified in Chapter 553, the Florida Building Code framework, and is grounded in the state’s authority to protect public health and safety. Kaufman analysis doesn’t gate it.
Where the Name Comes From
The term traces to Kaufman v. Shere, 347 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977). The declaration in that case stated that the Condominium Act “as presently existing, or as it may be amended from time to time” was incorporated by reference.8CaseMine. Kaufman v Shere The court found that wording unambiguous: by including the “as it may be amended from time to time” phrase, the association had opted in to future legislative changes. Florida courts still use that framework when deciding whether a newer statute reaches an older community, and Florida practitioners have called the opt-in phrase “Kaufman language” ever since.