Florida Homeowner Legal Resources
Know Your Rights. Understand Your Options.
If you own a home in a Florida homeowners' association or a unit in a Florida condominium, two sets of rules govern your relationship with the association. One is Florida law: Chapter 720 for HOAs, Chapter 718 for condominiums. The other is your community's recorded governing documents. Together they decide what the board can do, what it must do, and what you can do when it gets things wrong. Perez Mayoral represents homeowners only, never associations, and wrote these guides to answer the questions homeowners bring us. Find the problem you are dealing with below and start there.
Florida HOA & Condo Legal Guides
Nine plain-English guides to the rules that come up most often between Florida homeowners and their associations. Each one explains what the law says, where the exceptions are, and what to do about it.
HOA Laws in Florida
A plain-English guide to Florida HOA law under Chapter 720: homeowner rights, board authority, assessments, records, violations, enforcement, elections, and meetings.
Explore Florida HOA Laws →Florida Condominium Laws
The Florida Condominium Act, Chapter 718, explained: what unit owners and associations owe each other, with a sample written inquiry.
Explore Florida Condo Laws →Repairs & Maintenance
Who is responsible for roofs, water intrusion, pipes, exterior walls, balconies, windows, doors, common elements, and mold, and what to do when the association will not act.
Explore Repair & Maintenance Rights →Fines & Violations
Violation notices, the fining process Florida law requires, hearings before an independent committee, architectural violations, improper fines, and how to challenge association enforcement.
Explore Fines & Violations →Assessments & Special Assessments
Regular assessments, special assessments, late fees, interest, collection costs, disputed balances, how payments must be applied, and the notices you are entitled to before attorney fees are added.
Explore Assessment Disputes →HOA & Condo Foreclosure
Association liens, collection demands, attorney fees, the foreclosure sequence, statutory deadlines, defenses, and the options available to a homeowner facing an association foreclosure.
Explore Foreclosure Resources →Official Records Requests
Your right to inspect association records, what you can request, the 10-day deadline, how to make a proper written request, and what you can do when records are withheld. Includes fillable requests.
Explore Records Rights →Selective Enforcement
Selective and inconsistent enforcement, waiver, the defenses available when an association enforces a rule against you but not your neighbors, and the evidence you should preserve.
Explore Selective Enforcement →Rental Restrictions
Leasing restrictions, rental amendments, tenant approval requirements, grandfathering, and the circumstances in which a new restriction does not apply to an owner who bought before it passed.
Explore Rental Restrictions →Is your community an HOA or a condominium?
Florida has two different statutes, and they diverge on nearly every practical question: who must maintain what, how fines work, whether a fine can become a lien, how records and elections are handled, and whether a state agency will hear your complaint. Your recorded declaration says which one you are in. A "Declaration of Condominium" means Chapter 718; a "Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions" almost always means Chapter 720.
Latest Florida HOA & Condo Legal Updates
- Effective July 1, 2026HOAs may no longer require a government building permit before reviewing an architectural application (HB 803, new s. 720.3035(1)(c)).
- Effective January 1, 2026Condominiums with 25 or more units must post governing documents, budgets, contracts, minutes, and meeting notices on an owners-only website or app.
- 2026 SessionThe 2026 Legislature did not pass a substantive HOA or condominium bill. The omnibus HB 657 and every other association bill died on March 13, 2026.
Fillable forms
Build the letter on the page, then print it or save it as a PDF. Nothing you type is sent to the firm.
Official Records Request
Choose the records you want from the statutory list, add your own, and fill in the dates.
Build the request → HOA · s. 720.303(5)Official Records Request
The same tool for homeowners' associations, following the Chapter 720 records list and deadlines.
Build the request → Condominium · s. 718.112(2)(a)2Written Inquiry to the Board
Put the board on record. It must answer in writing within 30 days or lose its right to attorney fees on the subject.
Write the inquiry →Can my association do that?
Short answers to the questions homeowners ask most. Each links to the page that explains the rule, the exceptions, and what to do.
Can my HOA fine me without notice or a hearing?
No. Florida law requires 14 days' written notice and an opportunity for a hearing before a committee of independent owners, and an HOA must give written findings and at least 30 days to pay. A fine imposed without that process is void, and a Florida appellate court has thrown out an HOA fine, and the amenity suspension built on it, for exactly that reason. Condominium fines follow the same 14-day notice and committee rule and are capped at $100 per violation and $1,000 total.
Can a condo association put a lien on my unit for a fine?
No. Under Chapter 718 a fine may never become a lien. In an HOA, only a fine of $1,000 or more can. Watch your ledger, though: associations sometimes post a fine to the assessment account, where interest and fees start to run on it, and a lien for assessments can quietly include it. Dispute that in writing as soon as you see it.
Can they enforce a rule against me but not my neighbors?
Not if you can prove it. Selective enforcement is a recognized defense, but the burden is on you and the comparison must be to owners in the same situation. Dated photos of the same condition at other homes, and the association's own violation records (which you can request), are what win it. An association can also reset by announcing that it will enforce the rule against everyone going forward, so gather your evidence before that happens.
Can they ignore my records request?
No. Records must be made available within 10 working days (condo) or 10 business days (HOA). After that the law presumes willfulness and sets minimum damages of $50 a day for up to 10 days, starting on the 11th day, plus attorney fees if you have to sue and win. The request has to be in writing to start the clock, and the association cannot ask why you want the records. Condominium owners can also complain to the state Division; HOA members go to presuit mediation, then court.
Can they refuse to fix a leak that comes from a common element?
Not in a condominium. The association's duty to repair common elements does not depend on what caused the damage. In an HOA, the declaration decides who maintains what, and for a detached home that is usually the owner. In either community, put the problem in writing with photos and keep proof of delivery; a court can order an association to make a repair it is responsible for, and it can be liable for the damage its delay causes.
Can I stop paying assessments until the board fixes the problem?
No. Your duty to pay depends only on owning the property and the assessment being properly adopted. Withholding invites a lien and foreclosure. The Florida Supreme Court has said the remedy for a board that is not doing its job is the ballot box or a lawsuit, not nonpayment. Pay the undisputed amount on time, dispute the rest in writing, and pursue the repair or the complaint separately.
Can they really foreclose on my home over assessments?
Yes, even a homestead, with no minimum amount. But they must first send a 45-day notice of intent to lien and a 45-day notice of intent to foreclose (and a 30-day notice of late assessment before adding attorney fees). Skipping a lien or foreclosure notice is a defense to the foreclosure; skipping the late-assessment notice is a defense to the fees. Once you are served with a complaint you have 20 days to respond, and an HOA owner who can pay can stop the case for up to 60 days with a notarized qualifying offer.
Does a new rental restriction apply to me if I bought before it passed?
Often not. Condominium amendments that ban rentals or change lease terms bind only owners who consented or bought later; HOA amendments after July 1, 2021 work the same way, with three exceptions: communities of 15 or fewer lots, and restrictions on rentals shorter than six months or more frequent than three times a year, which bind everyone. Compare your deed date with the amendment's recording date, and check whether you voted for it. Transferring the property to a trust or an LLC can cost you the protection.
Can the board make a condo director's spouse sit on the fining committee?
No. Committee members cannot be officers, directors, employees, or their spouses, parents, children, or siblings, in either type of community. The committee must have at least three members, and its only job is to approve or reject the fine the board proposed; if it does not approve, the fine cannot be imposed. Ask who sat on the committee and how they were appointed.
Is the association's attorney my attorney too?
No. The association's lawyer represents the association, and in a dispute with you that lawyer is on the other side. Your assessments help pay that lawyer, which is why the statutes let an owner who wins against the association recover both attorney fees and his or her share of any assessment levied to fund the litigation.
Before you respond to a violation letter or collection notice
Read the notice against your declaration and rules; a courtesy letter is not a fine, and a notice of late assessment is not a lien. Respond in writing and keep proof of delivery. Keep paying undisputed assessments. Photograph the condition cited, and the same condition at your neighbors' homes. Request the records that show what the board knew and did. Note every deadline the notice gives you.
Download the free HOA & Condo Dispute Checklist (PDF)
The documents to gather before you call a lawyer: notices, governing documents, board communications, photos, minutes, records requests, and assessment notices.