Official Records Requests

Reflects Florida law as of August 2026. Sample requests: Florida Condominium Official Records Request and Florida HOA Official Records Request.

Do I have the right to see the association's records?

The principal official-records statutes are section 718.111(12), Florida Statutes, for condominiums and section 720.303(4)–(5), Florida Statutes, for HOAs. They are among the most useful tools a homeowner has, because nearly every other dispute (a fine, a special assessment, a repair, an election) turns on documents the association controls.

What can I request?

The exact list differs between condominiums and HOAs, but the following are commonly available official records:

• The declaration or covenants, articles of incorporation, bylaws, amendments, and current rules.
• Board, committee, and membership meeting minutes. Condominium minutes must be retained permanently. HOA minutes must generally be retained for at least seven years. HOA minutes must also reflect each director's vote on each item voted on by the board.
• Owner rosters. The availability of an owner's mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, and consent-related contact information depends on the applicable condominium or HOA confidentiality rules. Personal identifying information protected by statute must be withheld or redacted.
• Association contracts, including management agreements, leases, service contracts, and other agreements under which the association or owners have obligations.
• Current insurance policies, subject to appropriate redactions.
• Financial and accounting records, such as budgets, financial reports, bank statements, ledgers, invoices, receipts, expenditures, deposit records, tax returns, audits, and owner account information.
• Election records, including ballots, proxies, sign-in sheets, meeting notices, and voting materials, subject to applicable retention rules.
• Bids for work, materials, equipment, or services.
• Written records relating to the operation of the association.

The association must maintain the record categories required by the statute governing the community. The record you need may exist in electronic form, paper form, or both. Request records by name, subject, date range, vendor, project, account, meeting date, or other identifying detail whenever possible.

Condominium associations must maintain additional records required by section 718.111(12). These may include plans, permits, warranties, engineering reports, milestone-inspection materials, structural-integrity reserve-study materials, building permits, director education certificates, video-conference meeting recordings, and records-request checklists.

HOAs must maintain the additional records listed in section 720.303(4), including applicable plans, specifications, permits, warranties, and statutory disclosure materials. The required retention period depends on the type of record.

Some records are protected from owner inspection. Common examples include attorney-client privileged communications, litigation work product, protected transfer-approval information, personnel information other than authorized employment and compensation records, medical records, Social Security numbers, driver-license numbers, credit-card numbers, passwords, security information, and the association's proprietary software.

The underlying data stored in association software may still be an official record even though the software itself is not. HOAs may also withhold gate visitor logs.

When a document contains both protected and nonprotected information, the association should redact the protected information and provide the nonexempt portion when that can reasonably be done. The exact exemptions differ between condominiums and HOAs.

How do I make a proper request?

1. Put the request in writing. A written request to the board or its designee is required to start the statutory response deadline. A conversation with a manager, board member, or staff person may be useful, but it does not trigger the 10-working-day condominium deadline or the 10-business-day HOA deadline.
2. Send the request to the association's board or its designated records custodian. If the community has a management company, send a copy to the manager as well. Use the official association address, the manager's designated e-mail address, or the address stated in the association's written records-inspection rules.
3. Use a delivery method that creates proof of receipt. Certified mail, a commercial delivery service with tracking, hand delivery with a signed receipt, or e-mail to a designated association or management address can provide useful evidence. Keep the sent message, delivery confirmation, tracking information, return receipt, and any acknowledgment.
4. Be specific. Identify each category of record and the time period. "All financial records" invites a fight; "bank statements for the operating and reserve accounts for January through December 2025" does not. Use the statutory names where you can.
5. Ask to inspect and copy the records. State that you would like to use a phone, camera, or scanning device to make copies during the inspection, subject to the association's reasonable written inspection rules. You may also request electronic copies, although the association's basic statutory duty is to provide access for inspection or copying rather than to deliver every requested document electronically. Ask the association to identify available inspection dates within the statutory response period. If the association provides records electronically, save the files and preserve the e-mail or portal notice showing what was produced.
6. You do not have to state a reason for your request. The association may not require you to explain why you want official records as a condition of access.
7. Keep everything. A copy of the request, the delivery proof, and every response. Log the date the request was received, the date the 10 days ran, what was produced, and what was not.

An association may adopt reasonable written rules about the frequency, time, location, notice, and manner of inspections. Ask for a copy of those rules if you do not already have them. An HOA's rules may not limit owner inspections to fewer than one eight-hour business day each month.

The association may charge for copies that it makes for you. An HOA may charge actual personnel costs only when retrieval and copying take more than 30 minutes, subject to a maximum of $20 per hour. An HOA may not charge personnel costs for a request that results in 25 or fewer copied pages.

If an HOA has a photocopy machine where records are maintained, it must provide requested copies during inspection when the entire request is limited to 25 pages or fewer. The statutory per-page copy charge is generally capped at 25 cents. A condominium may charge the owner's reasonable copying expense, if any.

What does the association have to do?

Within 10 working days for a condominium or 10 business days for an HOA after receiving a written request, the association must make the applicable official records available for inspection or copying at reasonable times, subject to the statute and reasonable written inspection rules. A condominium association generally must make records available within 45 miles of the condominium property or within the county where the property is located. The association may satisfy its access obligation in appropriate circumstances through electronic access or an electronic viewing terminal with printing capability.

When a condominium association responds to a written records request, it must provide a written checklist identifying the records it made available and any official records it did not make available. The checklist is itself an official record and may create a rebuttable presumption that the association complied with its production duty.

Review the checklist immediately. If it lists records you did not receive, omits records you requested, or incorrectly states that a record was unavailable, send a written objection identifying the problem and keep proof of delivery.

If the association has a website, much of what you want may already be there. Beginning January 1, 2026, a condominium association managing a condominium with 25 or more units, excluding associations operating timeshare units, must maintain a password-protected website or mobile application with access to the official records listed in section 718.111(12)(g).

The required online records generally include governing documents, rules, specified contracts and bids, budgets and financial reports, certain inspection and reserve materials, permits, director education certifications, specified conflict disclosures, recent approved board minutes, and meeting notices. Required records generally must be posted or updated within the period stated in the statute. Insurance policies are generally official records that an owner may request, even when they are not among the records required to appear on the condominium's website or mobile application.

HOAs with 100 or more parcels must maintain a website or mobile application containing the categories of official records listed in section 720.303. The HOA list differs from the condominium list and includes insurance information as provided by the statute. A document posted online does not eliminate the association's duty to respond to a written request for other official records that are not posted, are incomplete, or are otherwise available for inspection.

What happens if the records are not produced?

Missing the statutory deadline creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply. An owner who proves a qualifying records-access violation may recover actual damages or minimum damages of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days, beginning on the 11th working day after a condominium request or the 11th business day after an HOA request.

Attorney-fee recovery depends on the type of community, the remedy pursued, the governing statute, and whether the owner prevails. A partial response does not necessarily satisfy the association's duty if requested official records were not timely made available, but the association may properly withhold or redact records protected by statute.

Your options when records are withheld depend on the type of community.

Condominium. For a condominium, a dispute over access to official records falls within the jurisdiction of the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes. A unit owner may use the Division's available complaint, enforcement, or dispute-resolution process and may also have civil remedies.

A board's failure to permit inspection of official records is a Chapter 718 "dispute." Before filing a court action, the owner must evaluate the required alternative-dispute-resolution process, which may involve Division nonbinding arbitration or the statutory presuit-mediation option.

A community association manager or management firm that fails to timely return association records after a management contract ends, or fails to produce records under the circumstances covered by the statute, may face DBPR licensing discipline and a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day for up to 10 business days.

Condominium law also includes criminal penalties for serious and intentional records violations. A director, board member, or community association manager who willfully and knowingly or intentionally violates the records-access requirement commits a second-degree misdemeanor and must be removed from office. Section 718.111(12)(c)2.

More serious penalties may apply to intentionally destroying, defacing, failing to create, or failing to maintain required accounting records with the required intent, or to knowingly withholding records to facilitate or conceal criminal conduct.

HOA. HOAs do not have a Division of Condominiums-style state administrative forum for ordinary official-records disputes. An owner may, however, have remedies through Chapter 720 presuit mediation, civil litigation, a DBPR licensing complaint involving a community association manager, or a law-enforcement report when the facts meet a criminal statute.

A dispute over HOA official records is generally subject to the presuit-mediation procedure in section 720.311 before litigation. After the required process is completed, an owner may seek available judicial remedies, including statutory damages and attorney fees when the legal requirements are met.

HOA law also imposes criminal penalties for serious records violations. A director, board member, association representative, or community association manager who knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly violates the records-inspection requirement with the intent to cause harm may commit a second-degree misdemeanor.

For this purpose, "repeatedly" means two or more violations within a 12-month period. More serious criminal penalties may apply when a person intentionally refuses to release records in circumstances identified by the statute.

In both, send a short written follow-up after the deadline identifying exactly what is still missing.

Sample requests

One for each statute; each includes a list of commonly requested records you can trim to fit your situation.

Condominium Official Records Request   HOA Official Records Request

When to get a lawyer

Most records requests should be made without a lawyer; a clear request from an owner is often more effective than a letter from counsel. Legal help becomes worthwhile when the association has ignored a proper request past the deadline and the records matter to a larger dispute, when the association is producing only fragments, or when you need the records quickly to respond to a fine, assessment, or foreclosure. The statutory damages and fee provisions mean that a documented refusal has real consequences for the association.