On behalf of Eisinger Law, we wanted to provide a friendly reminder to all homeowners’ associations of impending deadlines relative to the new amendments to Florida Statute pursuant to House Bill 59 and House Bill 1203. Specifically: (i) effective immediately, all homeowners associations are required to adopt written rules governing the method or policy governing the retention of official records; (ii) before October 1, 2024, all homeowners associations must provide physical or digital copies of the existing rules and covenants to every member of the Association; and (iii) by January 1, 2025, a homeowners association with 100 or more parcels must make certain documents available on its website or make such documents available through an application that can be downloaded on a mobile device.
Section 720.303(4)(c), Florida Statutes was amended to require all homeowners’ associations to adopt written rules governing the method or policy by which the official records of the association are to be retained and the time period such records must be retained. Such information must be made available to the parcel owners through the association’s website or application. There is no deadline specified in the statute to adopt such rules or policy and, therefore, homeowners’ associations are required to immediately adopt such record retention policies if not done already.
Section 720.303(13), Florida Statutes was amended to require all homeowners’ associations to provide physical or digital copies of the association’s existing rules and covenants to every member of the association before October 1, 2024. This requirement may be complied with by posting a complete copy of the association’s rules and covenants, or a direct link thereto, on the homepage of the association’s website, if such website is accessible to members of the association and the association sends notice to each member of its intent to utilize the website for this purpose. If the association complies with the same by posting the rules and covenants on its website, it must send a notice to the members by electronic mail to any member of the association who has consented to receive notices by electronic transmission and by mail to all other members of the association at the address identified as the member’s mailing address in the official records of the association.
Lastly, by January 1, 2025, an association that has 100 or more parcels is required to post certain documents on their website or make the same available through an application that can be downloaded on a mobile device. The documents, include without limitation, (a) the governing documents and rules of the association (and any amendments thereto), (b) a list of executory contracts or documents to which the association is a party, (c) the annual budget and any proposed budget to be considered at the annual meeting, (d) financial report and any monthly income or expense statement to be considered at a meeting, (d) current insurance policies, (e) certification of each director as required by Section 720.3033(1)(a), (f) all contracts or transactions between the association director and any director, officer, corporation, firm or association that is not an affiliated homeowners association or any other entity in which a director or an association is also a director or an officer and has a financial interest, (g) any document regarding a conflict of interest or possible conflict of interest as provided in Section 468.436(2)(b)6. and 720.3033(2), (h) notices of scheduled meetings of members and the agenda for the meeting (must be posted at least 14 days prior to such meeting), (i) notices of any board meeting, agenda, and any other document required for such meeting (which must be posted on the website no later than the date required by statute to be posted).
As this is a summary and not an exhaustive list of all the intricacies of the same, please see the June 2024 Eisinger Law Legislative Update for more details. Please do not hesitate to contact our office should you have any questions or if you need any assistance preparing the required records retention policy or preparing the notice to members relative to copies of covenants and rules made available to members.
Eisinger Law., is a full service Florida law firm focusing on community association law, real estate law, developer representation, commercial litigation, insurance law, estate planning and probate. For more info visit eisingerlaw.com.
Author: Jonathan R. Zim, Esq.
