The Complete 2024 Legislative Guide Affecting Florida’s Community Associations

HB 1203 (affecting HOAs) and HB 1021 (affecting condominiums) both provide for new community association manager requirements as amended in Chapter 468, Florida Statutes, including such items as posting of the manager’s duties and available hours of the manager, along with a plethora of new financial interest disclosures which if not strictly adhered to can lead to possible cancellation of the management contract. In the outline provided on our website as referred to above, all of these new requirements are together in one place (which, in our view, is how the legislature should have presented these new requirements).

A few of the new provisions affecting homeowners’ associations, follow:

• • An HOA with 100 or more parcels must have a website, and the new law provides for which documents must be posted on that website
  • Membership meeting posting requirements now include the necessity that any document to be considered by the members by way of a vote must also be posted
  • The HOA must adopt written rules governing the method by which official records are to be retained and periods that such records must be retained. The law clarifies that most official records must be retained for at least seven years
  • Owners have the right to request a financial accounting, which must be provided within 15 business days of the written request, and failure to provide it can lead to the extinguishment of a fine
  • It appears all board members must be certified by taking a four-hour class, and such certifications remain valid for only four years. In addition, if there are fewer than 2500 parcels, then the HOA board members must complete four hours of continuing education annually, and if greater than 2500 parcels the HOA board members must complete eight hours of continuing education annually
  • New criminal penalties are associated with forging of a ballot envelope or voting certificate along with refusal to allow inspection or copying of official records in furtherance of any crime
  • Before October 1, 2024, all HOAs must provide a physical or digital copy of the association’s covenants and rules to every member of the association
  • All HOAs must adopt hurricane protection specifications for each structure or other improvement on a parcel governed by the association.

Regarding whether the following legislative changes will apply to existing HOAs will have to be determined later, but suffice it to say, it is this author’s opinion that new laws affecting existing substantive contract rights cannot be applied retroactively, absent Kaufman language in the declaration) because to do so impairs such existing substantive contract rights. in other words, there are constitutional protections against governmental impairment in existing contracts. Therefore, absent clear intent expressed within a governing document for changes in the law to be effective against various covenants, it is unlikely that this type of legislation can be applied retrospectively, but only time will tell.

• • The HOA, including its architectural committees, may not enforce or adopt a covenant rule or guideline that limits or places requirements on the interior of a structure that is not visible from the parcel’s frontage or adjacent parcel or adjacent common area or community golf course
  • Similarly, the HOA cannot require a review and approval of plans regarding central air conditioning, refrigeration, heating, or a ventilating system if such a system is not visible from the parcel’s frontage, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area, or community golf course and is similar to a system that is approved or recommended by the association
  • Regardless of any covenant restriction, bylaw, or rule, the HOA may not restrict parcel owners from installing, displaying, or storing any items on a parcel which are not visible from the parcel’s frontage, adjacent parcel, adjacent common area, or community golf course including but not limited to artificial turf, boats, flags, vegetable gardens, clothes lines, and recreational vehicles
  • Pickup trucks cannot be prohibited from being parked in the owner’s driveway or any other area where the owner or their guest or invitee has the right to park
  • Work vehicles regardless of any insignia or visible designation on the vehicle cannot be prohibited from being parked anywhere the owner, guest, or invitee may park, so long as it is not a “commercial motor vehicle” as defined in the Florida Statutes
  • Contractors may not be prohibited from entering the community solely because the contractor is not on a preferred vendor list
  • Homeowners’ association documents may not preclude a property owner from hiring a contractor solely because the contractor does not have a professional or occupational license
  • The HOA may not require a contractor or worker to present an occupational license to be allowed entry into the HOA.