What do the 2024-2026 Florida HOA law changes require of volunteer boards?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 23, 2026

Florida HOA law changes for boards: HB 1203 director education, fines and hearings, records crimes, architectural limits, plus the 2026 building permit rule.

Part of the HOA board handbook: new state laws for boards.

What changed and when

The big one is CS/CS/HB 1203, signed May 31, 2024 as chapter 2024-221, Laws of Florida. Most of it took effect July 1, 2024. The website or app requirement for associations with 100 or more parcels had its own compliance date of January 1, 2025. A separate 2024 bill, CS/HB 293 (chapter 2024-205, effective May 28, 2024), added the hurricane protection rules in section 720.3035(6), which many summaries wrongly credit to HB 1203. The 2025 session changed almost nothing in chapter 720. SB 42 (chapter 2025-6) was the annual reviser's bill and only fixed cross-references, and CS/CS/HB 983 died in committee. In 2026, CS/CS/HB 803 (chapter 2026-63, signed May 6, 2026, effective July 1, 2026) added section 720.3035(1)(c), which bars an association or its architectural committee from requiring a government building permit before it reviews an owner's application. Everything in this guide applies to homeowners' associations under chapter 720. Condominiums are governed by chapter 718, which was amended separately and on a different schedule.

Director education and personal exposure

Under section 720.3033(1), a newly elected or appointed director must submit a certificate from a course approved by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation within 90 days. The course covers financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, levying fines, and notice and meeting requirements. The certificate is good for up to four years, and the director must retake the new-director course at least that often. On top of that, each director completes continuing education every year: at least four hours in associations with fewer than 2,500 parcels, and at least eight hours at 2,500 parcels or more. A director who misses the deadline is suspended until the certificate is filed, and the board may fill the seat temporarily. The association keeps certificates for five years. The statute does not set an hour count for the new-director course itself, so ignore summaries that quote one. HB 1203 also tied directors and officers to the good-faith and ordinary-prudence standards of section 617.0830, made kickbacks to a director, officer, or manager a third-degree felony, and requires the board to remove an officer or director who takes one. Food under $25 per person at a business meeting is excluded.

Fines, hearings, and what you can no longer regulate

Section 720.305(2) now spells out the fine process. The owner gets at least 14 days' written notice of the right to a hearing. The hearing must take place within 90 days of that notice, before a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors, or employees of the association, or close relatives of them. It can be held by phone or video. The committee must send written findings within seven days after the hearing. If the owner cures the violation before the hearing, no fine or suspension can be imposed. A fine cannot be due sooner than 30 days after notice, and attorney fees cannot accrue until the due date and any appeal period have passed. Two specific bans apply. You cannot fine an owner for leaving garbage cans at the curb within 24 hours before or after collection. You cannot fine for holiday decorations unless they are still up more than one week after written notice. On architecture, section 720.3035 now requires the board to apply standards reasonably and equitably to all owners. It bars regulating interiors that are not visible from the frontage, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area, or a community golf course, and bars requiring approval to replace a non-visible HVAC system with a substantially similar one. A denial must be in writing and cite the specific rule and the part of the plan that does not conform. Section 720.3075 now protects parking a personal vehicle, including a pickup truck, and a non-commercial work vehicle in the driveway, and bars refusing a contractor for not being on a preferred vendor list. Section 720.3045 added vegetable gardens and clotheslines to the items an association cannot restrict when they are not visible from the street, a neighbor, or common area.

Records, money, and new crimes

HB 1203 required each association to adopt written rules on how its official records are kept and for how long, and to turn records over to law enforcement within five business days of a subpoena. It created new criminal penalties aimed at board members. Knowingly, willfully, and repeatedly denying an owner's inspection rights with intent to harm is a second-degree misdemeanor. Defacing or destroying accounting records, or failing to create or keep them, with intent to harm is a first-degree misdemeanor. Refusing to release records to hide a crime is a third-degree felony. On money, associations with 1,000 or more parcels must now get audited financial statements regardless of revenue, members can no longer vote to drop to a cash receipts report for consecutive years, and the association may not pay any expense with a debit card. An owner may request a detailed accounting of what they owe in writing, and the association has 15 business days to answer. If it misses that deadline, it waives fines more than 30 days past due for which no written notice was given.

The board's to-do list

Put every director's 90-day certificate deadline and annual continuing education on a shared calendar, and keep the certificates for five years. Rewrite your fine procedure to match section 720.305: a 14-day hearing notice, a hearing within 90 days, a three-person independent committee, written findings within seven days, and a 30-day payment date. Remove any rule that fines trash cans within the 24-hour window, holiday decorations before a week's notice, pickup trucks in driveways, or interior and non-visible items. Update architectural guidelines so denials cite the specific rule, and since July 1, 2026, stop asking owners to produce a building permit before you will review their application. If you have 100 or more parcels, confirm the website or app has been live since January 1, 2025 and that member meeting notices and agendas go up 14 days ahead. Adopt the written records retention rules if you have not. Close any association debit card. If you have 1,000 or more parcels, budget for an audit. If you use a manager, section 468.4334 now requires the manager to attend at least one board or member meeting in person each year.

What did not change

Several rules that 2024 coverage presented as new were already law. Seven-year retention of official records, the 10-business-day response to an inspection request, and the $50-per-day minimum damages for refusing inspection all predate HB 1203. The $100-per-violation and $1,000 aggregate fine caps in section 720.305 are older too. HB 1203 did not create an HOA licensing or registration program. Nothing in the 2025 session changed an HOA board's duties. In 2026, HB 657, which would have made changes to dissolution, courts, and electronic ballots, passed the House but died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026, so it is not law even where websites describe it as enacted. HB 797 (chapter 2026-168) rewrote the nonprofit corporation law in chapter 617 and appears in the history notes of two chapter 720 sections, but the text of those sections did not change. How that rewrite affects associations indirectly is outside this guide.

Where to read the law

The Florida Senate site has each bill's history, the enrolled text, and the House staff analysis, which is the clearest plain-language walk through HB 1203. The current statutes are on the same site: read sections 720.303 for records and the website, 720.3033 for director duties and education, 720.305 for fines, 720.3035 for architectural review, and 720.3075 for vehicles and vendors. The 2026 building permit rule is in chapter law 2026-63. Your declaration and bylaws may impose stricter procedures, which you generally have to follow as well. Check with an attorney licensed in Florida before relying on this for a specific fine, records dispute, or removal.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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