How do we get our HOA records back from a former management company?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 18, 2026

How a board gets records, money and logins back after the management contract ends: Florida and Colorado deadlines, a demand letter, and what to do if they stall.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

The records belong to the association, not to the company that kept them. Once the contract ends, ask in writing for everything on a specific list, by a specific date, and send it the way the contract requires. Two of the three states this guide focuses on now set a hard deadline. Florida gives a licensed manager 20 business days, and Colorado, since August 12, 2026, gives the former management company 45 days. Texas has no statute on returning records, so a Texas board relies on the management contract and the fact that the records are the association's property. In every state, start rebuilding from the bank, the CPA, the insurer and the county recorder on day one rather than waiting for the company. This guide picks up after the contract has ended. Our guide on how to fire an HOA management company covers the notice and the exit terms. Rules vary by state and by your contract and governing documents, and this is general education, not legal advice.

What the law gives you in Florida, Colorado and Texas

Florida Statutes section 468.4334(4) requires a community association manager or management firm to return all official records in its possession within 20 business days after the contract ends or after it receives a written request for the records, whichever comes first. The firm may keep the records it needs to finish an ending financial statement for up to 20 business days. A late return creates a rebuttable presumption that the failure was willful, and the firm faces license suspension under section 468.436 and a civil penalty of $1,000 per day for up to 10 business days, starting on the 21st business day. Colorado added subsection (9) to C.R.S. 38-33.3-317 in HB 26-1099. Within 45 days after the association ends or fails to renew the agreement, the former company must deliver to the association or the new manager, at no charge, all association property, including money, financial accounts, records, insurance policies, contracts, invoices, account information, passwords and keys. It does not have to hand over its own software, but it must hand over the association's data from that software. Unless the contract says otherwise, a company that misses the deadline owes $250 per business day, any late fees the association incurs, and treble damages plus attorney fees if a court finds the violation willful. Read your contract for any written agreement that changes those remedies. Texas Property Code chapter 209 sets no return duty for a managing agent, so the contract and ordinary property and contract law do the work there.

Write the list before you write the letter

A demand that says "all records" invites a box of whatever was handy. Build the list from what the company actually did for you. Typical categories are the governing documents and amendments; minutes and resolutions; the general ledger and bank reconciliations for at least the last seven years; bank statements; the owner ledger with every charge, payment and balance; the aging report and the files on every account referred to collections or an attorney; lien records; vendor contracts, W-9s and the last 1099 filings; insurance policies and claim files; the reserve study; architectural applications and approvals; violation files; the owner roster with mailing and email addresses; and the meeting notices and ballots the company sent. Then add what is not paper: owner payment and autopay data, the portal's document library, account logins the company set up in the association's name, keys, gate remotes and fobs. Ask for exports in formats you can open, such as CSV or Excel for ledgers and PDF for documents, not screenshots. Ask, too, for a final accounting of any association money the company still holds.

A demand letter you can adapt

Have the president or another authorized officer sign it, after a board vote recorded in the minutes. Send it by certified mail, return receipt requested, and by email, and use any notice address the contract names. Sample wording: "The management agreement between [association] and [company] ended on [date]. The association requests the return of all association records and property in your possession, including the items on the attached list, by [date]. Please deliver electronic records in their native or exportable format to [role email] and physical items to [address or pickup arrangement]. Please also provide a final accounting of any association funds you hold and transfer them to the association's account at [bank], ending in [last four digits]. [Florida: This request is made under section 468.4334(4), Florida Statutes.] [Colorado: This request is made under C.R.S. 38-33.3-317(9).] Please confirm receipt and name the person handling the transfer." Keep the tone flat. If the dispute goes further, this letter will be the first exhibit, and a calm one reads better to a judge or a regulator.

Money and accounts come first

Records can be rebuilt. Money held in the wrong name is harder. Find out which accounts are in the association's name with its EIN and which, if any, the company held in its own name, such as a trust or pooled operating account. For accounts already in the association's name, a surviving officer can go to the bank with a board resolution, change the signers and online banking users, and remove the company's access the same week. Point the lockbox or payment processor at the association's account and tell owners the new payment instructions in writing, after the board has confirmed them. For money in the company's own account, ask for the final accounting and the transfer in your letter, and get the association's attorney involved early if the amount is large or the company goes quiet. Check the last few months of statements for payments the board did not approve. While you wait on records, keep paying vendors from invoices and the bank's own statements, and ask utilities and key vendors to send bills to the board directly.

If the company stalls

Send one follow-up on the day after the deadline, quoting the first letter. If that fails, have the association's attorney send a letter. In Florida, you can also file a complaint against the manager or the firm with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which licenses managers and can discipline them. In Colorado, manager licensing ended in 2019 and the HOA Information and Resource Center tracks complaints but does not regulate managers, so the remedy is the civil action and penalties in section 38-33.3-317(9). In Texas, the path is a demand under the contract and, if needed, a lawsuit, since no state agency regulates HOA managers there. Do not try to log in to the company's systems with old credentials. Meanwhile, rebuild. Banks reissue statements, the CPA has prior returns and workpapers, the insurance agent has the policies, the county recorder has the declaration, plats and recorded liens, and vendors will resend contracts and W-9s. Owners can confirm their own balances against their bank records, which helps you rebuild the owner ledger.

Update the public filings

Outside records still name the old company until you change them. In Texas, Property Code section 209.004(b) requires the association to record an amended management certificate in each county where the subdivision sits within 30 days after it has notice of a change, and section 209.004(b-1) requires it to file the amended certificate electronically with the Texas Real Estate Commission within 7 days after filing it for recording. Owners send records requests to the address on that certificate, so a stale one sends requests to a company that no longer works for you. Our guide on HOA management certificates explains what the filing contains. In Colorado, the association's annual registration with the Division of Real Estate under C.R.S. 38-33.3-401 includes the management company, and that information has to be updated within 90 days after a change. Also update the registered agent if the company served as agent, the IRS responsible party if it was named, and the insurance agent's contact.

A sample timeline and the mistakes to avoid

Day 0, the contract ends: send the demand letter and lock the bank accounts to current officers. Days 1 to 10: change payment instructions, tell vendors and utilities where to send bills, and request bank statements and the CPA's files. Days 10 to 30: record the amended management certificate in Texas, take delivery of records, and check each item against the list. The 21st business day in Florida, or day 46 in Colorado: if anything is missing, send the follow-up and call the attorney. Day 90: Colorado registration update due, and the board approves a written record of what came back and what is still missing. The common mistakes are predictable. Boards send a vague request with no list, then cannot prove what was missing. They accept a final balance without the ledger behind it. They forget the money and chase the paper. They let the company keep the owner portal running for months because switching is a chore. And they argue by phone instead of in writing. Close the handover by putting the received list, the exceptions and every letter in the association's own records, so the next board does not repeat this. Our guide on the first 30 days of a management transition covers the operating side once the records are back.

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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