FloridaHB 9132025HouseWALLET

Condominium and Cooperative Associations

Sponsored By: Vicki L. Lopez (Republican)

Signed by Governor

AppropriationHousing, Agriculture & Tourism SubcommitteeBudget CommitteeCommerce CommitteeHouse CalendarRules

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

40 provisions identified: 19 benefits, 1 costs, 20 mixed.

Condo owners get alternative budget votes

Beginning July 1, 2025, condo boards must offer a substitute budget when proposed assessments exceed 115% of the prior year’s assessments. Both budgets must be proposed at the budget meeting. The substitute must leave out discretionary spending not required in the budget. Adoption requires a majority of all voting interests, or a higher share required by the bylaws. If owners do not adopt it, the original budget can be adopted.

Associations Can Borrow For Required Repairs

Condo and cooperative associations can fund reserves through regular assessments, special assessments, credit lines, or loans. Special assessments, credit lines, and loans under these rules require approval by a majority of all voting interests. Owner-controlled associations requiring reserve studies can borrow for capital work required by a milestone inspection or reserve study. That financing must cover cumulative previously waived or unfunded required reserves and be immediately available without another member vote. Annual financial statements given to owners and prospective buyers must disclose the financing and related details. The condo borrowing route excludes developer-controlled associations, those under nondeveloper owner control for less than one year, and bulk-controlled associations.

Condo Assessment Increase Calculations Change

The law changes which costs count toward the 115% assessment-increase test based on the prior fiscal year. Required reserves and specified nonregular repair, maintenance, and replacement costs for structural-study components are excluded. Insurance premiums and property betterments are no longer listed as excluded costs. The test triggers budget safeguards; it is not a flat 15% cap on every owner's bill.

Condo Closures Allow Reserve Funding Relief

A condo board can pause or reduce reserves when a local official declares the entire building uninhabitable after a natural emergency. The law removes the separate requirement for approval by a majority of board members. Contributions must resume immediately when the official declares the building habitable. Separately, after an association votes to terminate the condominium, members can vote to waive reserves recommended by its latest study. Both options ease current funding needs but leave less money reserved for building work.

Condo Reserve Studies Get More Time

Residential condo buildings with three or more habitable stories generally need a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years. Owner-controlled condo associations existing by July 1, 2022, get until December 31, 2025, instead of December 31, 2024. They can combine the study with a milestone inspection due by December 31, 2026, but cannot finish later than that date. Four-family dwellings with three or fewer habitable stories above ground are exempt from the covered condo reserve requirements and cooperative study requirement. These rules preserve study duties for covered buildings while giving some associations more time or an exemption.

Condos Keep Coverage With Group Options

Condo associations must maintain adequate property insurance even when their declarations set different requirements. When replacement cost determines coverage, that cost must be determined at least every three years through an independent appraisal or update. Associations can meet their duty through group coverage involving at least three qualifying condo, cooperative, homeowners, or timeshare communities. Group coverage must cover the modeled probable maximum loss from a 250-year windstorm event. The model must be state-accepted, and the Office of Insurance Regulation must review and approve the policy or program.

Cooperatives can redirect reserves after disasters

A cooperative board can use reserves for restoration when a local building official declares the entire building uninhabitable after a natural emergency. The board can pause reserve contributions or reduce reserve funding until the building is declared habitable. Reserve contributions must resume immediately once it is habitable. This supports restoration but reduces money available for other reserve needs.

Damaged buildings face repair start deadlines

Counties and cities must adopt repair deadlines for covered buildings with substantial structural deterioration identified in a phase two inspection report. Covered owners and associations must start repairs within 365 days after receiving the report. The deadline addresses unsafe damage but can require owners to pay repair costs.

Higher reserve thresholds for condo communities

For condos and cooperatives, the cost threshold for qualifying reserve items rises from $10,000 to $25,000. A higher inflation-adjusted amount applies when set by the state Division. The Division must use January CPI-U inflation data and post the threshold by February 1, 2026, and annually afterward. Cooperative roof replacement, building painting, and pavement resurfacing still require reserves regardless of cost. Additional reserve-study items must also threaten a listed structural or safety item if left unmaintained.

Owners Can Temporarily Reduce Repair Reserves

Eligible condo and cooperative associations can pause or reduce reserves to fund repairs recommended by a milestone inspection. For budgets adopted by December 31, 2028, a majority of all voting interests must approve. The inspection must have occurred within the previous two calendar years, and relief lasts no more than two consecutive annual budgets. Developer-controlled associations and those under nondeveloper owner control for less than one year are excluded; bulk-controlled condos are also excluded. A new structural integrity reserve study is required before contributions resume, so short-term relief does not erase future reserve needs.

Owners Face Limits On Reserve Spending

For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, covered owner-controlled associations cannot redirect structural reserves to unrelated expenses. Condo restrictions also cover interest earned on those reserves. Owner-controlled cooperatives requiring a structural integrity reserve study cannot vote to skip or underfund required reserves for covered components. Before turnover, developer-controlled cooperatives cannot waive or reduce reserve funding. These limits protect repair money but reduce budget flexibility.

Qualified reserve studies with repair delays

A structural reserve study’s visual inspection must be performed or checked by a licensed engineer, architect, or certified reserve-study professional. Condo and cooperative associations can delay a required study after completing a required milestone inspection or similar local inspection. The delay is limited to the next two consecutive budget years. This lets associations focus money on recommended repairs, but postpones reserve planning rather than canceling it.

Reserve Studies Must Track Funding Plans

Condo and cooperative reserve studies must recommend a baseline plan keeping reserve cash above zero in every budget year. Other recommended schedules must also cover the association's maintenance duties. Condo studies must account for assessments, credit lines, loans, and other funding methods used by the association. A condo association choosing a funding method later must update its study to show the effect. It also needs an updated study before adopting a budget whose reserve funding does not match the latest study.

Taller Condo Buildings Must Get Inspections

Milestone inspections cover buildings with at least three habitable stories under the Florida Building Code and residential condo or cooperative ownership. Inspections generally start at age 30 and repeat every 10 years. Buildings reaching 30 before July 1, 2022, had an initial deadline of December 31, 2024. Those reaching 30 from July 1, 2022, through before December 31, 2024, have until December 31, 2025. Inspections help identify structural problems, but owners and associations may face inspection and repair costs.

Insured warranties reach more condominium types

Qualifying insured warranty programs can cover condominiums generally, not just residential condominiums. A Florida-licensed and registered insurance company must back the program. Programs must meet the condominium chapter’s minimum requirements, and any requirements the warranty does not satisfy still apply. Coverage is allowed, not guaranteed.

Associations Gain Safeguards Against Conflicted Deals

Associations considering potentially conflicted bids over $2,500 for goods or non-management services must seek multiple bids from other providers. This requirement does not apply when the conflict was disclosed in the management-services contract. If the board finds a covered manager conflict violation, the association can end the management contract by written notice. It owes only the reasonable value of services provided through termination, with no termination fee, liquidated damages, or other penalty.

Condo and cooperative buyers get review time

Condo sale contracts signed after December 31, 2024, must clearly identify required-but-incomplete inspections or reserve studies, or state they are not required. For qualifying condo and cooperative resales after that date, completed inspection and study documents trigger a seven-day cancellation period. The period excludes weekends and legal holidays and follows signing and receipt of applicable documents. Cooperative resale buyers also get seven days, up from three, to review required association documents requested in writing and cancel. Buyers can extend closing by up to seven such days after receipt; cooperative rights require the applicable written request.

Condo associations can challenge shared costs

Owners of non-condominium building portions sharing facilities with condos must report shared operating and maintenance costs to the association. Reports must include receipts and invoices and arrive within 60 days after each fiscal year ends. The Division can enforce the deadline and impose penalties. Associations have 60 days after receiving a complete report to challenge cost allocation through the statutory dispute process.

Condo boards must verify manager licenses

Condo boards and officers must check that managers and management firms hold required licenses before signing contracts. Managers must maintain online license accounts listing their firm and onsite association assignments, updating changes within 30 days. Firms must identify their managers, and the state must notify affected firms and associations when a manager’s license is suspended or revoked. A condo association can end a contract by written notice when its manager or firm loses its license during the contract. Termination takes effect on the date the manager or firm became unlicensed.

Condo owners gain electronic voting options

Owners holding at least 25% of condo voting interests can petition for electronic voting at the next scheduled election. The petition must arrive within 180 days after the last scheduled annual meeting. The board must meet within 21 days after receipt to adopt an electronic-voting resolution. Associations without the statutory electronic-voting process must designate an email address and count compliant emailed ballots received by the meeting’s scheduled start. Those ballots must include required identifying information and a ballot-secrecy waiver.

Condo owners get clearer records tracking

Condo official records must include committee minutes, video meeting recordings, bank statements, ledgers, and required affidavits; minutes may be electronic. When approved minutes exist, video recordings must remain available for at least one year after required posting. Written records requests require a checklist identifying records provided and withheld, delivered when records become available. Associations must keep that checklist for seven years. Providing it creates a presumption of compliance that can be challenged with evidence.

Condo Owners Get Hurricane Work Reimbursement

Owners do not pay to remove or reinstall hurricane protection when needed for work on property the association must maintain. The condominium declaration can assign those costs differently. If the declaration does not say who performs the work, the board decides. When the owner performs the work under this rule, the association must reimburse the owner or credit future assessments.

Condo Owners Get More Meeting Options

Condo owner meetings can use video, with electronic voting under state law; recordings become official association records. Video annual meetings require a board quorum at the physical location, and video budget meetings must let remote speakers be heard. When bylaws name no annual meeting location, it must be within 15 miles or the same county, replacing 45 miles. Timeshare associations are exempt from that location rule. Broadcast notices must supplement physical posting and remain readable, but no longer need to air four times per hour.

Condo Study Professionals Must Disclose Conflicts

Reserve-study visual inspections must be performed or verified by a Florida-licensed engineer, architect, or qualified certified reserve professional. Design professionals and licensed contractors must disclose in writing their intent to bid on related recommended work. Bidders cannot hide ownership ties to the study provider or covered family relationships within the third degree by blood or marriage. Missing required disclosures lets the association terminate a related contract by written notice and can lead to professional discipline.

Condo video meetings require access options

Condo boards can meet in person or by live video. Board and committee members joining through real-time electronic communication count toward a quorum and can vote. Video meeting notices must include a link, call-in number, and physical location for owners to attend. Associations must record video meetings and keep the recordings as official records.

Cooperative Buyers Get Document Review Protections

Residential cooperative resale contracts entered after July 1, 1992, must provide key association documents or required buyer protections. Documents include the declaration, articles, bylaws, rules, latest annual financial statement and budget, plus written-requested questions and answers. Unless delivered more than seven days before signing, buyers get seven days after signing and receiving documents to cancel. These periods exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays; buyers can also extend closing up to seven such days after receipt. A contract missing the required protections is voidable before closing.

Inspection bidders must disclose repair ties

Architects and engineers bidding on milestone inspections must disclose written plans to bid on related recommended work. Professionals bidding on cooperative reserve studies must make a similar disclosure. Bidders for recommended work must disclose covered financial or family ties to the inspection or study firm. Cooperative family disclosures cover relatives within the third degree by blood or marriage. Missing disclosures can make inspection-related contracts voidable or allow termination of cooperative contracts by written notice, and professional discipline can apply.

Managers Must Reveal Conflicts To Boards

Association managers, firms, covered related people, and relatives must disclose possible conflicts, including provider referral fees, ownership, and profit sharing. Certain transactions without prior notice are presumed to involve a conflict, though that presumption can be challenged. Meeting notices must describe proposed conflicts and include related contracts and transaction documents; minutes must record the disclosure. Approval requires two-thirds of directors present. Conflicts already disclosed in an existing management contract need no repeat vote during its term, but require notice and approval at renewal.

More Condo Records Must Go Online

Beginning January 1, 2026, condo associations with at least 25 units and no timeshare units must post specified records online. Records must reach the website or mobile app within 30 days of receipt or creation, unless a shorter deadline applies. Required records include approved board minutes and qualifying video-meeting recordings or links from the previous 12 months, plus required affidavits. Owners must receive access to protected sections upon written request.

Owners get clearer manager service protections

Management contracts cannot waive professional standards; applicable contracts must promise compliance with those standards and recordkeeping rules in at least 12-point type. Contracted managers or firms must attend at least one member or board meeting in person yearly. Members must receive representatives’ contacts, availability, and duties, with changes updated within 14 business days and posted where online records are required. Management contracts must be official records and available to members on request. Managers cannot knowingly follow unlawful instructions and must follow applicable inspection and reserve-study requirements as directed by the board.

Revoked Managers Face Ten-Year Work Ban

For 10 years after license revocation takes effect, a community association manager cannot directly or indirectly own a management firm. The person also cannot serve as its employee, partner, officer, director, or trustee. Reapplying for certification or registration under these rules is barred during the same period. These limits protect associations from continued involvement by revoked managers.

State expands oversight of community safety

After developer control ends, the state Division can review condo records and investigate complaints in added areas. These include milestone inspection procedures, required repairs, insurance or fidelity bonds, board education, and reserve-study reporting. For residential cooperatives, the Division can also handle complaints about procedural completion of milestone inspections and structural reserve studies. These powers cover the listed subjects, not every association dispute.

Small Commercial Condos Face Control Limits

Beginning July 1, 2025, nonresidential condos with 10 or fewer units are exempt from specified developer-turnover triggers. These include certain unit-sale milestones and seven-year triggers; other turnover triggers remain. For covered pre-owner-control agreements, the applicable cancellation qualification threshold rises from 75% to 90%. Cancellation also needs support from at least 90% of voting interests excluding developer-owned interests, with related multicondominium thresholds applying July 1, 2025.

Association boards must invest funds carefully

Condo and cooperative boards must use their best efforts to invest operating and reserve funds prudently, weighing risk and return. They can invest reserves in certificates of deposit or deposit accounts at specified banks, savings institutions, and credit unions. These investments do not require an owner vote. The law does not guarantee investment returns.

Associations Gain Reserve Accounting Options

Condo and cooperative associations can pool reserve accounts for two or more required components. Structural-study components can be pooled only with other covered structural-study components, and budgets must cover projected pooled expenses. Boards can switch between pooling and separate straight-line accounting without a member vote. Multicondominium associations no longer need to operate at least 25 condominiums to seek an alternative reserve funding method. The Division must approve that method, which must be expected to meet reserve duties through annual operating-budget allocations.

Commercial Condo Changes Need Fewer Approvals

For nonresidential condos formed on or after July 1, 2025, certain major unit changes need only affected parties' approval. All affected unit owners and their lienholders must join the declaration amendment; unaffected owners need not approve. Covered changes include unit size or layout, attached rights, and shares of common expenses or surplus.

Community boards gain emergency evacuation powers

Condo boards can require evacuation when an evacuation order covers their area. Cooperative boards have similar authority during a declared emergency, subject to applicable law and cooperative documents. The cooperative area order need not be labeled mandatory. Associations gain protection from liability for injuries arising from refusal to leave; condo protection also covers property damage.

Condo Owners Gain Financial Oversight Safeguards

A condo association needs approval from a majority of all voting interests to use a less rigorous financial report. A majority of votes present at a meeting is no longer enough. Associations covered by the shared-facility law can inspect and copy records supporting shared-facility operating and maintenance costs. They must also receive an annual budget for those costs.

Cooperative reserve plans must match funding

Cooperative reserve studies must separately label optional reserve amounts for items with more than 25 years of remaining useful life. Cooperatives must update studies before adopting budgets when funding does not match the latest study’s plan. Studies predating an approved special assessment or secured loan or credit line must reflect that funding choice. Updates must show effects on reserve schedules and expected regular assessments.

Selected condo amendments exclude older declarations

Selected amendments to condominium definitions, deposits, and shared-building rules apply only to declarations first recorded on or after October 1, 2024. The affected provisions are sections 718.103(14), 718.202(3), and 718.407(1), (2), and (6). Condominiums with earlier declarations remain outside those amendments. This date limit does not exempt older communities from the entire law.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Vicki L. Lopez
Republican • House

Cosponsors

Commerce Committee
Affiliation unavailable
Housing, Agriculture & Tourism Subcommittee
Affiliation unavailable

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 262 • No: 2

Senate vote • 4/30/2025

Senate Floor Vote

Yes: 37 • No: 0

House vote • 4/30/2025

House Floor Vote

Yes: 112 • No: 0

House vote • 4/23/2025