Florida community-association governance procedures look familiar — board meetings, member meetings, voting, records — until you read the statutes. The procedural detail is substantial, and HB 913 in 2025 added another layer with video-conference rules, online DBPR account requirements, and updated record-retention obligations. Here is the working guide for boards operating under the new framework.
The procedural baseline
Florida community-association governance is anchored in:
- Chapter 617 (Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act) for general nonprofit-corporation procedure.
- Chapter 718 (Condominiums), 719 (Cooperatives), or 720 (HOAs) for community-association-specific procedure.
- Articles, bylaws, and declaration for entity-specific procedure.
The community-association statutes generally control where they conflict with the corporation act. The governing documents control where they don't conflict with statute.
Board meetings
Florida imposes detailed requirements on board meetings:
- Notice. Specific content and timing requirements, generally including posting on association property and on the website where one exists.
- Open meetings. Most board meetings must be open to unit owners, with certain exceptions (litigation strategy, personnel matters).
- Quorum. Statutory baseline (modifiable by bylaws within limits).
- Voting and minutes. Record of action and rationale required.
- Owner participation. Owners have rights to attend and speak (within reasonable time limits) on agenda items.
Video-conference meetings under HB 913
HB 913 specifically authorized video-conference board meetings for Florida condominiums and cooperatives, subject to specific requirements:
- Notice procedures must accommodate the video format.
- Access must be provided to unit owners with reasonable technical accommodation.
- Recording. Video meetings must be recorded.
- Retention. Recordings must be preserved as official records for a minimum of 12 months.
- Disclosure. Recordings must be made available for inspection on request, subject to standard records-disclosure rules.
Video meetings expand director participation across geographic distance and reduce meeting friction. The recording and retention obligations are not optional and require infrastructure investment.
Member meetings
Annual and special member meetings have their own framework:
- Annual meeting required with specified content (election of directors, financial reports, budget approval where applicable).
- Notice requirements with specific content and timing.
- Quorum and voting rules statutorily and by-law specified.
- Election procedures with detailed candidate-protection requirements.
- Proxy and electronic voting permitted within statutory parameters.
Records-keeping under the 2024 and 2025 framework
HB 1021 (2024) and HB 913 (2025) extended records obligations:
- Required records include financial statements, meeting minutes, contracts, insurance policies, governing documents, and member records.
- Online DBPR account (HB 913) — by October 1, 2025, associations must maintain online accounts with the DBPR containing essential building, governance, and financial information.
- Email-address protection (HB 1021) — email addresses are accessible only to unit owners with consent; associations must redact email addresses and personal information from records produced to third parties.
- Disclosure procedures with specific timing and content requirements.
The DBPR online account
The HB 913 online account requirement is one of the more novel aspects of the 2025 reform. Associations subject to the requirement must maintain a DBPR-administered account containing:
- Basic association information (name, address, officers).
- Building information (number of units, year built, structural details).
- Financial information (annual budget, reserves, recent financial statements).
- Inspection reports and compliance documentation.
- Governance documents.
The account is intended both as transparency to owners and as a regulatory tool for the DBPR. Implementation is administratively significant — most associations need management-company or counsel support to populate the account correctly.
Common procedural pitfalls
Several recurring patterns produce procedural defects in Florida community-association governance:
Notice errors
Insufficient notice (wrong recipients, wrong content, wrong timing) is the most common procedural defect. The statutory requirements are detailed and admit little tolerance.
Closed-meeting issues
Closing meetings to discuss matters that should be open, or holding open discussions in nominally closed meetings, both create challenges.
Records-disclosure delays
Florida's records-disclosure framework has specific timing requirements. Delayed responses or improper redactions invite owner complaints and DBPR involvement.
Election irregularities
Florida's election protections are detailed. Nomination procedures, ballot content, voter eligibility, vote tabulation — each has procedural requirements that produce challenges when mishandled.
Online account neglect
The DBPR online account requirement is new in 2025. Associations that haven't established and populated the account by the deadline face statutory consequences.
Practical takeaways for boards
- Build the procedural calendar around statutory and bylaw deadlines, not informal practice.
- Confirm DBPR online account compliance by October 1, 2025.
- Update meeting procedures for video-conference rules and recording requirements.
- Confirm records-keeping practice against current statutory obligations.
- Engage counsel for complex governance questions (closed-session timing, election protests, records-disclosure disputes).
- Track legislative developments — Florida community-association statutes change frequently.
Talk to Yates Anderson
Community-association work rewards counsel who knows your documents and your community before the dispute walks in the door. Request a case evaluation and a Yates Anderson attorney will respond within one business day.
Frequently asked questions
Can Florida boards meet by video conference?
Yes, under HB 913 (2025), with specific requirements: notice procedures, owner access, recording, and retention of recordings as official records for a minimum of 12 months. The video format expands participation but adds infrastructure obligations.
Do all board meetings have to be open to unit owners?
Most must be, with specific exceptions for litigation strategy and personnel matters. The default is open; closed meetings require statutory or document-based justification. Improperly closed meetings can produce statutory violations.
What is the DBPR online account?
An online portal required by HB 913 (2025) for associations subject to the requirement. The account contains basic association information, building details, financial information, inspection reports, and governance documents. Compliance was due October 1, 2025.
How long do we have to retain meeting recordings?
Video recordings of board meetings must be preserved as official records for a minimum of 12 months under HB 913. Other records have their own retention periods established by statute and the governing documents.
What if we discover a procedural error after a meeting?
Counsel should be engaged immediately. Some errors can be cured by ratification at a subsequent meeting; others require restart of the affected action. Acting on defective procedure without correction creates exposure that often grows with time.