Florida HOA and Condo Law Changes 2026: What Every Board Member Needs to Know

One of the things I tell every new board member is this: the Florida legislature treats community association law like a home improvement project. They are always adding something, moving something, or tearing something out. What was true two years ago may not be true today.

The 2025 legislative session was particularly active. House Bill 913 alone ran 191 pages and touched condo law, cooperative law, manager regulations, milestone inspections, reserve funding, and more. On top of that, changes from the 2024 session took effect in 2026, including the new website requirements that caught a lot of boards off guard.

I am not an attorney and nothing in this post is legal advice. What I am is a Florida condo board president who has been living inside these changes since they started, and I can tell you what actually matters for the average board trying to run a compliant community without a law degree.

Here is what changed and what your board needs to do about it.

Change 1: Your Condo Association Probably Needs a Compliant Website Right Now

This is the one that blindsided the most boards heading into 2026. Under HB 1021, passed in 2024 and effective January 1, 2026, any condominium association with 25 or more units must now operate a compliant website or secure member portal. Previously this requirement only applied to associations with 150 or more units. That is a massive expansion that brought the majority of Florida condo communities under the rule overnight.

For homeowners associations, the requirement has been in effect since January 1, 2025 for any HOA with 100 or more parcels.

What has to be on the website is specific. Governing documents including the declaration, bylaws, and rules. Approved meeting minutes for the past 12 months. The current annual budget. Annual financial reports. Current insurance policy summaries. All active vendor contracts. Contact information for whoever handles estoppel certificate requests. All structural inspection reports including milestone inspection reports and SIRS documents. Recordings of virtual board meetings from the past 12 months.

New documents must be posted within 30 days of creation or receipt. That is an ongoing obligation, not a one-time upload.

The penalty for willfully denying owners access to official records is a second-degree misdemeanor. A board member convicted can be removed from office. Owners who are improperly denied records access can recover $50 per day for each day beyond the statutory deadline.

If your condo association has 25 or more units and does not have a compliant website in place today, getting one up is the first priority. There are platforms built specifically for Florida community associations that handle the compliance requirements and run in the range of $30 to $100 per month for small communities.

Change 2: The SIRS Deadline Has Been Extended But Is Not Optional

House Bill 913, which took effect July 1, 2025, made several adjustments to the Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirements that came out of the post-Surfside legislation.

The original deadline for condominium associations to complete their initial SIRS was December 31, 2024. HB 913 extended that to December 31, 2025 for most associations, and for associations that are also required to complete a milestone inspection by December 31, 2026, the SIRS can be completed simultaneously with that inspection, but in no event can the SIRS be completed after December 31, 2026.

If your association has not yet completed its initial SIRS and does not fall into the milestone inspection extension category, you are currently non-compliant. The practical fix is to commission the study immediately and document the board's efforts to come into compliance.

HB 913 also changed the reserve item threshold from $10,000 to $25,000, indexed to inflation starting February 1, 2026. That means components with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost below $25,000 are no longer required to be included in the mandatory SIRS reserve funding. Note that this is a change from what you may have read in earlier guidance, so if your reserve study was done under the old threshold, it may need to be reviewed.

One more important change from HB 913: any engineer, architect, or contractor bidding to perform a milestone inspection or a SIRS must now disclose in writing to the association if they also plan to bid on any repair work that comes out of their report. This conflict of interest protection matters. Before the change, there was nothing stopping the firm that told you your building needed $2 million in repairs from also being the one bidding to do those repairs. Now they have to disclose that upfront.

Change 3: Reserve Funding Is Now Mandatory for Structural Components and Cannot Be Waived

This was not new in 2026 but it fully took effect for budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024. For any condominium association in a building three stories or taller, the reserves for structural components identified in the SIRS cannot be waived or reduced by a vote of the owners. They must be fully funded.

For decades, Florida condo associations had been voting at their annual budget meetings to waive reserve contributions. It kept monthly dues low and pushed the financial consequences of aging buildings into the future. That practice is now prohibited for structural components in qualifying buildings.

The result is that many Florida condo communities are seeing significant dues increases in 2026 as they bring their reserve contributions into compliance. Some are also facing special assessments to catch up on years of underfunded structural reserves. This is the wave of assessments that has been making news across the state.

For HOA communities and condos in buildings two stories or fewer, the ability to vote to waive reserves still exists. But boards in those communities should be communicating clearly to owners what that vote means: when major projects come due there will be no reserves to draw from, and a special assessment will be the only option.

Change 4: All Associations Must Now Have a DBPR Online Account

As part of HB 913, all condominium and cooperative associations were required to create and maintain an online account with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation by October 1, 2025. This requirement applies to condominiums and cooperatives under Chapters 718 and 719. HOAs under Chapter 720 are not subject to this specific requirement.

The registration captures contact information, building details, assessment data, and a link to the association website. If your condo association has not yet registered, you are out of compliance and need to act on this immediately. The DBPR's website has step-by-step instructions for creating the account and submitting the required information.

This also applies to your community association manager if you use one. All licensed CAMs were required to create and maintain an online licensure account with the DBPR identifying the associations they manage. This creates a publicly searchable record of which manager is responsible for which community, making it easier for owners and buyers to look up the management status of any association.

Change 5: Community Association Managers Have New Requirements

HB 913 introduced meaningful new requirements for CAMs that boards should know when working with their property management company.

CAMs whose licenses have been revoked are prohibited from having any ownership interest in or holding positions at a management firm for 10 years after revocation. This closes a loophole that previously allowed people with revoked licenses to continue operating through other entities.

CAMs must attend at least one member meeting annually for each community they manage. They cannot manage a community entirely at arm's length through email and phone calls.

CAMs must disclose conflicts of interest, including personal relationships with vendors, and must obtain board approval before entering into any contract in which they have a financial interest. That approval requires a two-thirds vote of directors present.

CAMs must return all community records within 20 business days of contract termination or a written request from the board. No more holding records during a difficult management transition.

If you use a property management company, review whether your manager is complying with these requirements. If they are not attending any of your member meetings, that is now a statutory violation, not just poor service.

Change 6: Criminal Penalties for Board Misconduct Are Real

This came out of 2024 legislation and deserves to be on every board member's radar. Under HB 1023 and HB 1203, board members who engage in fraud, forgery, destruction of records, obstruction of justice, theft, embezzlement, or election manipulation face criminal charges. We are talking about misdemeanor and felony exposure, not just civil consequences. A board member charged with these offenses must be removed from office.

Florida also now prohibits the use of association debit cards for any expense. This is specifically designed to prevent embezzlement through small, hard-to-track purchases. If your association currently uses a debit card for any payments, stop immediately.

The fidelity insurance requirement matters more than ever in this context. Florida law requires associations to carry fidelity coverage proportionate to the maximum funds at risk, at minimum three months of assessments plus the total reserve balance. Criminal prosecution does not recover stolen money. Insurance does. Make sure your policy is current and the coverage amount reflects your actual reserve balance.

Change 7: Hurricane Protection Applications Cannot Be Arbitrarily Denied

Under HB 293, which became effective in 2025, HOAs must adopt formal hurricane protection specifications for each structure they govern. These specifications define the permitted styles, materials, and colors for hurricane shutters, impact windows, storm doors, and other protection systems. Once adopted, owners whose applications conform to the specifications cannot have them denied by the association.

For years, boards in some Florida communities had been using aesthetic preferences to reject hurricane protection upgrades, leaving owners vulnerable. That practice is now prohibited. If an owner wants to install impact windows or shutters that match your adopted specifications, approve it.

If your association has not yet adopted hurricane protection specifications, this needs to go on your next agenda. Work with your attorney to draft specifications that work for your community's architecture while meeting building code requirements.

What to Do Right Now

If you are sitting on a Florida HOA or condo board in 2026 and have not worked through this list systematically, here is where to start.

Confirm whether your association is required to have a compliant website and if so whether it is in place and up to date.

Check your SIRS status. Has it been completed? If not, is your association in the extension category or are you currently non-compliant?

Confirm your DBPR online account is active and current if you are a condo or cooperative association.

Review whether your reserve budget reflects mandatory SIRS funding if you are in a qualifying building. If the last budget was adopted without this, the next one needs to address it.

Verify your fidelity insurance coverage amount reflects your current reserve balance, and confirm your association is not using a debit card for any expenses.

Review your hurricane protection specifications and adopt them if they do not exist.

If you use a property management company, verify your CAM is meeting the new statutory requirements around meeting attendance, conflict disclosure, and record retention.

Florida community association law changes every single year. The boards that stay ahead of it are the ones that treat compliance as an ongoing operational priority, not a once-a-year checkbox.

For a complete guide to running a Florida HOA or condo association, including how to manage reserves, vendors, special assessments, insurance, and the full compliance calendar, pick up a copy of Run the Board. It is the guide written by a Florida board president, not a law firm.