FL H0667

Consolidates Florida's three community association statutes — condominiums (Ch. 718), cooperatives (Ch. 719), and homeowners' associations (Ch. 720) — into a single unified "Common Interest Community Act" under Chapter 718, repealing Chapters 719 and 720 entirely and renaming the regulatory division to the Division of Common Interest Communities within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Expands definitions and scope to encompass all forms of common interest community ownership — condominium, cooperative, and platted/unplatted lots — under unified terms including "common interest community," "unit," "member," "governing documents," and "declaration," while adding new definitions for master associations, successor developers, and community association managers.

Strengthens board governance and fiduciary duties by imposing individual monetary liability on directors for criminal violations, bad faith, or recklessness; enumerating specific conflicts of interest requiring abstention; extending anti-solicitation rules to managers and employees (with violations constituting theft under s. 812.014); requiring board candidates to complete division-approved education and submit written certifications; and mandating secret ballot elections with a minimum 20% voter participation threshold.

Enhances unit owner rights and transparency by increasing minimum damages for denial of records access to $100/day (starting on the 6th working day), requiring substantive written responses to owner inquiries within 15 days ($100/day penalty for noncompliance), allowing owners to use portable devices for free electronic copying of records, permitting owners to overturn any board-adopted rule by majority vote, and reducing the delinquency threshold for suspension of voting and common-element use rights from 90 to 60 days.

Overhauls financial reporting and reserve requirements by lowering the audited financial statement threshold to $500,000+ in revenues and reviewed statements to $150,000+, mandating reserve accounts for items exceeding $600/year per unit or $10,000 in replacement cost, requiring annual reserve adjustment, prohibiting developer-controlled associations from commingling or using reserves for unintended purposes, and requiring developer-controlled associations to hire peer-reviewed CPA firms for GAAP-compliant reporting.

Revises assessment and lien procedures by authorizing acceleration of assessments for delinquent owners, setting a default interest rate of 18% per year, establishing administrative late fees of the greater of $25 or 5% per installment, specifying a mandatory payment application order (interest → late fees → collection costs → attorney fees → delinquent assessments), and making liens effective from the date of recording of original governing documents.

Modifies voting and meeting requirements by reducing the amendment threshold to a majority of units present and voting (from two-thirds of all units), establishing a declining quorum schedule for rescheduled meetings (starting at 40% and decreasing by 10%), requiring 14-day written notice for annual and special meetings, mandating electronic participation options for unit owners when board members participate remotely, and suspending voting rights for members more than 90 days delinquent on assessments.

Reduces the annual association regulatory fee from $4 to $2 per residential unit, creates the Community Association Living Study Council (seven members appointed by the Governor, Senate President, and House Speaker, effective October 1, 2016) to review community association issues and recommend legislative changes, and expands the Ombudsman's role to include election monitoring upon petition of 15% of voting interests or six unit owners.

Strengthens Division enforcement authority by authorizing emergency cease and desist orders effective for 90 days, imposing civil penalties up to $5,000 per offense (per day for continuing violations) against developers, associations, officers, or board members who willfully and knowingly violate provisions, reducing the records-access subpoena timeline from 10 days to 5 days between requests, and permitting court appointment of receivers or conservators for noncompliant associations.

Consolidates timeshare and mobile home regulatory provisions under the renamed Division of Common Interest Communities, maintains chapter 721 preemption over chapter 718 where conflicts exist, preserves timeshare-specific requirements for managing entity budgets, escrow accounts, reserve reallocation, and firesafety standards, and updates all cross-references throughout Florida Statutes — including tax assessment, eminent domain, traffic jurisdiction, documentary stamp taxes, and not-for-profit corporation laws — to reflect the unified framework.