New changes are again on the horizon for Condominium Owners. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 913 into law which is intended to lighten the load on the front end for Owners while still addressing dangerous structures throughout the state.
HB 913 goes into effect July 1, 2025 and pushes the newly mandated structural integrity inspection deadline off a year for some condo associations, allows associations in some situations to use special assessments, and allows the option of obtaining lines of credit or loans to fund their reserves.
In addition, Community Association Managers must attend at least one board or membership meeting in person each year, must maintain an online account with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a CAM and/or firm may not knowingly follow directives that violate state or federal laws. There are also conflict of interest disclosure requirements involving CAM and other professionals, including defining the compensation received – including referral fees, profit sharing, and ownership interests in recommended vendors.
The most significant changes for milestone inspections and structural integrity reserve studies (SIRS) limit these requirements for buildings with three or more habitable stories – living, sleeping, eating, or cooking areas; excludes garages, closets, hallways; instead, just three or more stories. SIRS must be completed by December 31, 2025
Most likely to affect the day-to-day operations of Condominiums are the changes to official records and how meetings are conducted. The Association is required to maintain a recording of all meetings of the association, the board of administration, any committee, and unit owners that are conducted by video conference. In fact, if there are approved minutes for a meeting held by 1086 video conference, recordings of meetings that are conducted by 1087 video conference must be maintained for at least 1 year after the date the video recording is posted. Furthermore, the accounting records that the Association is required to maintain as an official record now include all bank statements and ledgers. Approved minutes of all board of administration meetings over the preceding 12 months must be available on the association’s website in addition to the video recording or a hyperlink to the video recording for all meetings of the association, the board of administration, any committee, and the unit owners which are conducted by video conference over the preceding 12 months. Meetings of unit owners and the board of administration may be conducted in person or via video conference, with specific notice requirements in place to ensure owners are aware of how they may join in with a physical location for in-person attendance. However, if the annual meeting of the unit owners is conducted via video conference, a quorum of the members of the board of administration must be physically present at a physical location where unit owner can attend the meeting.
Such retention policies increase the burden on associations to require creation of recordings of meetings that generally are not recorded or retained, and mandate hybrid meetings so that owners can attend via video conference or in person.
View the changes to Florida Statute 718, et seq in full.
View Changes
For additional information, please contact Ashley Landrum, alandrum@florida-law.com.