Florida HOA Meeting Minutes: Your Complete Compliance Guide After HB 913

Florida has some of the strictest HOA governance requirements in the country. With roughly 50,000 community associations managing neighborhoods, condominiums, and cooperatives across the state, the Florida Legislature has long taken an active role in regulating how these boards operate. And after HB 913 took effect in July 2024, the bar for meeting minutes compliance got significantly higher.

If you serve on an HOA or condominium board in Florida, this guide covers exactly what your board must do to stay compliant with current meeting minutes requirements. Get this wrong, and your association faces potential fines, legal challenges, and board member liability. Get it right, and your minutes become a protective shield for every decision your board makes.

The Legal Framework: Two Statutes You Must Know

Florida community associations are governed by two primary statutes, and which one applies to your community depends on your structure:

Florida Statute §720.303 — Homeowners Associations

This statute governs traditional HOAs, including single-family home communities, townhouse associations, and planned developments. Under §720.303, associations must maintain a copy of the minutes of all meetings of the board of directors and the membership. These minutes are official records of the association and must be made available to members upon written request within 10 business days. Failure to provide access can result in the association being required to pay the requesting member's attorney fees.

Florida Statute §718.112 — Condominium Associations

Condominium associations fall under Chapter 718, the Florida Condominium Act. The requirements are similar but carry additional regulatory oversight through the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes (part of the DBPR). Condo associations face more rigorous record-keeping requirements, including specific financial reporting obligations that must be reflected in meeting minutes.

Key Differences Between HOA and Condo Requirements

• Regulatory oversight: Condo associations are subject to DBPR oversight; HOAs are primarily governed by civil enforcement
• Financial reporting: Condo boards must include more detailed financial disclosures in their minutes, particularly around reserve funding
• Recall procedures: Condo board recalls have specific procedural requirements that must be documented in minutes
• Record access timelines: Both require access, but condo associations face stricter deadlines and penalties for noncompliance

What HB 913 Changed for Meeting Minutes

House Bill 913, which took effect July 1, 2024, introduced sweeping changes to Florida community association governance. For meeting minutes specifically, several provisions raised the compliance bar:

For a deeper look at HB 913 and its full impact on Florida HOA governance, see our detailed breakdown: Florida HB 913: What HOA Boards Need to Know About Meeting Minutes.

What Your Florida Meeting Minutes Must Include

Between existing Florida statute requirements and the HB 913 additions, here is the complete list of elements your minutes must contain:

• Date, time, and location of the meeting (for virtual meetings, include the platform name)
• Type of meeting — regular board meeting, special meeting, annual membership meeting, or committee meeting
• Board members present and absent — listed by name
• Quorum confirmation — explicit statement that a quorum was or was not established
• Each motion made — the full text of the motion, who made it, and who seconded it
• Individual vote of each director — by name, for every motion (HB 913 requirement)
• Financial approvals with specific dollar amounts — any budget amendments, expenditure approvals, or assessment changes must include exact figures
• Owner comment period summary — document that the comment period occurred and note any substantive issues raised
• Executive session notation — if the board entered executive session, note the time, general purpose (e.g., pending litigation), and the time it returned to open session
• Adjournment time

This is not a suggestion list. Each of these elements serves a specific legal function. Missing even one can create a vulnerability if your minutes are ever scrutinized in a dispute or regulatory review.

The $500/Day Problem

Florida law allows associations to impose fines of up to $100 per violation, up to $1,000 in aggregate, against individual owners. But the real financial exposure runs the other direction: when boards fail to comply with records requirements, including maintaining and providing access to proper meeting minutes, the consequences escalate quickly.

Under Florida statute, a member who is denied access to official records (which includes minutes) can petition the court, and if they prevail, the association may be required to pay the member's reasonable attorney fees. In practice, this means a single records dispute can cost an association $5,000 to $15,000 or more in legal fees, all because minutes were incomplete, delayed, or inaccessible.

The most common compliance failures that trigger complaints and legal action:

• Failure to provide minutes upon request — Members have a statutory right to inspect minutes. Ignoring or delaying a request is a violation.
• Missing individual vote records — Post-HB 913, "motion passed unanimously" is not sufficient unless you also name every director who voted.
• Delayed posting to website or portal — If your association maintains an online presence, minutes must be posted there. Waiting three months is not timely.
• No minutes kept at all — More common than you would think, especially with volunteer boards that lack administrative support.

Board Meetings vs. Committee Meetings: What Requires Formal Minutes?

Not every gathering of board or committee members requires the same level of documentation, but the distinctions matter.

Board of Directors Meetings

Every meeting of the board of directors requires formal minutes. This includes regular meetings, special meetings, emergency meetings, and any meeting where board business is discussed or decisions are made. There are no exceptions. If a quorum of board members is present and association business is discussed, it is a board meeting and minutes are required.

Committee Meetings

Committees that are authorized by the board to take final action (such as an architectural review committee that can approve or deny applications) should keep minutes of their meetings, as their decisions become official association actions. Advisory committees that only make recommendations to the board may keep less formal records, but best practice is to document their meetings as well, since committee recommendations often form the basis for board decisions.

Workshops and Informational Sessions

Florida law requires that board workshops and informational sessions be noticed and open to members, even though no votes are taken. While formal minutes are not strictly required for workshops, keeping a summary record is strongly recommended because discussions at workshops often directly inform decisions made at subsequent board meetings.

Annual Meeting Minutes: Extra Requirements

Annual membership meetings carry additional documentation requirements beyond regular board meetings:

• Election procedures — Document the election process step by step: nominations, ballot distribution, counting procedures, and results. If an election is contested later, your minutes are the primary evidence that proper procedures were followed.
• Quorum verification — For membership meetings, quorum is based on the number of members present (in person or by proxy), not just directors. Record the total number of units/lots represented and confirm it meets the quorum threshold in your governing documents.
• Financial report presentation — Note that the annual financial report was presented, identify the type of report (audit, review, or compilation), and record any member questions or discussion about the financials.
• Amendment votes — If amendments to governing documents are voted on, record the exact text of each proposed amendment, the vote count (for, against, abstain), and whether the required threshold was met.
• Proxy verification — Document the total number of proxies received, that they were verified for validity, and the total voting power they represent.

For more on annual meeting documentation, see our guide to HOA annual meeting minutes.

How Florida Boards Get in Trouble

After working with Florida community associations, we see the same compliance failures repeatedly. Here are the scenarios that create the most risk:

The Email Chain Decision

A board president emails the other directors: "We need to approve the landscaping contract for $12,000. Reply YES or NO." Three directors reply YES, and the president signs the contract. This is not a properly noticed meeting. Under Florida's Sunshine Law provisions for community associations, board members cannot make decisions via email, text, or phone polls. The decision is potentially voidable, and there are no minutes documenting what happened.

The "Motion Passed" Shortcut

Minutes that read: "A motion was made to approve the budget. Motion passed." After HB 913, this is insufficient. The minutes must identify who made the motion, who seconded it, and record each director's individual vote. "Motion passed 4-1, with Director Martinez opposed" is the minimum acceptable format.

The Delayed Posting

The board holds its January meeting. The secretary drafts minutes in February, but they are not posted to the association website until they are formally approved at the March meeting. Meanwhile, two homeowners submitted records requests for the January minutes in early February. The association now has a records access violation, regardless of whether the minutes are "draft" or "approved."

The "Informal Discussion" Trap

Three of five board members meet for coffee and discuss the upcoming pool renovation project. They agree on a contractor and a general budget range. At the next formal board meeting, the motion to hire the contractor passes quickly with minimal discussion. A homeowner later challenges the decision, arguing that the real deliberation happened outside a properly noticed meeting with no minutes. They are probably right.

Your Florida Compliance Checklist

Compliance is not optional, and the consequences of getting it wrong extend beyond fines. Incomplete or missing minutes undermine every decision your board makes. When a homeowner challenges a special assessment, disputes an architectural denial, or questions a vendor contract, your minutes are the first document an attorney, mediator, or judge will review.

The boards that protect themselves are the ones that treat meeting minutes as a legal document, not an afterthought. Whether your secretary handles this in-house or you bring in professional support, the standard is the same: complete, accurate, compliant minutes for every meeting, every time.