What Florida’s HB1203 Means for Your HOA

This past July, HB1203 went into effect. This new bill impacts HOAs in Broward County, Palm Beach County, and all other counties in Florida. It provides sweeping reforms for how HOAs manage their communities and new requirements that HOA boards of directors and community managers must follow. Following are some highlights:

To promote transparency for how the board of directors runs the HOA, the HOA must post all governing documents, meeting minutes, and other key documents on the association’s website or have an easy-to-use application for homeowners to request such materials.

HOA board members and community members must undergo required training sessions.

The bill has several provisions designed to ensure that the board of directors maintain their fiduciary duty to the HOA. These include:

• Larger HOA communities must have their financial statements audited.
• There are strict requirements on using debit cards in the HOA’s name.
• If a homeowner requests that the HOA provide a detailed accounting of any funds that they owe the HOA, the HOA must provide the accounting within 15 days or else they are unable to collect any fines that are over 30 days old.
• It is a felony for officers, directors, or managers to accept kickbacks.
• Anyone who is charged with a crime must be removed from the board of directors.

The law also puts specific parameters on fining and suspending the privileges of HOA members. Some examples include:

• An HOA must use a specified process if it plans to fine a homeowner or suspend their usage privileges.
• An HOA cannot fine or suspend its members for leaving garbage cans outside for a 24-hour period before and after pick-up.
• An HOA can’t fine or suspend a homeowner for leaving out holiday decorations beyond the period stated in the HOA governing documents, unless the homeowner continues to leave the decorations up for one week after they receive a warning letter about the violation.
• Homeowners and their guests must be allowed to park in their driveways.
• Homeowners must be allowed to use any vendors or contractors of their choice when doing work on their personal property. The HOA cannot require the use of preferred vendors.

The law limits the architectural approvals that an HOA can require. Some of these limits are:

• The HOA can’t place restrictions on a homeowner’s plans for improving the interior of their home, central air-conditioning, refrigeration, heating, or ventilation if the plans or system is not visible to others outside of the home.
• The HOA can’t restrict a homeowner from having artificial turf, boats, vegetable gardens, clotheslines and RVs if the items are placed such that they are not visible outside of the property.

This article only covers a portion of the material in HB1203. At CCM, our property managers work tirelessly with their HOAs’ boards of directors to ensure that their properties come into compliance with this and all laws. If your HOA is located in Broward or Palm Beach Counties and you want premier property management services, contact CCM today.

Consolidated Community Management (CCM) is a full-service property management company specializing in condominium and homeowner association management in Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties.  We are committed to working together with community Boards of Directors to develop management plans tailored to the unique requirements of each community and their residents.

CCM provides a quality of service that is unique to our industry and consistently delivers a distinct competitive advantage.  Our concentrated, extensive local presence and knowledge of community associations results in lasting partnerships and superior service.  We have built our industry reputation on employing the best in the business and assigning only a limited number of properties to each Property Manager Team.

Our team at Consolidated Community Management provides expert property management services at competitive prices.  Contact us today by calling (954) 718-9903 or clicking on ccmfla.com.