On June 12, 2023, Governor DeSantis signed a Committee Substitute for House Bill 919 into law. Unlike the laws which were summarized in the July, 2023 edition of BackerReport which take effect either immediately or on July 1, 2023, these new laws do not take effect until October 1, 2023.
As has been the trend in recent years, this year, the legislature and governor have continued to create laws to further regulate homeowners associations in far more detail than when the legislature first started specifically writing laws in 1993 addressing homeowners' associations. The 2023 amendments to Chapter 720 are referred to as the “Homeowners’ Bill of Rights.” This issue of BackerReport is a summary of the changes:
1. Agendas with Meeting Notices In addition to the existing requirement that HOA’s post notice of board meetings, the new law requires that HOA’s provide both notice of board meetings and must specifically identify agenda items for the meetings.
2. "Designated Mailing Address" The Official Records of the association must include what the legislature calls “designated mailing addresses.” The statute now defines that to mean “A member’s designated mailing address is the member’s property address, unless the member has sent written notice to the association requesting that a different mailing address be used for all required notices.”
3. Removal of email and fax numbers With regard to owners granting and rescinding consent for both email and fax notices, the statute now provides:
“The e-mail addresses and facsimile numbers provided by members to receive notice by electronic transmission must be removed from association records when the member revokes consent to receive notice by electronic transmission. However, the association is not liable for an erroneous disclosure of the e-mail address or the facsimile number for receiving electronic transmission of notices.”
4. Deposits A new section was added addressing requirements for HOA’s who hold deposits for various reasons which provides:
“If an association collects a deposit from a member for any reason, including to pay for expenses that may be incurred as a result of construction on a member’s parcel, such funds must be maintained separately and may not be commingled with any other association funds. Upon completion of the member’s construction project or other reason for which the deposit was collected, the member may request an accounting from the association of his or her funds that were deposited, and the association must provide such accounting to the member within 7 days after receiving the member’s request. An association must remit payment of any unused funds to the member within 30 days after receiving notice that the member’s construction project, or other reason for which the deposit was collected, is complete.”
5. Conflicts of Interest and Corruption In an effort to further curb what the legislature believes is corruption in some communities, the following language has been approved:
“An officer, a director, or a manager who knowingly solicits, offers to accept, or accepts any thing or service of value or kickback for which consideration has not been provided for his or her own benefit or that of his or her immediate family from any person providing or proposing to provide goods or services to the association is subject to monetary damages under s. 617.0834.”
The forgoing is in addition to the following existing language which has been amended to clarify that it applies to officers, too:
“If the board finds that an officer or a director has violated this subsection, the board shall immediately remove the officer or director from office. The vacancy shall be filled according to law until the end of the officer’s or director’s term of office. However, an officer, a director, or a manager may accept food to be consumed at a business meeting with a value of less than $25 per individual or a service or good received in connection with trade fairs or education programs.”
6. In the same vein of fighting what the legislature perceives is corruption in HOA’s, the following laws were approved:
“A director or an officer charged by information or indictment with any of the following crimes must be removed from office:
1. Forgery of a ballot envelope or voting certificate used in a homeowners’ association election as provided in s. 831.01.
2. Theft or embezzlement involving the association’s funds or property as provided in s. 812.014.
3. Destruction of or the refusal to allow inspection or copying of an official record of a homeowners’ association which is accessible to parcel owners within the time periods required by general law, in furtherance of any crime. Such act constitutes tampering with physical evidence as provided in s. 918.13.”
“If such criminal charge is pending against the officer or director, he or she may not be appointed or elected to a position as an officer or a director of any association and may not have access to the official records of any association, except pursuant to a court order.”
“Directors and officers of an association who are appointed by the developer must disclose to the association their relationship to the developer each calendar year in which they serve as a director or an officer. Directors and officers appointed by the developer must disclose any other activity that may reasonably be construed to be a conflict of interest pursuant to paragraph (b). A developer’s appointment of an officer or director does not create a presumption that the officer or director has a conflict of interest with regard to the performance of his or her official duties. (b) Directors and officers must disclose to the association any activity that may be reasonably construed to be a conflict of interest at least 14 days before voting on an issue or entering into a contract that is the subject of the conflict. A rebuttable presumption of a conflict of interest exists if any of the following acts occur without prior disclosure to the association:
1. A director or an officer, or a relative of a director or an officer, enters into a contract for goods or services with the association.
2. A director or an officer, or a relative of a director or an officer, holds an interest in a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, limited liability partnership, or other business entity that conducts business with the association or proposes to enter into a contract or other transaction with the association.”
7. Fining Limitations An HOA’s right to levy fines was clarified to provide that fines may be levied “for violations of the declaration, association bylaws, or reasonable rules of the association.”
8. Fine Notices A notice of a fine levied by the Board which must be sent to the parcel owner to his designated mailing or email address in the association’s records “must include a description of the alleged violation, the specific action required to cure such violation, if applicable, and the date and location of the hearing. A parcel owner has the right to attend a hearing by telephone or other electronic means.”
If a fining committee, after a hearing, approves the board-levied fine, the law now provides:
“After the hearing, the committee shall provide written notice to the parcel owner at his or her designated mailing or e-mail address in the association’s official records and, if applicable, any occupant, licensee, or invitee of the parcel owner, of the committee’s findings related to the violation, including any applicable fines or suspensions that the committee approved or rejected, and how the parcel owner or any occupant, licensee, or invitee of the parcel owner may cure the violation, if applicable.”
9. Anti Voting Fraud To address what the legislature apparently believes is a rash of fraudulent HOA voting activities in Florida, the following new Section 720.3065, Florida Statutes has been enacted:
“720.3065 Fraudulent voting activities relating to association elections; penalties.—Each of the following acts is a fraudulent voting activity relating to association elections and constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083:
(1) Willfully and falsely swearing to or affirming an oath or affirmation, or willfully procuring another person to falsely swear to or affirm an oath or affirmation, in connection with or arising out of voting activities.
(2) Perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate, or aiding in the perpetration of, fraud in connection with a vote cast, to be cast, or attempted to be cast.
(3) Preventing a member from voting or preventing a member from voting as he or she intended by fraudulently changing or attempting to change a ballot, ballot envelope, vote, or voting certificate of the member.
(4) Menacing, threatening, or using bribery or any other corruption to attempt, directly or indirectly, to influence, deceive, or deter a member when the member is voting.
(5) Giving or promising, directly or indirectly, anything of value to another member with the intent to buy the vote of that member or another member or to corruptly influence that member or another member in casting his or her vote. This subsection does not apply to any food served which is to be consumed at an election rally or a meeting or to any item of nominal value which is used as an election advertisement, including a campaign message designed to be worn by a member.
(6) Using or threatening to use, directly or indirectly, force, violence, or intimidation or any tactic of coercion or intimidation to induce or compel a member to vote or refrain from voting in an election or on a particular ballot measure.”
