Florida HOA Board Elections

Section 1: Overview

Florida runs board elections on two separate statutory tracks, and the track a community sits on decides nearly everything that follows. The Condominium Act lays down prescriptive rules for condominiums — a written secret ballot, a fixed multi-step notice sequence, and a general prohibition on electing directors by proxy. The Homeowners' Association Act takes a more flexible approach, and it generally permits proxy voting in homeowners associations unless the governing documents provide otherwise.¹ Chapter 718 governs condominiums; Chapter 720 governs non-condominium homeowners associations; and Chapter 719 governs cooperatives.² The proxy rule is the heart of the distinction. A residential condominium generally cannot elect directors by proxy and must use a written secret ballot under § 718.112(2)(b) and (d), while a homeowners association generally may use proxies under § 720.306(8) unless its governing documents say otherwise.¹ The Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, routes condominium election and recall disputes to mandatory binding arbitration under § 718.1255, and those disputes are not eligible for presuit mediation.³ Florida is one of only seven states — with Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, and Virginia — that require a license to practice as a community association manager, under Chapter 468, Part VIII.^4,5 Florida is a comprehensive non-UCIOA state, it runs the most active condominium-governance legislature in the country, and it revises these chapters almost every session. The sections below set out the framework, the mechanics, and the recent activity.

Section 2: The election framework

2A. Chapter 718 condominium board elections

Chapter 718, the Condominium Act, is the prescriptive framework for condominium board elections. Section 718.112(2)(d) requires associations to conduct contested elections by written secret ballot on the date of the annual meeting, and it fixes the notice sequence: a first notice of the election at least 60 days out; a written notice of intent to be a candidate at least 40 days out; an optional candidate information sheet at least 35 days out; and a second notice with the ballot no fewer than 14 and no more than 34 days before the election.^1,6 An election happens only when more candidates file notices of intent than there are vacancies.¹ The Act generally bars proxies, limited or general, for electing board members in a residential condominium; the one narrow exception lets owners adopt different voting and election procedures by a majority of the total voting interests in the bylaws.¹ Recall falls under § 718.112(2)(l) — the provision long cited as § 718.112(2)(j): a majority of all voting interests may recall any director with or without cause, by vote or written agreement, and the board must meet within five full business days to certify or contest the recall.¹ Section 718.128 separately authorizes electronic voting, which requires a board resolution and written owner consent.⁷ The Division resolves both contested election disputes and recall disputes through mandatory binding arbitration under § 718.1255, and neither is eligible for presuit mediation.³ These ballot, notice, proxy, and arbitration rules set Chapter 718 sharply apart from the more permissive Chapter 720.

2B. Chapter 720 homeowners-association board elections

Chapter 720, the Homeowners' Association Act, is the less prescriptive framework. Section 720.306(9)(a) directs that elections of directors follow the procedures in the association's governing documents, makes all members eligible to serve, and lets a member nominate himself or herself from the floor unless the governing documents allow nomination in advance.² Unless the governing documents provide otherwise, a plurality of the votes cast elects directors, and anyone challenging the election process must file within 60 days after the results are announced.² Members may vote by proxy under § 720.306(8) unless the governing documents set a different method; a proxy must be dated, identify the meeting, carry a signature, and expire 90 days after the meeting date.² Section 720.303(10) governs recall: a majority of the total voting interests may recall a director with or without cause, the board has five full business days to certify or contest, and contested recalls go to Division arbitration.⁸ Section 720.317 authorizes electronic voting on terms close to the condominium statute.⁹ Most other Chapter 720 disputes run through presuit mediation under § 720.311, but election and recall disputes skip mediation and go to arbitration.⁸ The key differences from Chapter 718: homeowners associations generally permit proxies, and they are not bound by the condominium written-ballot rule or the 60/40/35/14–34-day condominium notice sequence.

2C. Cooperatives, manager licensing, and the role of the bylaws

Chapter 719, the Cooperative Act, governs cooperatives and tracks the condominium model for elections: § 719.106(1)(d) requires election by written ballot, bars proxies in board elections after January 1, 1992, decides elections by a plurality, and demands that at least 20 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot for a valid election.¹⁰ Unlike most states, Florida licenses community association managers and management firms under Chapter 468, Part VIII, and recent legislation has added new duties for those licensees.⁴ Within each chapter, the order of precedence runs from the statute, to the recorded declaration and bylaws operating inside statutory limits, to board-adopted rules. What the statute locks down differs by chapter. Chapter 718 fixes the ballot method, the notice sequence, the proxy prohibition, and the arbitration route, and it leaves term length and board composition largely to the bylaws within statutory caps. Chapter 720 fixes far less, and it hands election procedure itself to the governing documents. The operational takeaway: the controlling election rule depends first on whether the community is a condominium under Chapter 718 or a homeowners association under Chapter 720.

Section 3: Election mechanics

A. Eligibility and nominations

In condominiums, the statute mandates eligibility and nomination rules the bylaws cannot relax: a candidate must submit a written notice of intent at least 40 days before the election, and delinquent owners and certain felons are ineligible and may not appear on the ballot (Chapter 718, mandatory).¹ In homeowners associations, all members are eligible, and a member may self-nominate from the floor unless the governing documents adopt an advance-nomination process — a default the documents may vary (Chapter 720).² Both chapters disqualify members who are delinquent and require new directors to complete certification within 90 days (parallel, mandatory).^1,11

B. Notice, annual meeting, and quorum

For condominiums, the first election notice (at least 60 days out) and the second notice with ballot (not less than 14 nor more than 34 days out) are mandatory, and the bylaws cannot shorten them (Chapter 718).^1,6 For homeowners associations, the statute requires only at least 14 days' notice of a member meeting and leaves the detailed election timing to the governing documents (Chapter 720, may be varied).² The quorum rules diverge: condominiums require at least 20 percent of eligible voters to cast ballots for a valid election (mandatory), while homeowners associations use a 30 percent quorum unless the bylaws set a lower figure (Chapter 720, may be varied downward).^6,2

C. Voting methods, proxies, and ballots

The most consequential divergence is proxies. In a residential condominium, proxies generally may not be used to elect directors, and voting is by written secret ballot (Chapter 718, mandatory, subject to the narrow exception allowing different procedures adopted by a majority of total voting interests).¹ In a homeowners association, members may vote by proxy unless the governing documents provide otherwise (Chapter 720, a default the documents may vary).² Electronic voting is authorized separately by chapter, by board resolution and written owner consent, under § 718.128 for condominiums and § 720.317 for homeowners associations (both optional, adopted by the board).^7,9

D. Terms, vacancies, removal, and recall

Condominium directors face an eight-consecutive-year statutory cap, with exceptions, counting only service on or after July 1, 2018 (Chapter 718, a mandatory baseline the bylaws may make stricter).¹ Chapter 720 imposes no statutory term limit on homeowners-association directors, so any limit comes from the governing documents (set by the declaration and bylaws).^2,14 Recall is parallel in structure across both chapters — a majority of voting interests, with or without cause, a five-business-day board response, and Division arbitration — but it is anchored in § 718.112(2)(l) for condominiums and § 720.303(10) for homeowners associations (both mandatory).^1,8 Mid-term vacancies in both are generally filled by a majority of the remaining directors unless the documents provide otherwise.^1,2

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

4B. Recent appellate rulings

Florida channels condominium election and recall disputes into the Division's mandatory binding arbitration under § 718.1255, and it sends homeowners-association election and recall disputes into that same arbitration process under § 720.306(9)(c) and § 720.311, while other Chapter 720 disputes go to presuit mediation.^3,8 Because of that channeling, arbitrators at the Division — not the courts — usually decide election, proxy, and recall questions. A review of the Florida District Courts of Appeal and the Florida Supreme Court found no published opinion in the past 36 months that squarely interprets the Chapter 718 or Chapter 720 board-election, proxy, balloting, or recall provisions. The Division's arbitration docket, available through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, is the primary body of decisional authority on these disputes.²⁰

4C. Active legislative debates

Recent sessions have produced proposals to require homeowners-association elections to run under the Homeowners' Association Act rather than under each association's governing documents, and to revise election and recall dispute procedures — the 2025 House proposal analyzed as HB 983 is one example, kept distinct from the post-Surfside structural-safety reforms.²¹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Florida is a comprehensive non-UCIOA state with a split statutory structure — Chapter 718 for condominiums, Chapter 720 for homeowners associations, and Chapter 719 for cooperatives — which places it alongside other large non-UCIOA jurisdictions such as California under the Davis-Stirling Act, Texas under the Property Code, and Arizona under Title 33. It also runs the most active condominium-governance legislature in the country, amending these chapters session after session.^1,2 Its distinctive features for board elections are the prescriptive condominium written-ballot and no-proxy rules, the Division's mandatory binding arbitration for condominium election and recall disputes, and the licensing of community association managers under Chapter 468, Part VIII — a requirement only six other states (Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, and Virginia) impose.^3,4,5 For multi-state operators, the practical implication is straightforward: the controlling election rule turns first on whether a Florida community is a condominium or a homeowners association, and condominium election and recall disputes route through Division arbitration rather than straight to court.

1. Fla. Stat. § 718.112 (2025), Bylaws (condominium election, proxy, quorum, terms, term limits, recall, vacancies) ↩
2. Fla. Stat. § 720.306 (2025), Meetings of members; voting and election procedures (HOA proxies, nominations, plurality, quorum, vacancies) ↩
3. Fla. Stat. § 718.1255, Alternative dispute resolution; mandatory binding arbitration of election and recall disputes ↩
4. Fla. Stat. ch. 468, Part VIII, Community Association Management (manager and firm licensing) ↩
5. Community Associations Institute, community association manager licensing report (states requiring CAM licensure) ↩
6. DBPR, Minimum Statutory Requirements for Condominium Meetings (notice sequence and Fla. Admin. Code R. 61B-23.0021) ↩
7. Fla. Stat. § 718.128, Electronic voting (condominiums) ↩
8. Fla. Stat. ch. 720 (2025), §§ 720.303(10) (recall) and 720.311 (presuit mediation) ↩
9. Fla. Stat. § 720.317, Electronic voting (homeowners associations) ↩
10. Fla. Stat. § 719.106, Bylaws; cooperative election procedures ↩
11. Fla. Stat. § 720.3033, Officers and directors; director certification and education ↩
12. Fla. Stat. § 718.301, Transition of association control (condominiums) ↩
13. Fla. Stat. § 720.307, Transition of association control in a community ↩
14. Becker & Poliakoff, "Board Term Limits Questioned" (Chapter 720 contains no statutory term limit; 8-year cap is in Chapter 718) ↩
15. Fla. H.B. 1021 (2024), bill page ↩
16. Fla. Senate, HB 1021 (2024) Bill Summary ↩
17. Fla. H.B. 1203 (2024), Homeowners' Associations, bill page (Chapter No. 2024-221) ↩
18. Fla. H.B. 913 (2025), Condominium and Cooperative Associations, bill page ↩
19. Executive Office of the Governor, Governor DeSantis Signs Legislation Delivering Relief to Condo Owners (HB 913) ↩
20. DBPR, Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares & Mobile Homes, Arbitration ↩
21. Fla. House of Representatives, Staff Analysis of HB 983 (2025) ↩