Florida HOA Director Qualifications

Section 1: Overview — Who can serve on an HOA or condominium board in Florida

Start with the headline: no state regulates HOA and condominium directors more closely than Florida. The statutes make directors complete education and earn a certification, they disqualify certain assessment-delinquent owners and certain felons automatically, they cap condominium directors at eight consecutive years, they treat a delinquent sitting condominium director as having abandoned the office, and they hand owners a statutory recall. The specifics differ depending on whether the community is a condominium under Chapter 718 or a homeowners’ association under Chapter 720.¹

Two statutes do the governing. The Florida Condominium Act, Fla. Stat. § 718.101 et seq., covers condominiums; the Florida Homeowners’ Association Act, Fla. Stat. § 720.301 et seq., covers HOAs; and the Florida Cooperative Act, Fla. Stat. § 719.101 et seq., handles cooperatives separately.² The legislature rebuilt the director rules in 2024 — HB 1021 for condominiums (Chapter 2024-244) and HB 1203 for HOAs (Chapter 2024-221) — then amended them again in 2025 through HB 913 (Chapter 2025-175), so the current rules look materially different from older guidance.^{3, 4, 5} Both kinds of association usually incorporate under the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act, Fla. Stat. § 617.0101 et seq., which supplies the corporate defaults, and the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) actively regulates condominiums and cooperatives.⁶ The sections that follow trace where these qualifications come from and spell out the operating rules a manager, board, or attorney applies when vetting a candidate, enrolling a director in the required course, or removing one who is already sitting.

Section 2: Where director qualifications come from

2A. The two statutes: Chapter 718 (condominiums) and Chapter 720 (HOAs)

Florida has no single common-interest statute, so the answer to “who may serve” depends first on how the community is classified. Eligibility, certification, disqualification, and removal all follow from that classification. Condominium associations answer to the Florida Condominium Act, Fla. Stat. § 718.101 et seq., with the director provisions concentrated in the bylaws section, Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d) and its related subparagraphs.¹ Homeowners’ associations answer to the Florida Homeowners’ Association Act, Fla. Stat. § 720.301 et seq., with the director provisions at Fla. Stat. § 720.3033 and the eligibility and recall provisions at §§ 720.306(9) and 720.303(10).^{7, 8, 9}

Each chapter covers the same categories for its own community type: who may run, the education and certification requirement, disqualification of delinquent owners and felons, removal for certain criminal charges, and recall. The two chapters do not interchange, and several prominent rules live in one chapter but not the other. Chapter 718 carries the eight-year consecutive-service limit, the automatic bar on co-owners of a single unit serving at once, the option to pre-complete certification up to a year before election, and the abandonment-of-office rule; Chapter 720 codifies no term limit and no bar on co-owners serving together.^{1, 7} Chapter 719 governs cooperatives on a separate track, with parallel director-certification and recall provisions at Fla. Stat. § 719.106.²

The amendment history matters. HB 1021 (Chapter 2024-244, effective July 1, 2024) rewrote the condominium director-certification requirement and scrapped the old option to sign a certificate instead of taking a course.³ HB 1203 (Chapter 2024-221, effective July 1, 2024) created the HOA director-education requirement and added criminal-removal provisions.⁴ HB 913 (Chapter 2025-175, effective July 1, 2025) widened the Division’s jurisdiction and compliance authority over condominiums and cooperatives and tightened community association manager licensing.⁵ These bills form part of Florida’s legislative answer to the June 24, 2021 partial collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside, which killed 98 people and stands among the worst structural failures in U.S. history.¹⁰ Because the subparagraph numbering inside § 718.112(2)(d) has shifted across these amendments, every cite below reflects the current 2025 text on Online Sunshine.

2B. The corporate-law layer: the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act

Florida condominium and homeowners’ associations usually incorporate under the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act, Fla. Stat. § 617.0101 et seq., with the director provisions in the § 617.08xx range.⁶ The Act fills the gaps the chapter and the governing documents leave open — director qualifications, the number of directors, terms, removal, and how vacancies get filled. On qualifications it asks little: Fla. Stat. § 617.0802(1) requires only that a director be a natural person 18 or older, and a director need not live in Florida or belong to the corporation unless the articles or bylaws say so, though the articles or bylaws may add qualifications.⁶ Section 617.0802(2) treats the grantor or beneficiary of a trust that owns a unit or parcel as a member eligible to serve wherever eligibility turns on membership.⁶ Think of the Act as corporate scaffolding. Whenever Chapter 718 or Chapter 720 lays down a mandatory rule, that rule overrides any conflicting corporate default, so the chapter-specific provisions in Section 3 control over the general corporate baseline.

2C. The declaration and bylaws, and which chapter governs

The recorded declaration and the bylaws add their own eligibility screens on top of the statutory floor — a requirement that directors be members or unit owners, say, or other good-standing conditions — subject always to the chapter’s mandatory provisions.⁶ The order of precedence runs in one direction: the applicable chapter’s mandatory provisions first, then the recorded declaration and bylaws, then the Not For Profit Corporation Act defaults, then board-adopted rules. When a governing-document provision collides with a mandatory statute, the statute wins. So the first operational question for any Florida community is classification. Determine whether the community is a condominium (Chapter 718), a homeowners’ association (Chapter 720), or a cooperative (Chapter 719), because the entire set of applicable director rules — and which of the contrasts below apply — follows from that single call.

Section 3: Director eligibility, disqualification, and tenure rules

3A. Eligibility to serve

Membership requirement. Neither chapter, on its own, makes a director own a unit or parcel. Under Fla. Stat. § 617.0802(1) a director need not be a member unless the articles or bylaws require it — and most association documents do require it.⁶ Source layer: the Not For Profit Corporation Act default, as the governing documents modify it.

Condominium candidate delinquency screen. Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3 keeps a person who is delinquent on any assessment owed to the association off the ballot and out of the candidacy.¹ SB 630 (effective July 1, 2021) narrowed the trigger: in § 718.112(2)(d)2 the legislature swapped the term “monetary obligation” for “assessment,” so a candidate no longer becomes ineligible over delinquent fines, fees, or other obligations short of assessments.¹¹ Source layer: Chapter 718, as changed in 2021 and carried forward through 2025.

HOA candidate delinquency screen. Fla. Stat. § 720.306(9) bars an HOA parcel owner who is delinquent on any monetary obligation to the association from board membership.⁸ The HOA trigger still reads “monetary obligation,” which sweeps wider than the condominium “assessment” trigger. Source layer: Chapter 720.

Felony screen. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3, a person convicted of a felony in Florida, or of an equivalent offense elsewhere, cannot serve on a condominium board unless his or her civil rights have been restored for at least five years by the date of the election.¹ Chapter 720 runs a parallel five-year civil-rights-restoration screen for HOA directors under Fla. Stat. § 720.306(9).⁸ Source layer: Chapter 718 and Chapter 720, separately.

Division-suspended or removed persons. Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3 also keeps anyone the Division has suspended or removed under Chapter 718 off the ballot as a condominium candidate.¹ Source layer: Chapter 718.

Co-owners, spouses, trustees, and entities. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3, in a residential condominium of more than 10 units, co-owners of the same unit may not sit on the board at the same time unless they own more than one unit or there are too few eligible candidates.¹ Chapter 720 carries no equivalent statutory bar, so an HOA may seat co-owners together unless its bylaws say otherwise.⁸ A trust grantor or beneficiary counts as a member under Fla. Stat. § 617.0802(2), and because a director must be a natural person, an entity cannot itself hold a board seat.⁶

3B. Disqualification, removal, and recall

Condominium abandonment rule. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(p), a sitting condominium director or officer who falls more than 90 days delinquent on any monetary obligation owed the association is deemed to have abandoned the office, which opens a vacancy to be filled as the law provides.¹ This differs from the candidate-eligibility screen in 3A in four ways: it governs sitting directors, it sits at a different subparagraph, it uses the broader “monetary obligation” language rather than “assessment,” and it operates automatically instead of blocking a ballot.¹¹ Chapter 720 sets a parallel sitting-director rule at Fla. Stat. § 720.306(9)(b): an HOA board member more than 90 days delinquent on any fee, fine, or other monetary obligation is deemed to have abandoned the seat.⁸

Recall. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(l), condominium unit owners may recall and remove a board member, with or without cause, by a majority of all voting interests, and the Division arbitrates the disputes.¹ Section 718.112(2)(l)7 forbids the Division or a court from accepting a recall petition when 60 or fewer days remain before the targeted member’s scheduled reelection, or when 60 or fewer days have passed since that member’s election.¹ Chapter 720 supplies a substantially parallel HOA recall mechanism at Fla. Stat. § 720.303(10), including the same 60-day timing bar at § 720.303(10)(l).⁹ The petition mechanics, ballots, and recall-meeting procedure are a board-elections question, taken up separately; here we state the qualification-side consequence, which is loss of the seat.

Removal generally. Both chapters require removal of a director or officer charged by information or indictment with specified crimes — ballot forgery, theft or embezzlement of association funds, destruction of records in furtherance of a crime, and obstruction of justice — and the HOA list at Fla. Stat. § 720.3033(4) reaches any criminal violation under Chapter 720 as well.⁷ Where a chapter says nothing about a removal ground, the governing documents and the Not For Profit Corporation Act’s default director-removal rules step in.⁶

3C. Board composition and terms

Term limit (condominiums only). Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3, a residential condominium board member may not serve more than eight consecutive years unless unit owners representing two-thirds of all votes cast in the election approve, or unless too few eligible candidates step forward to fill the vacancies.¹ Only board service on or after July 1, 2018 — the rule’s effective date — counts toward the eight-year total, which is why many associations meet the limit for the first time in 2026.¹ The cap is not absolute, given the two-thirds and insufficient-candidate exceptions. Chapter 720 sets no statutory term limit; the term-limit language appears only in § 718.112, and an HOA faces a cap only if its own governing documents impose one.¹

Number of directors. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(a)1, absent a contrary bylaw a condominium board seats five members, or no fewer than three in condominiums of five or fewer units organized as not-for-profit corporations.¹ For HOAs, the governing documents set the board’s size, and the Not For Profit Corporation Act supplies the default when the documents are silent.⁶

Developer-appointed seats and transition of control. Both chapters let a developer appoint directors during the construction-and-sales period and then provide for transition of control to the non-developer owners — Fla. Stat. § 718.301 for condominiums and § 720.307 for HOAs — and developer-appointed condominium directors get extra room on the certification timeline under § 718.112(2)(d)5.b.¹

3D. Onboarding and ongoing qualification duties

Condominiums: the dual requirement. Under Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)5.b — the subparagraph that carried the cite (2)(d)4.b under the 2024 numbering before the 2025 renumbering — a residential condominium director must do two things: (I) certify in writing to the secretary that he or she has read the declaration, articles, bylaws, and current written policies, will work to uphold them, and will faithfully discharge the fiduciary duty; and (II) submit a certificate of completing a Division-approved educational curriculum.¹ HB 1021 killed the old option to sign a certificate in lieu of taking a course, so both components now stand as mandatory.³ The curriculum must run at least four hours and cover milestone inspections, structural integrity reserve studies, elections, recordkeeping, financial literacy and transparency, the levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements.¹ A director must file both items within one year before election or appointment or within 90 days after it, and a director seated before July 1, 2024 had to comply by June 30, 2025.¹ The certification holds for seven years if service runs uninterrupted, and starting one year after the initial submission, and every year after that, the director must complete at least one hour of continuing education on recent changes to Chapter 718 and its rules.¹ A director who misses the filing deadline is suspended from the board until he or she complies, and the board may fill the seat temporarily.¹ HB 913 handed the Division compliance authority over these condominium certification requirements.¹²

HOAs: the education requirement. Under Fla. Stat. § 720.3033(1), a newly elected or appointed HOA director must, within 90 days, submit a certificate of completing a department-approved educational curriculum that covers financial literacy and transparency, recordkeeping, the levying of fines, and notice and meeting requirements.⁷ The HOA certificate stays valid for up to four years — not the seven years that condominiums get — and the curriculum must be retaken at least every four years.⁷ The HOA statute sets no codified pre-election look-back window, so the condominium one-year-before option does not reach HOA directors.⁷ Contrary to earlier guidance, the current statute does impose annual continuing education on HOA directors: under Fla. Stat. § 720.3033(1)(a)5, a director of an association with fewer than 2,500 parcels must complete at least four hours of continuing education each year, and a director of an association with 2,500 or more parcels must complete at least eight hours each year.⁷ A director who does not file the certificate on time is suspended until he or she complies.⁷

HOA criminal liability provisions. HB 1203 toughened the criminal-removal regime in Fla. Stat. § 720.3033: an officer, director, or manager who knowingly solicits, offers to accept, or accepts a kickback commits a third-degree felony, and a director or officer charged with ballot forgery, theft or embezzlement, records destruction in furtherance of a crime, obstruction of justice, or any criminal violation under Chapter 720 must be removed from office.^{4, 7}

Fiduciary standard. Directors of both association types owe a fiduciary duty to the membership — a duty the required condominium certification language spells out and the corporate standard of care for not-for-profit directors under the Not For Profit Corporation Act mirrors.^{1, 6}

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

4A. Recent bills

Florida’s recent legislative activity centers on three bills, all now signed into law, that together rebuilt the director-qualification rules for condominiums and HOAs.

4B. Recent appellate rulings

One recent appellate decision speaks directly to director eligibility.

Most recall, removal, and eligibility disputes get resolved through DBPR arbitration rather than the District Courts of Appeal, which keeps the volume of published appellate opinions squarely on director qualifications low.

4C. Active legislative debates

Florida’s legislature has revisited community-association governance in every session since the 2021 Surfside collapse, and the likeliest subject of any 2026 action in this area is further refinement of director-education compliance and Division enforcement. Before making a compliance decision, confirm the controlling version of each rule against Online Sunshine.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Florida is the heavy-touch benchmark for director qualifications, with the most detailed statutory regime in the country: mandatory education and certification, automatic disqualification of certain delinquent owners and certain felons, an eight-year term limit for condominium directors, an abandonment-on-delinquency rule, and a statutory recall that a state agency arbitrates. That sets it apart from moderate-touch states such as Colorado and Delaware, which impose statutory removal and conduct rules but leave most eligibility screens to the governing documents, and from light-touch states such as Arkansas, where eligibility, terms, and removal rest almost entirely on the documents and general corporate law. For a multi-state operator, a Florida board seat carries obligations — course completion, written certification, term tracking, and delinquency monitoring — that most states never impose, and those obligations split between condominium and HOA boards. Florida’s rules change often, so confirm the controlling version and effective date before making any compliance decision.

HOA Weekly refreshes its Florida director-qualifications coverage each quarter as the legislature, the DBPR Division, and the Florida courts act, and Florida’s pace of change makes each rule’s effective date worth confirming before anyone relies on it. Florida associations also answer to federal law — the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the OTARD rule — in their broader operations.

Footnotes

1. Fla. Stat. § 718.112 (2025), Online Sunshine, The 2025 Florida Statutes § 718.112 (Bylaws) ↩
2. Fla. Stat. § 719.106 (2025), Online Sunshine, The 2025 Florida Statutes § 719.106 (Bylaws; cooperative ownership) ↩
3. HB 1021 (2024), Chapter 2024-244, Laws of Florida, The Florida Senate, House Bill 1021 (2024) — Condominium and Cooperative Associations ↩
4. HB 1203 (2024), Chapter 2024-221, Laws of Florida, The Florida Senate, House Bill 1203 (2024) — Homeowners’ Associations ↩
5. HB 913 (2025), Chapter 2025-175, Laws of Florida, The Florida Senate, House Bill 913 (2025) — Condominium and Cooperative Associations ↩
6. Fla. Stat. § 617.0802 (Qualifications of directors), Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act ↩
7. Fla. Stat. § 720.3033 (2025), The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes § 720.3033 (Officers and directors) ↩
8. Fla. Stat. § 720.306 (2025), Online Sunshine, The 2025 Florida Statutes § 720.306 (Meetings of members; voting and election procedures) ↩
9. Fla. Stat. § 720.303 (2025), The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes Chapter 720 § 720.303 (Association powers and duties; recalls) ↩
10. Surfside (Champlain Towers South) collapse, June 24, 2021; DBPR Condominium Information & Resources — FAQs (legislative response: SB 4-D, SB 154, HB 1021, HB 913) ↩
11. SB 630 (2021), narrowing § 718.112(2)(d) candidate-eligibility trigger from “monetary obligation” to “assessment”; see also Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(p) (abandonment), The Florida Senate, 2021 Florida Statutes § 718.112 ↩
12. DBPR Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes, DBPR Condominium Information & Resources — Board Member Education (HB 913 Division compliance authority) ↩
13. King David of Sunny Isles Condominium Association, Inc. v. Bushoy, No. 3D22-1398 (Fla. 3d DCA July 17, 2024), Justia, Florida Third District Court of Appeal, 3D22-1398 ↩