Florida Association Records
The exempt list is closed, short, and narrower than most associations assert: nine categories under § 720.303(5)(g), eight under § 718.111(12)(c)5.
Florida associations may withhold some records. The list of what they may withhold is set by statute, it is closed, and it is a good deal shorter than the refusals owners receive.
The exemption that does not exist Associations frequently claim that other owners' violation, fining, or enforcement records are confidential. No such exemption appears in either chapter. Chapter 720 exempts personnel records of employees, which is a different thing entirely. Violation and enforcement records fall within the official records and are producible, subject to redacting personal identifying information. If you have been refused on this ground, the ground is wrong.
Section 720.303(5)(g) lists what is not accessible to a parcel owner:
If you are reading (5)(c) somewhere, it is out of date The exempt-records list sat at § 720.303(5)(c) only through the 2023 edition. HB 1203 moved it to (5)(g) effective July 2024. Subsection (5)(c) is now the minimum-damages provision, an entirely different rule. A great deal of commentary published since 2024 still cites the old lettering.
This is the refusal owners meet most often, usually as a blanket claim over everything the association's lawyer ever touched. Both chapters write the exemption with three cumulative qualifiers, and a record has to satisfy all three.
General legal advice, transactional work, and routine correspondence with counsel that is not litigation-directed do not sit comfortably inside that text. Neither does anything from a matter that has ended.
In a condominium, make them itemise it A condominium association responding to a records request must simultaneously provide a checklist identifying the records it did not make available. A blanket privilege assertion and a compliant checklist are hard to reconcile: the checklist obliges the association to name what it is withholding, which is effectively a privilege log it has to produce without being sued for it.
Ask in writing, on the record A refusal is much easier to test when the request was specific, dated, and delivered against a signature. We draft the request, cite the statute, and mail it USPS Certified with return receipt. Start my request
Both chapters end their enumerated lists with a catch-all. In Chapter 718 it is now item (12)(a)21., all other written records related to the operation of the association. In Chapter 720 it is item (4)(a)14. Bank statements are official records: the Fifth District said so in Pecchia, holding they fall within both "financial statements" and records that identify, measure, record, or communicate financial information.
And a record the association cannot find is still a record. Chapter 718 imposes a good-faith obligation to obtain and recover official records that are lost, destroyed, or otherwise unavailable, so an association that cannot find a record still has work to do.
No. Section 720.303(5)(g) bars an HOA from requiring a parcel owner to demonstrate any proper purpose or state any reason, and § 718.111(12)(c)1.a. does the same for condominiums. Purpose is not a permitted ground for refusal because purpose is not something you can be made to supply.
The association's financial records are official records, and the exempt list does not contain a category for other members' account balances. What must be redacted is personal identifying information under the sixth exemption, which expressly does not cover a person's name, parcel designation, mailing address, or property address.
In a condominium, narrowly: a renter may inspect and copy the declaration, the bylaws and rules, and the inspection reports described in §§ 553.899 and 718.301(4)(p). In an HOA, no. Chapter 720 gives the right to a parcel owner and their authorized representative, and gives tenants nothing.
Yes. Both chapters extend the inspection right to a person authorized by the member as their representative, and the condominium statute says so in express terms. An owner's attorney, accountant, or engineer may inspect on their behalf.
Put the request in a form they have to answer We name the records, cite the current subsection numbering, and mail it certified so the ten-day clock starts against a signature. Build my letter
Florida Association Records prepares Florida condominium and homeowners' association records requests and written inquiries under §§ 718.111(12), 718.112(2)(a)2 and 720.303(5), Florida Statutes, mails them USPS Certified with Return Receipt, and tracks the statutory deadline that delivery starts.
Florida Association Records is not a law firm, does not provide legal advice, and does not represent you. Using this site creates no attorney-client relationship.
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