2026 Legal Update: What Condominium and Homeowners’ Association Boards Need to Know
Florida community association boards face two different kinds of legal updates in 2026. Amendments to Chapters 718 and 720 are largely technical. Changes to Chapter 617, effective July 1, modernize the corporate law that applies to most community associations. Separately, a May 2026 HUD memorandum shifts federal enforcement priorities for assistance-animal requests.
These laws affect how your board operates, maintains records, conducts meetings, and manages money. Review the requirements that apply to your community and discuss questions with association counsel.
Chapters 718 and 720: 2026 changes are mainly technical
The 2026 amendments to the Condominium Act and Homeowners’ Association Act revise internal cross-references and renumber subparagraphs. They are primarily housekeeping changes, not a new set of operational requirements.
Boards should still account for the more substantial provisions adopted in 2024 and 2025. Those changes address reserves, hurricane protection, official records, electronic meetings and voting, and other matters. See RPG Law’s amendments updates for related information.
Key requirements from the 2025 amendments
Virtual meetings and digital records
Associations may conduct board, member, annual, and budget meetings by video conference. Each meeting must provide a video link, a dial-in number, and a physical location for in-person attendance. Virtual meetings must be recorded, and recordings must be kept as official records for at least one year.
Annual meetings require a quorum of the board at a physical location. Members attending an annual or membership meeting remotely do not count toward quorum unless they submit a proxy or cast a ballot through an online voting system.
Electronic voting and ballots
If 25% of owners petition the board, the association must implement electronic voting within 21 days. If the association does not use an electronic voting platform, it must accept emailed ballots at a designated email address. The ballot must include the unit number, owner’s name, and required disclaimer.
Records and website requirements
Associations must retain committee minutes and meeting recordings for at least one year. Bank statements and ledgers are official records and must be retained for seven years.
Association websites must include required affidavits, approved board meeting minutes from the previous 12 months, and links to meeting recordings. Update the site within 30 days after a change.
Hurricane protection
The revised hurricane-shutter provisions create uncertainty about who pays for removal and replacement. One part of the statute points to the declaration; other parts indicate that owners should not bear the expense.
Until the Legislature clarifies the issue, our view is that an association may no longer bill owners for shutter removal and reinstallation related to the association’s maintenance responsibility, even if the declaration places that responsibility on the owner. Review your declaration and consult counsel before billing an owner.
Structural reserves, SIRS, and inspections
Associations may use special assessments, lines of credit, or loans to fully fund structural reserves, but only with approval from a majority of all owners, not merely a majority of those voting. The funding must immediately cover reserves previously waived or underfunded in the SIRS report.
For budgets adopted through 2028, an association may pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two years after completing a milestone inspection, if the funds are needed for repairs identified in that inspection. A majority of owners must approve the pause or reduction. This exception does not apply to developer-controlled associations.
An association that has completed a milestone inspection may also delay its SIRS by up to two budget years when the delay is necessary to complete repairs identified in the milestone report. This limited option is intended to let associations prioritize urgent structural work before finalizing long-term funding plans.
The SIRS deadline for buildings with three or more habitable stories was December 31, 2025. The study must include a visual inspection by a licensed professional and assess key components, including the roof, structure, electrical and plumbing systems, waterproofing, and fireproofing. It must outline a funding plan, and a board member must sign an affidavit confirming receipt. That deadline has passed: confirm with counsel whether your association has met its obligations.
Associations may pool SIRS components for accounting purposes without a member vote. They must also maintain reserves for components with deferred maintenance or replacement costs of $25,000 or more, up from the prior $10,000 threshold. This applies to all reserve categories, not only components listed in a SIRS. Review your reserve schedule.
Inspectors and reserve analysts must disclose if they intend to bid on related repair work. If they fail to disclose and the association enters a contract with them, the contract may be voidable and the professional may face licensing discipline.
Budgets more than 115% of the prior year
If a proposed annual budget exceeds 115% of the prior year’s assessments, the board must prepare and provide a substitute budget. The calculation excludes required reserves, insurance premiums, and anticipated nonrecurring expenses for maintaining or replacing structural reserve items.
Give owners at least 14 days’ notice of the substitute-budget meeting. The substitute budget must exclude discretionary expenditures. If a majority of all unit owners votes to adopt it, the substitute budget becomes binding.
Chapter 617: the Florida Nonprofit Corporation Act
Effective July 1, 2026, the Legislature renamed Chapter 617 the Florida Nonprofit Corporation Act and substantially modernized its provisions. Most Florida condominium, cooperative, and homeowners’ associations are incorporated as not-for-profit corporations. Chapter 617 therefore supplies a corporate framework alongside the applicable association statute: Chapter 718, 719, or 720-when that statute does not provide otherwise.
Chapter 617 sets a default one-year director term unless the governing documents say otherwise. It restates directors’ duties and introduces the concept of a “qualified director.” Directors must act in good faith, in a manner they reasonably believe serves the corporation’s best interests, and with the care an ordinarily prudent person in a similar position would use. They may rely on officers, employees, counsel, accountants, and board committees they reasonably believe are competent and reliable.
The revised law also establishes standards for officers, including duties to act in good faith, exercise appropriate care, and report material information, such as known or probable legal violations, to a superior or the board.
Chapter 617 addresses conflicts of interest, but Chapters 718 and 720 contain their own conflict provisions. Boards must follow the applicable association-specific requirements as well.
HUD’s 2026 assistance-animal enforcement guidance
On May 22, 2026, HUD issued new enforcement guidance for requests to keep assistance animals as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act. HUD rescinded its 2020 guidance, citing concerns that it provided inadequate clarity and contributed to an industry that helped people convert pets into emotional support animals to avoid pet restrictions.
Under the new federal enforcement approach, HUD will apply the training component of the ADA’s service-animal definition when assessing animal-related Fair Housing Act complaints. HUD says it will find reasonable cause for failing to provide an accommodation only when the animal is individually trained to perform disability-related work or tasks. Requests for untrained emotional support animals are no longer presumptively reasonable under this guidance.
This is a shift in federal enforcement priorities, not a change to the language of the Fair Housing Act. Florida’s fair housing statutes and case law still apply, as may local anti-discrimination laws. The HUD memorandum also does not prevent individuals from bringing private court actions. Read the HUD memorandum and review RPG Law’s fair housing resources.
Associations should continue to review each assistance-animal request individually. We recommend having counsel review requests involving service animals and ESAs. The applicable federal, state, and local requirements remain complex and continue to shift.
What your board should do now
- Review meeting and notice procedures against the applicable statute.
- Confirm that the association retains official records for the required periods, including electronic records and records affected by manager or director transitions.
- Document director decisions, reliance on professionals, and transactions involving a director’s personal interest. Record and disclose conflicts as required.
- Review reserve schedules, SIRS status, and the association’s plans for repairs identified in milestone inspections.
- Continue to assess each assistance-animal accommodation request individually, and involve counsel.
The 2026 updates require attention, even where the statutory change is technical. Review your governing documents and current procedures with association counsel.
This article was created by Rabin Parker Gurley, P.A. for informational purposes only; not to provide legal advice. While we hope this article is beneficial to you, we do not guarantee its completeness or applicability to any particular legal situation. Further, our providing access to this information and/or to any materials is not intended to, nor shall it be deemed to, create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Those who read this information should not act upon it without seeking legal advice. Consult qualified and licensed Florida counsel about your specific situation.
FOR RECENT BLOG ARTICLES:
- RPG LAW’S 2026 LEGAL UPDATE:
- With All of the New Requirements, Can Your Association Find Every Official Record in 10 Business Days? A Records Retention and Organizational Guide:
- Tick-Tock: When Does a Florida Property Owner’s Construction Defect Claim Expire?
- Major Shift: HUD Rescinds 2020 Guidance on Emotional Support Animals
- The Double-Payment Nightmare: How a Subcontractor Lien Can Cost You Twice
Disclaimer: This article was created by Rabin Parker Gurley, P.A. for informational purposes only; not to provide legal advice. While we hope this article is beneficial to you, we do not guarantee its completeness or applicability to any particular legal situation. Further, our providing access to this information and/or to any materials is not intended to, nor shall it be deemed to, create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. Those who read this information should not act upon it without seeking legal advice. Consult qualified and licensed Florida counsel about your specific situation.
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