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A HOMEOWNERS' ASSOCIATION with 100 or more
parcels is required, starting January 1, 2025, to keep an official
website, where all the so-called OFFICIAL RECORDS being posted on
a password-protected website. This new regulation -- see
FS 720.303(4)(b)1.
--
is supposed to replace to old, often expensive, method of record
inspections, a method that caused more litigation than any other
provision in the Florida statutes regulating homeowners' associations.
It may not totally replace the old-fashioned system, but it should make
life easier for owners and board members alike.
It maybe a pretty
expensive investment creating the necessary website in the beginning,
but once the website is up and running, lots of record inspection
requests will be moot and void -- and adding new documents is fairly
easy.
Welcome to a new era of keeping
official records and making them easily available to owners.
Will it prevent fraud,
embezzlement and scams? Not necessarily, because certain people will
still be in charge of deciding what's posted -- and what's not!
OFFICIAL
RECORDS FS 720.303(4)(b)1.
By January 1, 2025, an association
that has 100 or more parcels shall post the following
documents on its website or make available such
documents through an application that can be downloaded
on a mobile device:
a. The
articles of incorporation of the association and
each amendment thereto.
b. The
recorded bylaws of the association and each
amendment thereto.
c. The
declaration of covenants and a copy of each
amendment thereto.
d. The
current rules of the association.
e. A
list of all current executory contracts or documents
to which the association is a party or under which
the association or the parcel owners have an
obligation or responsibility and, after bidding for
the related materials, equipment, or services has
closed, a list of bids received by the association
within the past year.
f. The
annual budget required by subsection (6) and any
proposed budget to be considered at the annual
meeting.
g. The
financial report required by subsection (7) and any
monthly income or expense statement to be considered
at a meeting.
h. The
association's current insurance policies.
i. The
certification of each director as required by s. 720.3033(1)(a).
j. All
contracts or transactions between the association
and any director, officer, corporation, firm, or
association that is not an affiliated homeowners'
association or any other entity in which a director
of an association is also a director or an officer
and has a financial interest.
k. Any
contract or document regarding a conflict of
interest or possible conflict of interest as
provided in ss. 468.436(2)(b)6.
and 720.3033(2).
l. Notice
of any scheduled meeting of members and the agenda
for the meeting, as required by s. 720.306,
at least 14 days before such meeting. The notice
must be posted in plain view on the homepage of the
website or application, or on a separate subpage of
the website or application labeled "Notices" which
is conspicuously visible and linked from the
homepage. The association shall also post on its
website or application any document to be considered
and voted on by the members during the meeting or
any document listed on the meeting agenda at least 7
days before the meeting at which such document or
information within the document will be considered.
m. Notice
of any board meeting, the agenda, and any other
document required for such meeting as required by
subsection (3), which must be posted on the website
or application no later than the date required for
notice under subsection (3).
2. The
association's website or application must be accessible
through the Internet and must contain a subpage, web
portal, or other protected electronic location that is
inaccessible to the general public and accessible only
to parcel owners and employees of the association.
3. Upon
written request by a parcel owner, the association must
provide the parcel owner with a username and password
and access to the protected sections of the
association's website or application which contains the
official documents of the association.
4. The
association shall ensure that the information and
records described in paragraph (5)(g), which are not
allowed to be accessible to parcel owners, are not
posted on the association's website or application. If
protected information or information restricted from
being accessible to parcel owners is included in
documents that are required to be posted on the
association's website or application, the association
must ensure the information is redacted before posting
the documents. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the
association or its authorized agent is not liable for
disclosing information that is protected or restricted
under paragraph (5)(g) unless such disclosure was made
with a knowing or intentional disregard of the protected
or restricted nature of such information.
(c) The
association shall adopt written rules governing the method
or policy by which the official records of the association
are to be retained and the time period such records must be
retained pursuant to paragraph (a). Such information must be
made available to the parcel owners through the
association's website or application.
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