Is Your Community Association Ready for Florida’s New Digital Transparency Requirements?

For many years, a community association could keep its records in a filing cabinet and hand them over for inspection when someone requested. That era is ending. Florida now expects most associations to publish official records online, respond to owners timely, and treat transparency as a legal duty rather than a courtesy. Now that condominium association directors can be charged criminally for a willful and repeated failure to make official records available for inspection, many board members across South Florida are asking themselves a question: is our community in compliance?

This article is general information and not legal advice. For guidance on your association, contact our team.

What the Law Now Requires

Under Fla. Stat. §720.303(5), an association that operates 100 or more parcels must maintain a website or a downloadable application and post its official records there. That means the declaration, bylaws, articles, current rules, budgets, executed contracts, and notices of meetings need to be posted somewhere an owner can reach them from a phone or computer; not in a filing cabinet in the manager’s office.

Condominium associations face a parallel and stricter rule. Beginning in 2026, condominiums with 25 or more units must maintain a website or digital records portal under Fla. Stat. §718.111(12)(g). This law used to only apply to larger condominium associations, so many mid-sized condominium communities that were previously exempt are now squarely within the requirement. If your community mixes condominium buildings with a master homeowners association parcel, you may be juggling both sets of rules at once.

Where Boards Get It Wrong

A common misconception is that a private Facebook group, a shared cloud folder, or the property manager’s own portal satisfies the law. It usually does not. The statute contemplates a website or application controlled by the association, with the required records posted and kept current. A patchwork of informal channels leaves gaps, and gaps are where disputes begin.

A second frequent error is posting too much. Not every record belongs on a public page. Florida law protects certain information from disclosure, including owner medical records, some personnel information, and data that would compromise personal security. A board that posts its entire records set online can violate owner privacy just as easily as a board that posts nothing violates the transparency rule. The right approach is deliberate: post what the law requires, withhold what the law protects, and document the reasoning.

There is also a cybersecurity dimension that boards overlook. The moment an association centralizes records and owner information online, it becomes a target. Vendors and managers that handle that data carry their own legal duties, and a breach brings notification obligations under Florida’s data protection law. We explore that risk and how to manage it in our post on cybersecurity best practices for community associations.

Transparency Does Not End With a Website

Publishing records online does not erase an association’s duty to respond to individual records requests. Owners still have the right to inspect official records within the timeframes Florida law sets, and a website is a supplement to that right, not a substitute. Boards that treat the website as a reason to ignore direct requests are inviting the exact claims the transparency rules were meant to prevent. For condominium boards in particular, recent reforms attached significant penalties to willful failures to provide access, so the cost of not responding can be a criminal violation.

Electronic communication is part of the same shift. More associations are moving notices, voting, and meetings online, and Florida law has expanded electronic voting rights to match. If reaching a quorum is a recurring struggle for your community, the digital tools now available can help, a subject we cover in our post on how House Bill 913 improved electronic voting rights.

A Readiness Check for Your Board

Ask your board these questions and you will quickly learn where you stand. Does the association control a website or application, or are you relying on someone else’s platform? Are the governing documents, budgets, contracts, and meeting notices actually posted and current? Have you separated the records that must be published from the records that must be protected? Do you have a written procedure for responding to records requests within the statutory window? And do your contracts with managers and vendors address who is responsible for the data and what happens if it is breached?

If any answer is uncertain, that uncertainty is your risk. A short review with counsel now costs far less than a DBPR complaint or lawsuit later.

Work With an Experienced Community Association Attorney

Digital transparency is one of those areas where a small amount of legal guidance prevents a large amount of trouble.Association Law Grouphelps South Florida community associations build compliant records practices, draft the policies that govern them, and handle disputes when they arise. Reach an HOA attorney in Miami through ourcontact pageor call (305) 938 6922. You can also meet our attorneys to find the right fit for