Florida Condo Board Roles & Responsibilities
What each board position actually does, how many people you need, and how to keep a volunteer board functioning as members rotate out year after year — including where board composition is actually set by state law versus your own bylaws.
Florida at a Glance
Most HOA boards have three to five members, elected by the membership for terms set in the bylaws — often one to two years, frequently staggered so the entire board doesn't turn over at once. Your specific bylaws define much of the exact structure, but in some states, part of that structure — minimum board size, owner-eligibility, or officer requirements — is actually set by statute, not left to the association to decide.
⚠ Common mistake: Assuming your bylaws alone decide how big the board is. In Florida, the minimum board size is set by a law written specifically for condominium associations.
The Dillo-DownLet me put that in plain words…
Florida has some of the strictest condo board rules in the country, including required director education and an 8-year limit on consecutive service.
President
Runs board meetings, is usually the primary point of contact with homeowners and outside parties (attorneys, vendors, the county), and typically has authority to sign on the association's behalf for routine matters. The president does not unilaterally make board decisions — actions still require a board vote — but does set the agenda and keep meetings moving.
Secretary
Keeps official records: meeting minutes, the membership roll, and official correspondence. In a self-managed HOA, the secretary is often the person who ends up being the institutional memory of the association — the one who can answer "wait, when did we actually vote on that?" This role matters more than it sounds like it should, because undocumented decisions are one of the most common sources of later disputes.
Treasurer
Handles dues collection, financial reporting, and the annual budget process. Many associations require some form of annual budget, and increasingly a reserve study projecting future major expenses. The treasurer role is also the one most commonly outsourced even in an otherwise self-managed association — hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for the mechanics while the treasurer sets policy and reviews the numbers is common and often worth the cost.
Florida — Officer RequirementsHOA/condo statute
If the bylaws do not say otherwise, the board has a president, a secretary, and a treasurer, and the board may appoint other officers unless the bylaws prohibit it. Unless the bylaws say otherwise, officers serve at the pleasure of the board and without pay.
Minimum board size and who can serve
Whether your association has a statutory floor on board size, and whether some or all of the directors must be owners, depends on your state. Where a rule exists, it usually comes from one of two places: a law written specifically for homeowners or condominium associations, or general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only because the association is incorporated as a nonprofit. The badge on each rule below shows which one applies in Florida.
Florida — Minimum Board SizeHOA/condo statute
If the bylaws do not say otherwise, the board has 5 members unless the condominium has 5 or fewer units; a nonprofit condominium with 5 or fewer units must have at least 3.
Florida — Owner/Member RequirementBylaws/documents
Florida's condominium law does not require board members to be unit owners; a unit owner or other eligible person may run. The bylaws may set other requirements.
Florida — Other Eligibility Rules
A person suspended or removed by the state condominium division, or delinquent in paying any assessment (a payment not made by its due date), may not run for or serve on the board. A person convicted of a felony is not eligible unless their civil rights have been restored for at least 5 years. In a residential association of more than 10 units, or one without timeshare units, co-owners of one unit may not serve together unless they own more than one unit or there are not enough candidates. A director more than 90 days delinquent in any money owed to the association is deemed to have abandoned the office. Within 1 year before or 90 days after election or appointment, each director of a residential condominium must submit a written certification that they have read the governing documents and a certificate of completing at least 4 hours of approved education, then complete at least 1 hour of continuing education each year; a director who fails to comply is suspended until they do. A director or officer charged with forging election materials, theft or embezzlement of association funds, records tampering, obstruction of justice, or any crime under the condominium law must be removed.
In Plain DilloHere's the short version…
In Florida, you can't run for the condo board if you're behind on assessments. New directors must complete a 4-hour course and then 1 hour of education every year, and co-owners of one unit usually can't serve together.
Term limits
Some states cap how long a single director term can run. A cap on one term is different from a limit on how many terms in a row someone can serve: a term cap alone doesn't stop a director from being re-elected. That takes a separate consecutive-term limit. Check both rows in the reference below for Florida.
Florida — Term LimitsHOA/condo statute
No statutory maximum. Board members may serve terms longer than 1 year if the bylaws or articles of incorporation allow it.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
If a board member stands to personally benefit from a contract or decision the board is voting on, several states require a specific disclosure process before that vote can happen — not just a general "act in good faith" expectation. Some states wrote this rule directly into their HOA or condominium statute; others expressly import the state's general nonprofit corporation conflict-of-interest rules instead of creating a separate one.
Florida — Conflict-of-Interest RuleHOA/condo statute
Officers, directors, and managers may not solicit, offer to accept, or accept a kickback. Directors, officers, and their relatives must disclose to the board any activity that may reasonably be seen as a conflict of interest. A proposed conflict transaction must be listed on the meeting agenda with its contracts attached, and approval requires two-thirds of the other directors present; the interested director must leave during the discussion and vote and must recuse. At the next members' meeting, members may cancel the contract by majority vote of those present.
Dillo ExplainsLet me put that in plain words…
If a director or their relative wants to do business with the association, it has to be on the agenda, the director has to leave the room for the discussion and vote, and two-thirds of the other directors present must approve it. Owners can cancel the deal at the next members' meeting.
⚠ Common mistake: Treating a conflict of interest casually because "everyone already knows" a board member has a stake in a vendor contract. In states with a statutory disclosure requirement, informal awareness isn't the same as a documented disclosure — skipping the formal step can make the contract itself challengeable later, regardless of whether the board's decision was actually reasonable.
Additional roles on larger boards
Associations with five or more board members sometimes add a vice president (covers for the president, sometimes chairs a specific committee like ARC) and an at-large member with no fixed portfolio, available to take on whatever the board needs — chairing a violations committee, leading a specific project, or simply providing another vote and perspective.
Can one person hold two roles?
It depends mostly on your bylaws, and in some states on the statute itself. Very small associations sometimes explicitly allow combining roles out of necessity. Others prohibit certain combinations — most commonly, keeping treasurer separate from any role with check-signing authority, as a basic financial control. Check your specific bylaws, and the state reference below, before assuming either way.
The real challenge: surviving turnover
The hardest part of running a self-managed board usually isn't any single role — it's what happens when the person who understood how everything worked rotates off the board and nobody wrote it down. A self-managed HOA has no institutional memory beyond what the current board happens to remember or document. The associations that handle this well share one habit: they write things down as they happen, not from memory afterward — meeting minutes the same day, a violation logged when it's observed, a decision recorded the moment it's made.
State-by-State Quick Reference
Select your state below for its actual board-composition rules. Every field is tagged with where the rule comes from — a statute written for HOAs or condominiums, general nonprofit corporate law that happens to apply, or your own governing documents — because those aren't the same thing, even when the resulting number looks identical.
| Scope / governing statute | Florida's Condominium Act (Fla. Stat. Chapter 718) governs condominiums and sets board size, eligibility, education, and term-limit rules; the rules below reflect the 2026 Florida Statutes. Florida's Not For Profit Corporation Act (Chapter 617) also applies to condominium associations. |
| Minimum board size HOA/condo statute | If the bylaws do not say otherwise, the board has 5 members unless the condominium has 5 or fewer units; a nonprofit condominium with 5 or fewer units must have at least 3. |
| Owner/member requirement Bylaws/documents | Florida's condominium law does not require board members to be unit owners; a unit owner or other eligible person may run. The bylaws may set other requirements. |
| Other eligibility rules | A person suspended or removed by the state condominium division, or delinquent in paying any assessment (a payment not made by its due date), may not run for or serve on the board. A person convicted of a felony is not eligible unless their civil rights have been restored for at least 5 years. In a residential association of more than 10 units, or one without timeshare units, co-owners of one unit may not serve together unless they own more than one unit or there are not enough candidates. A director more than 90 days delinquent in any money owed to the association is deemed to have abandoned the office. Within 1 year before or 90 days after election or appointment, each director of a residential condominium must submit a written certification that they have read the governing documents and a certificate of completing at least 4 hours of approved education, then complete at least 1 hour of continuing education each year; a director who fails to comply is suspended until they do. A director or officer charged with forging election materials, theft or embezzlement of association funds, records tampering, obstruction of justice, or any crime under the condominium law must be removed. |
| Officer requirements HOA/condo statute | If the bylaws do not say otherwise, the board has a president, a secretary, and a treasurer, and the board may appoint other officers unless the bylaws prohibit it. Unless the bylaws say otherwise, officers serve at the pleasure of the board and without pay. |
| Max individual term HOA/condo statute | No statutory maximum. Board members may serve terms longer than 1 year if the bylaws or articles of incorporation allow it. |
| Consecutive-term limit | A board member may not serve more than 8 consecutive years unless two-thirds of the votes cast in the election approve it, or there are not enough eligible candidates. Only board service on or after July 1, 2018 counts toward the limit. Board members may stand for reelection unless the bylaws prohibit it. The limit does not apply to nonresidential or timeshare condominiums. |
| Conflict-of-interest disclosure HOA/condo statute | Officers, directors, and managers may not solicit, offer to accept, or accept a kickback. Directors, officers, and their relatives must disclose to the board any activity that may reasonably be seen as a conflict of interest. A proposed conflict transaction must be listed on the meeting agenda with its contracts attached, and approval requires two-thirds of the other directors present; the interested director must leave during the discussion and vote and must recuse. At the next members' meeting, members may cancel the contract by majority vote of those present. |
| Citation | Fla. Stat. §§ 718.111; 718.112; 617.1703; 718.3027 |
Read the law
What Florida's law actually says about board composition, in its own words, with links to the full text where available:
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Fla. Stat. § 617.1703
- Governing Statute / Scope: “This chapter is applicable to a corporation that is an association as defined in and regulated by any of chapter 718 regarding condominiums”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(a)1
- Minimum Board Size: “the board of administration shall be composed of five members, unless the condominium has five or fewer units.”
- Required Officer Positions: “the board of administration may appoint other officers”
- Maximum Individual Term: “Board members may serve terms longer than 1 year if permitted by the bylaws or articles of incorporation.”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(a)1. (2026)
- Minimum Board Size: “In the absence of such a provision, the board of administration shall be composed of five members, unless the condominium has five or fewer units.”
- Minimum Board Size: “The board shall consist of not fewer than three members in condominiums with five or fewer units that are not-for-profit corporations.”
- Required Officer Positions: “In the absence of provisions to the contrary in the bylaws, the board of administration shall have a president, a secretary, and a treasurer”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)5.a. (2026)
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “A unit owner or other eligible person desiring to be a candidate for the board must give written notice of his or her intent to be a candidate”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)3. (2026)
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “A person who has been suspended or removed by the division under this chapter, or who is delinquent in the payment of any assessment due to the association, is not eligible to be a candidate”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “is not eligible for board membership unless such felon's civil rights have been restored for at least 5 years”
- Consecutive Term Limit: “A board member may not serve more than 8 consecutive years unless approved by an affirmative vote of unit owners representing two-thirds of all votes cast in the election”
- Consecutive Term Limit: “Only board service that occurs on or after July 1, 2018, may be used when calculating a board member's term limit.”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(d)5.b. (2026)
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “The educational curriculum must be at least 4 hours long”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “a certificate of having satisfactorily completed at least 1 hour of continuing education”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(p) (2026)
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “A director or officer more than 90 days delinquent in the payment of any monetary obligation due the association shall be deemed to have abandoned the office”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.111(1)(a)
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “An officer, a director, or a manager may not solicit, offer to accept, or accept a kickback.”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.3027(2) (2026)
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “Approval of the contract or other transaction requires an affirmative vote of two-thirds of all other directors present.”
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Fla. Stat. § 718.3027(4) (2026)
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “A director or an officer who is a party to, or has an interest in, the activity must recuse himself or herself from the vote.”
Making the transition easier
Formtabulous keeps your association's records — elections, violations, ARC requests, homeowner communication — in one place that survives board turnover, instead of scattered across whoever's personal inbox happened to handle it.
See how it works →Florida — Common Questions
This article is general information about how HOA boards typically operate and is not legal advice. The specific roles, terms, and requirements for your association are set by your bylaws and, in some states, statute — consult the governing documents and, where needed, a qualified attorney for your specific situation.