Richard D. DeBoest: Can an owner see the individual unit owner assessment ledgers?




Marco Island

A. No, it is not true. You are legally entitled to this information. The individual assessment ledgers of all owners are official records of the association. Both Statutes 718 (Condominium Associations) and 720 (Homeowner Associations) provide that most all official records of the association must be made available for inspection and copying within 10 days of a written request. There are certain official records that are not allowed to be given to owners. These records include medical records, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and Social Security numbers, but there is no exception for individual owner assessment ledgers. If an association intentionally fails to provide access to the records within the time provided the owner is entitled to $50 a day up to $500 as a penalty.

Q. I live in a condominium and recently the board sent out a notice for our upcoming annual meeting to be held at an off-site location 12 miles away from our association. Many owners are elderly and it is difficult for them to travel, particularly at night. Is the board allowed to do this and if so, can they be forced to provide a bus for transportation?



A. It is not illegal for the annual meeting to be held 12 miles away from the association property. Florida condominium law expressly provides that “an annual meeting of the unit owners shall be held at the location provided in the association bylaws and, if the bylaws are silent as to the location, the meeting shall be held within 45 miles of the condominium property.” As for the transportation, the association is not required to provide a bus to transport people to the meeting however, in my opinion, if it chose to do so this, would be a lawful use of assessments. If this issue was important enough to the owners you could organize a boycott of the meeting and refuse to turn in a proxy. If enough owners did this to make it impossible to establish a quorum, the meeting would not be able to be held. This action however does not really resolve the issue so I would recommend meeting with the board to see if a reasonable compromise can be worked out.

Q. I want to organize a “meet the candidates” night in our condominium clubhouse for local political candidates in the area. When I talked to the board about this I was told this is illegal because the association common elements cannot be used for political purposes. Is this true?


Fort Myers

A. No it is not true. Section 718.123, Florida Statutes expressly provides that “no entity or entities shall unreasonably restrict any unit owner’s right to peaceably assemble or right to invite public officers or candidates for public office to appear and speak in the common elements, common areas and recreational facilities.” If the board violates this law you could sue the association to enforce your rights.

Q. If the association sends information out to owners via email, am I entitled to copies of the other owner’s email addresses? Also, can I refuse to receive information via email and if I do, does the association have to send the information to me the traditional way?


Bonita Springs

A. An association’s use of email to communicate with homeowners is common, but very often the use of electronic transmission is not done in accordance with the law. First and foremost it is important to understand that while both the Florida Condominium Act (Chapter 718 Florida Statutes) and the Homeowners Association Act (Chapter 720 Florida Statutes) allow associations to send official communication to the owners via electronic transmission, it may only do so if the owner chooses to receive official communications electronically. Secondly, if some owners elect electronic transmission and some do not, the association must send official communication in two different forms. Thus, it becomes cumbersome to keep track of each owner’s preference. Most association’s use email for casual communication about the goings on of the association but still use regular mail for things with legal implications such as notice of meetings, election ballots, notice of covenant violations, warning letters and the like. This, however, presents another problem when dealing with an official records request made by an owner. All email addresses kept by the association are official records, but only the email addresses kept for those owners who have chosen email as their official form of communication are available to other owners who make an official records request. All other email addresses are not to be made available to owners who make official records requests. As such, if the association keeps email addresses in the official records it must segregate the email addresses between those people who have chosen email as the official form of communication and those that have not. Finally, if the association does use email for unofficial casual communication with the owners, I believe an owner who does not have or use email could complain that he or she is being treated differently and unfairly. Although I know of no condominium arbitration cases or other rulings on this issue, I suspect that a court or an arbitrator would rule in favor of the unit owner on this issue. The bottom line is that for all official communication and communication that has legal significance the association should use the traditional U.S. Postal Service. For items of lesser importance, email and posting on the association’s website is for now acceptable.
