When a Florida board votes to fine a homeowner, the Licensed Community Association Manager (CAM) is the reason that fine holds up if the owner pushes back. The board decides enforcement is warranted. The CAM documents the violation, calendars the deadlines, seats a compliant hearing committee, and keeps the record an attorney would want to see later. At Synergistic Community Association Management, a Chapter 468 licensed Florida firm, that work belongs to one dedicated manager for every Homeowners Association (HOA) and Condominium Owners Association (COA) we serve.
Highlights
- Florida Statutes (FS) 720.305(2) governs HOA fines. FS 718.303(3) governs condominium fines. The two processes differ in ways boards miss.
- Both require at least 14 days’ written notice and a hearing before a committee of three or more members who are not officers, directors, or employees, and not a spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister of one.
- The board levies. The committee confirms or rejects by majority vote, and a rejection ends it.
- HOA fines run $100 per violation and $1,000 aggregate unless the declaration or bylaws say otherwise. Condominium fines carry the same figures with no exception available.
- Payment timing splits: a condominium fine is due 5 days after notice of approval, while an HOA must allow at least 30 days.
- Synergistic Community Association Management assigns each board a dedicated local manager who owns the enforcement calendar.
What has to happen before a board can fine a homeowner?
Written notice, at least 14 days ahead, naming the provision violated, the action required to cure it, and the hearing date, location, and access details. HOAs then face a schedule condominiums do not: the hearing within 90 days of the notice, and the committee’s written findings to the owner within 7 days after. An owner who cures before the hearing cannot be fined for that violation, which makes the cure language in the notice worth getting right.
Who can sit on the fining committee?
Three members minimum, independent of the board in both role and family relationship. This is where boards lose fines. Seating a director’s brother-in-law, or letting the board itself vote to impose, produces a defect an owner’s attorney finds quickly.
What can a Florida association not fine for?
An HOA may no longer fine a homeowner for garbage receptacles left out within 24 hours of collection day. Holiday decorations are also off-limits unless they remain up more than a week after the association sends written notice. Boards are still enforcing old rules: the schedule should have someone read it against current law.
Where does a Licensed CAM fit?
Boards are volunteer-run, and the enforcement calendar slips first. A missed deadline turns a $100 violation into a dispute nobody budgeted for, and the attorney’s fee provisions in Chapter 720 tie recovery to the payment date, so getting that date wrong has a price. Your Synergistic manager keeps the dated photographs, the certified mail receipts, and the hearing schedule up to date, and fields the owner’s calls so the board president doesn’t have to answer them at the mailbox on a Saturday. A person answers when you call our Tampa office, or your call is returned within 24 hours. Synergistic Community Association Management provides owners and boards of directors peace of mind. Confirm your specific procedure with association counsel before acting.
Looking for a community association management partner in Florida?
Other insightful content is available at synergisticcam.com. Synergistic CAM manages communities throughout Florida.
Liz Welch, Licensed Community Association Manager, Broker and Owner
☎️ 813-940-8588
✉️ hello@synergisticcam.com
🌐 synergisticcam.com
📍 4511 N. Himes Ave., Suite 125, Tampa, FL 33614
