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In most cases, yes, when the requirement is properly written into the recorded declaration of covenants. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has affirmed that a community's mandatory country club membership provision is valid and enforceable against owners. Courts treat these provisions as covenants that run with the land rather than improper restraints on selling the property, and a buyer who takes title with the recorded declaration on record is generally bound by the obligation to maintain membership. Whether your specific provision holds up depends on how it was drafted and recorded, so the documents need a close review. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.

Under Florida law as amended by HB 1203 in 2024, an HOA fine is capped at $100 per day per violation, and the total for a continuing violation is capped at $1,000 unless your recorded governing documents authorize a higher aggregate amount. A fine of less than $1,000 cannot become a lien on the home. Before any fine takes effect, the board must give the owner at least 14 days written notice of the right to a hearing before an independent committee of at least three people who are not directors, officers, employees, or their close relatives, and if the owner cures the violation before that hearing no fine may be imposed. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.

Yes. Florida law now requires newly elected or appointed HOA directors to complete a state-approved education course within 90 days of taking office, replacing the old practice of simply signing a written certification. The initial four-hour course is offered through the Department of Business and Professional Regulation or an approved provider, and the certification stays valid for four years of uninterrupted service. Directors must also complete continuing education each year, four hours annually for associations with fewer than 2,500 parcels and eight hours annually for those with 2,500 or more, and a director who misses the deadline is suspended from the board until the requirement is met. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.

Florida's Marketable Record Title Act can automatically extinguish an HOA's covenants 30 years after the root of title, and if that happens the association can lose its authority to collect assessments and enforce restrictions. To guard against this, the board has a duty to consider preserving the covenants at the first board meeting following the annual members' meeting each year. When preservation is needed, the board can record a statutory notice that protects the covenants for another 30 years without a membership vote, provided the notice is prepared, signed, notarized, and recorded correctly before the deadline passes. Because the recording details and timing are exacting, this is work to confirm with counsel well before any deadline. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.

He can raise a selective enforcement defense, and Florida courts will refuse to enforce a covenant if the association has singled out one owner while knowingly tolerating the same kind of violation by others. To win that defense the homeowner has to show comparable violations treated differently, that the board knew or should have known about the other violations, and a real pattern of unequal treatment rather than a one-time oversight. The board can protect itself by enforcing consistently and, where a covenant has gone unenforced, by sending the whole community written notice that the provision will be enforced going forward. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.

Generally no. Florida does not impose on HOAs the same broad, mandatory reserve funding rules that apply to condominiums, so for most homeowners associations reserves depend on the governing documents and on what the membership has voted to fund. That said, the board still has a fiduciary duty to plan responsibly for foreseeable major expenses such as road resurfacing, drainage, gates, and other long-lived components, and a reserve study can help avoid surprise special assessments later. Because statutory and non-statutory reserves carry different rules, the right approach depends on your documents. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice for a specific association.