Florida HOA and condo laws: management company interview questions

Florida boards should not choose a management company solely because its proposal says it is "Florida compliant." The meaningful question is whether the company has repeatable systems for the statutes, documents, deadlines, records, and professional boundaries that apply to the association.

The board is not hiring a law firm, engineering company, reserve-study provider, auditor, or insurance broker. It is hiring an operating partner that should know when to follow a counsel-approved procedure, when to bring in a specialist, how to preserve the evidence, and how to keep a deadline from living in one manager's inbox.

This guide is general board education, not legal, accounting, tax, insurance, engineering, reserve-study, licensing, or management advice. Florida condominium and homeowners' association statutes differ, change frequently, and interact with governing documents and community facts. Florida association counsel and other qualified professionals should confirm the rules that apply.

1. Licensing, firm structure, and responsible supervision

Florida regulates community association managers and community association management firms through Part VIII of Chapter 468, Florida Statutes, and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Section 468.432 addresses individual and firm licensure and the circumstances in which a firm must be licensed.

Ask each candidate:

1. Which entity will sign our agreement, and is that entity licensed if Florida law requires it? Verify the legal name and license status rather than relying on a trade name.
2. Who will be the assigned community association manager, and what is the person's license status? Ask who covers absences and who supervises the account.
3. Which tasks are performed by licensed people, and which are handled by administrative, accounting, maintenance, or call-center staff? The answer should match the proposed staffing model and applicable law.
4. How do you track renewals, continuing education, complaints, and disciplinary history? Request a written quality-control description and independently verify license information with DBPR.
5. What happens if the assigned manager leaves? Look for documented procedures, shared records, a trained backup, and an orderly handoff.

Confirm whether the proposal names every affiliated company that may perform work. The board should understand which entity holds records, employs staff, receives fees, controls technology, and carries insurance.

2. Condominium or homeowners' association: prove the workflow fits

Florida condominium associations are generally governed by Chapter 718, while homeowners' associations are generally governed by Chapter 720. The statutes overlap in subject matter but are not interchangeable. A candidate that treats every community as the same template creates avoidable risk.

Ask:

1. How do you create an association-specific compliance profile? The company should identify community type, governing statutes, declarations, bylaws, articles, rules, fiscal year, election cycle, budget calendar, reserve obligations, insurance program, vendor contracts, pending disputes, and local requirements.
2. How are templates labeled so staff do not send a condominium notice to an HOA or use the wrong deadline? Ask to see a redacted procedure library or document-control screen.
3. Who monitors legislative and regulatory changes? Request a recent example showing how a statutory change led to a revised calendar, owner notice, board policy, form, training item, or software configuration.
4. When does the manager stop and ask association counsel? Good answers include an escalation matrix, not a promise that the manager can interpret every legal question.

The board should score the candidate on operating discipline, not on how confidently a salesperson recites statute numbers.

3. Official records and owner requests

Florida association laws contain detailed official-records requirements. For homeowners' associations, Section 720.303 addresses records and related association operations. Condominium associations have separate requirements in Chapter 718. The correct process depends on the community and current law.

Ask:

1. Where will official records be stored, and who owns the repository? The association should have portable access and a documented export path.
2. How are records classified, retained, searched, redacted, and produced? Ask for a records taxonomy, retention schedule, request log, redaction workflow, and delivery evidence.
3. How do you distinguish an owner records request from a routine service request, litigation hold, subpoena, resale or estoppel request, or government agency inquiry? Different work should not disappear into a general inbox.
4. Who reviews records for content Florida law makes inaccessible to owners, such as privileged material, personnel and medical records, security measures, and personal identifying information, before production? Owner account ledgers and other accounting records are generally official records, so the manager should use counsel-approved redaction rules and preserve a record of redactions.
5. What happens to records at termination? Ask for format, indexing, timing, encryption, cost, administrator credentials, and a sample transition inventory.

Test the answer with a practical exercise: ask the candidate to describe how it would locate a three-year-old board approval, the related contract, invoices, owner notice, and final project warranty without depending on the former manager's memory.

4. Meetings, notices, elections, and minutes

Board and owner meetings are recurring operating events, not occasional clerical jobs. The management company should connect the annual calendar, notice method, agenda, packet, owner participation, voting, minutes, and action-item follow-up.

Ask:

1. Show us a sample annual compliance calendar. It should identify every meeting, notice, material, responsible person, backup, delivery method, proof, and escalation date.
2. When does the board receive a complete packet? Define what it includes: financials, prior minutes, contracts, bids, violation or collection summaries, owner correspondence, draft resolutions, and decision notes.
3. How do you administer elections and ballots? The company should distinguish the statutory and document rules for the association and explain storage, secrecy, eligibility, challenges, recounts, and counsel involvement.
4. How are meeting notices, agendas, remote access, owner comments, executive sessions, minutes, and recordings handled? Ask for written procedures and a redacted packet.
5. How are board decisions converted into work? Look for an action register with owner, due date, status, approval, and closure evidence.

A beautifully formatted agenda is not enough if contracts are signed late, notices are missed, or approved actions are not tracked.

5. Budgets, assessments, financial reporting, and reserves

Florida association statutes address budgets, assessments, financial reporting, association funds, and reserve-related obligations. Condominium structural integrity reserve study requirements and reserve funding deserve specialized attention under current Chapter 718. The manager should coordinate the calendar and records without claiming to replace the reserve professional, engineer, auditor, tax preparer, or counsel.

Ask:

1. Describe your budget process from first forecast to owner delivery. It should include contracts, utilities, insurance, payroll, maintenance plans, collections, reserves, capital projects, board workshops, notices, adoption, and assessment setup.
2. What does the monthly financial packet include? Request samples of the balance sheet, income and expense statement, budget comparison, bank reconciliations, cash and investments, receivables, payables, reserve activity, projects, and management commentary.
3. Who prepares and who reviews bank reconciliations? Ask about segregation of duties, stale items, deposits in transit, payment processors, reserve accounts, and board access to bank statements.
4. How are special assessments authorized, billed, collected, tracked, spent, and reported? The company should connect the legal process, owner ledger, cash, project, and disclosure records.
5. How do reserve-study or structural-integrity findings enter the budget and project plan? Ask how the manager coordinates with the reserve professional, engineer, counsel, insurer, contractors, and board.
6. How do you prepare for the annual financial report, audit, review, compilation, tax return, or other required work? The answer should include a year-end close, supporting schedules, professional request log, and final document storage.

Have the association's accountant or another qualified adviser review specialized accounting claims. A management dashboard is useful only when it is supported by reconciled, portable books.

6. Contracts, bids, projects, and conflicts

Florida HOA law includes provisions addressing contracts and competitive bidding, including Section 720.3055. Condominium requirements may differ. Sections in Chapter 468 also address professional standards and conflicts for community association managers and firms.

Ask:

1. How do you determine when bids are required and document the process? The manager should apply the statutory bid trigger for the association type (Section 720.3055 for HOAs, Section 718.3026 for condominiums), any stricter requirement in the governing documents, and the conflict-of-interest bid rule in Section 468.4335, as confirmed by association counsel, and preserve specifications, invitations, proposals, disclosures, evaluation, board action, contract, and change orders.
2. Do you, your owners, employees, or affiliates receive referral fees, rebates, commissions, volume incentives, markups, or other benefits? Require written disclosure before selection and again if circumstances change.
3. Which services are performed by affiliates? Compare the affiliate's scope, price, license, insurance, and termination terms with independent options.
4. How are conflicts disclosed and handled? Ask who decides whether the company may participate, what is recorded, and whether the board receives independent alternatives.
5. How are projects controlled after award? Look for schedule, insurance and license verification, submittals, inspections, invoices, lien releases where appropriate, change-order approval, owner communication, warranty, and closeout.

Do not allow a low base fee to hide mandatory affiliate work or transaction charges. Build every expected fee into the comparison model.

7. Architectural review, violations, fines, and collections

Sections 720.3035 and 720.305 address important homeowners' association subjects, including architectural decisions and enforcement. Condominium procedures and governing documents can differ. The management company needs a controlled workflow and a reliable legal escalation path.

Ask:

1. How do you log an architectural application and determine completeness? The file should preserve plans, dates, reviewer assignments, questions, decision, conditions, appeal, permits, and completion evidence.
2. How are published standards tied to each decision? Avoid software that produces generic approval or denial language without the governing basis.
3. How do inspection, notice, hearing, fine, suspension, correction, and closure steps work? Request a process map and sample log.
4. How do you separate manager observations from board or committee decisions and legal advice? The record should make authority clear.
5. How are delinquent accounts reconciled before referral? Ask about ledger review, late fees, interest, payment plans, notices, counsel or agency handoff, status updates, and owner communications.

The company should never use automation to skip human review of a disputed owner ledger, protected right, disability-related issue, selective-enforcement concern, or legal deadline.

8. Insurance, emergencies, buildings, and specialized professional work

Florida communities face hurricanes, water losses, aging buildings, volatile insurance markets, emergency repairs, and complex restoration. The manager's role is to keep information, vendors, decisions, and communications moving while qualified professionals handle their disciplines.

Ask:

1. Show us the annual insurance renewal workflow. It should start early and include property data, valuations, claims, inspections, reserve and project history, deductibles, exclusions, owner communication, and board decisions.
2. What is your hurricane and emergency plan? Ask about contact trees, vendor readiness, access, backups, owner messaging, incident logs, board authority, emergency spending, damage documentation, and claims coordination.
3. How do you manage engineering, milestone inspection, structural integrity reserve study, restoration, and life-safety projects? Look for a specialist roster and a project-control system, not a manager claiming engineering expertise.
4. How are after-hours calls triaged? Compare true emergencies, common-element work orders, owner responsibilities, insurance notices, and routine service.

Request the exact after-hours pricing and service standard. "24/7 support" can mean a live decision-maker, an answering service, or a voicemail queue.

9. Technology, cybersecurity, banking, and owner service

The board should understand the complete technology and data chain before signing.

Ask:

1. Which systems hold accounting, banking, owner, violation, maintenance, document, voting, and communication data? Identify the system of record for each.
2. Who owns the tenant, domain, administrator credentials, data, and integrations? The association should not become trapped by a manager-controlled account.
3. What controls protect payments and bank changes? Look for individual logins, multifactor authentication, approval limits, callbacks using trusted numbers, segregation of duties, alerts, reconciliation, and audit logs.
4. How are incidents detected, contained, reported, investigated, and documented? Ask about cyber insurance, vendors, legal notification, backups, recovery testing, and board communication.
5. What are the response standards for owners and directors? Define acknowledgment, resolution, escalation, reporting, languages, accessibility, and high-volume events.

Ask for a data export before final selection. If the company cannot show a readable sample of the association's future records, transition risk is already visible.

10. Contract, fees, performance, and transition

Turn the interview into written contract terms.

1. What is included in the base fee? Price every meeting, mailing, inspection, resale or estoppel task, collection step, project, emergency, records request, election, accounting service, software, bank service, and transition item.
2. Which charges are paid by the association and which by owners or third parties? Ask how those charges are authorized, disclosed, collected, and changed.
3. What service levels will be reported? Useful measures include close date, reconciliations, aged receivables, work orders, owner response, records requests, project milestones, action items, and open compliance tasks.
4. What are the termination rights and costs? Review notice, cause, assistance, records, credentials, bank authority, software, deposits, final accounting, vendor notices, pending owner matters, and post-termination access.
5. Who owns unfinished work at transition? Require a written register of open projects, violations, applications, insurance matters, collections, contracts, meetings, deadlines, and owner promises.

Use the same scorecard for every finalist and require evidence for high-risk answers. A useful weighting might give more points to controls, records, staffing, transition, and relevant experience than to presentation polish.

Red flags

• The firm or assigned people will not provide information needed to verify required licenses.
• The candidate uses the same legal template for condominiums and homeowners' associations.
• Compliance lives in the assigned manager's calendar rather than a shared, reviewed system.
• The company cannot produce reconciliations, source records, audit logs, or a usable data export.
• Affiliate compensation, referral fees, markups, or incentives are vague.
• The salesperson promises legal, engineering, reserve, insurance, or tax conclusions.
• The contract gives the manager broad bank or spending authority without dual controls.
• Termination assistance, records return, credentials, and fees are not defined.
• The base price is low but routine meetings, notices, mailings, inspections, and accounting work are extras.
• The candidate resists putting response standards and deliverables in writing.

Official reference links

• Florida Statutes Chapter 720, homeowners' associations
• Florida Statutes Section 718.112, condominium bylaws and governance
• Florida Statutes Section 468.432, licensure of community association managers and firms
• Florida DBPR, community association managers and firms

Use the current official statutes and licensed advisers for the association's final process. A strong management-company interview tests how the candidate turns those requirements into dependable work, not whether the candidate can replace the professionals who interpret them.