Written by: Luis Teran, Co-founder, CEO, TenantEvaluation | Last updated: August 17, 2026
Key Takeaways for Florida CAMs in 2026
- Florida CAMs must automate statute tracking for Chapters 718 and 720 notice sequences to avoid enforcement invalidation and statutory liability.
- HB 1021 and HB 913 require digital record posting and retention with searchable, timestamped documentation organized by unit.
- Violation-to-fine workflows must enforce §720.305 committee procedures, 14-day hearing notices, and fine caps to shorten resolution time and improve collection rates.
- Centralized lease tracking must connect applications to occupancy with real-time status visibility, replacing fragmented spreadsheets and manual file retrieval.
- TenantEvaluation delivers all five Florida-specific compliance capabilities in one platform. Map your association’s obligations in one session.
1. Statute Tracking That Protects Chapters 718/720 Deadlines
Florida’s community association statutes create layered, time-sensitive obligations for CAMs that quickly become unmanageable in spreadsheets. Under §720.303(2)(c), board meetings require at least 48 hours of posted notice. Member and annual meetings require 14 days of notice under §720.306(5), and fining hearings require 14 days of written notice under §720.305(2).
Assessment collection follows a three-notice sequence: a 30-day notice of late assessment, a 45-day notice of intent to lien, and a 45-day notice of intent to foreclose, each with specific delivery rules. Missing any single deadline can invalidate enforcement actions entirely, which exposes associations to disputes, write-offs, and potential claims against CAMs.
The 2026 legislative session produced limited direct changes to Chapter 720, but related corporate governance rules shifted. Updates to the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act, which §720.303(1) incorporates by reference for fiduciary duty and conflict-of-interest standards, take effect July 1, 2026. CAMs supporting boards must confirm director education certificates are current under §720.3033, with new directors completing approved curriculum within 90 days of election.
TenantEvaluation’s platform is configured per community and maps each association’s governing documents and statutory deadlines into one centralized workflow. Because every notice trigger, deadline, and audit trail lives inside the same ecosystem used for screening and onboarding, CAMs no longer juggle spreadsheets and calendar reminders across multiple tools, which removes a major source of compliance gaps at scale.
Implementation checklist item: Confirm your platform maps §720.303, §720.305, §720.306, and §720.3085 notice sequences per community and generates timestamped audit records for every action.
2. Digital Record Posting That Fulfills HB 1021 and HB 913
Those timestamped audit records become critical when associations respond to official-records requests, which form the second major compliance obligation for Florida CAMs in 2026. HB 1021 (2024) requires condominium associations with 25 or more units to maintain a website or application with specified official records posted in a password-protected owners-only area, effective January 1, 2026. HB 913 extended reserve, milestone inspection, and recordkeeping requirements for condominiums, with most provisions effective July 1, 2025, so many associations are already under active obligations.
Record retention requirements under Chapter 718 are detailed and unforgiving. Most official records must be retained for at least 7 years, structural integrity reserve studies and milestone inspection reports for 15 years, and ballots and proxies for 1 year. Under Chapter 720, associations with 100 or more parcels must maintain a website or application for official records. Noncompliance with official-records requests triggers statutory damages of $50 per day beginning on day 11 after a written request.
TenantEvaluation’s audit-ready digital records connect lease documentation, application history, approval decisions, and resident data inside one searchable platform. Every document is timestamped, organized by unit, and accessible without digging through folders, inboxes, or spreadsheets, which directly supports the posting and retention obligations in HB 1021 and Chapters 718 and 720.
Implementation checklist item: Verify your platform maintains searchable, timestamped digital records by unit with retention periods configurable to 1-year, 7-year, and 15-year statutory categories.
3. Violation-to-Fine Workflows That Reduce Administrative Load
Violation enforcement is the most time-consuming operational burden for Florida CAMs because each case demands manual work across documentation, notice generation, follow-up scheduling, and board reporting. When CAMs manage multiple open cases at once, often 10 or more per association, the administrative overhead compounds and consumes hours that could support higher-value management activities.
Florida statute imposes procedural requirements on fine enforcement that manual processes frequently miss. Under Chapter 720, fines require a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors, employees, or relatives of any officer, director, or employee. The committee must confirm or reject fines by majority vote, and fines may not exceed $100 per violation with a maximum aggregate of $1,000 for a continuing violation unless governing documents authorize higher amounts. Fines of $1,000 or more may become a lien on the parcel.
Automation reduces the direct administrative cost of violation enforcement and improves consistency. Automated posting and follow-up support stronger fine collection rates and clearer documentation for boards. TenantEvaluation’s workflow connects violation intake, notice generation, committee review, and fine posting inside one platform, with built-in audit trails that document every step for board reporting and DBPR review.
Implementation checklist item: Confirm your platform enforces the §720.305 fining committee workflow, generates 14-day hearing notices automatically, and maintains a timestamped record of every fine decision.
See how TenantEvaluation maps your violation-to-fine process to Florida statute requirements.
4. Lease Tracking That Closes the Gap Between Applications and Occupancy
Lease management across Florida community associations often remains fragmented, with missing or outdated lease copies, manual expiration tracking, disconnected spreadsheets, and no direct link between applications and active leases. These gaps create operational blind spots that affect occupancy accuracy, compliance readiness, and board reporting.
When lease records are incomplete, associations face exposure during audits and resident disputes that better documentation could have prevented. TenantEvaluation’s Lease Tracking capability builds on the same digital record foundation described above and adds real-time lease status visibility and lifecycle control from application submission through occupancy.
CAMs see unit-level lease status at a glance, including active, pending, expired, or missing leases. Automated lease document collection during onboarding feeds directly into a searchable digital history of lease records and resident activity. Boards gain a clearer operational picture of occupancy across communities, while CAMs avoid last-minute searches through folders, inboxes, and spreadsheets before meetings or DBPR inquiries.
Implementation checklist item: Confirm your platform provides unit-level lease status visibility, automated lease document collection during onboarding, and digital records accessible without manual file retrieval.
5. Screening-to-Approval That Aligns FCRA, Identity, and Payments
Resident screening for Florida condos and HOAs carries FCRA obligations that generic tenant screening tools rarely address fully. TenantEvaluation is built specifically for community associations, with FCRA compliance as the foundation. As a direct reseller of TransUnion and Equifax data, TenantEvaluation accesses credit data under strict bureau rules with regular compliance reviews, clear permissible purpose controls, automated adverse action workflows, and audit trails for every application, which helps protect associations from liability created by gray-market data sources.
Identity fraud continues to increase across condo and HOA communities, and traditional screening methods that rely on document uploads alone cannot reliably prevent impersonation or synthetic identity fraud. TenantEvaluation’s IDVerify introduces biometric identity verification directly inside the screening workflow. The system combines government ID validation, AI-powered liveness detection, and biometric selfie-to-ID comparison into a layered fraud prevention structure that runs natively inside TenantEvaluation without external portals.
For age-restricted communities, Florida’s Housing for Older Persons Act (HOPA) compliance depends on consistent age verification documentation across all applications, which becomes risky when handled manually. TenantEvaluation’s 55+ Communities Verification standardizes these requirements so every application captures the same documentation in the same format. Once age verification and screening are complete, QuickApprove accelerates the approval workflow, moving applications from submission to decision faster with real-time tracking, a board-ready approval process, automated communication, customized approval letters, and a personalized welcome package.
The final step in the onboarding workflow is payment collection. TEpayments by Zinc handles application fees and deposits inside TenantEvaluation, collecting funds during resident onboarding and depositing them directly into the association’s designated account. TenantEvaluation never holds the funds, which keeps financial flows transparent and compliant.
Implementation checklist item: Confirm your screening platform is an FCRA-compliant direct credit bureau reseller, includes biometric identity verification natively, and connects approval decisions to payment collection inside one workflow.
How TenantEvaluation Maps to Florida Statutes
The following table maps key Florida statute obligations to TenantEvaluation capabilities so CAMs can see how one platform supports the full compliance picture discussed above.
| Statute / Requirement | TenantEvaluation Capability | Key Deadline / Threshold | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 718 — Official Records Retention | Audit-ready digital records, searchable by unit, configurable retention periods | 7-year general, 15-year structural, 1-year ballots | Chapter 718 compliance guide |
| Chapter 720 — Official Records Request | Centralized document access, timestamped retrieval logs | Statutory timeframe, penalties for noncompliance | §720.303 guide |
| HB 1021 — Condo Website Posting (25+ units) | Digital record posting, password-protected owner access | Effective January 1, 2026 | HB 1021 overview |
| HB 913 — Reserves, Inspections, Recordkeeping | Digital lease and document records, centralized onboarding workflow | Effective July 1, 2025, ongoing obligation | HB 913 summary |
| §720.303 — HOA Website Posting (100+ parcels) | Document posting workflow | For associations with 100 or more parcels | Chapter 720 compliance guide |
| §720.305 — Fining Procedures | Violation-to-fine workflow, committee review tracking, 14-day notice generation | 14-day hearing notice, $100 per violation max, $1,000 aggregate cap | Chapter 720 notice requirements |
| FCRA — Resident Screening | Direct TransUnion and Equifax reseller, adverse action workflows, permissible purpose controls | Ongoing, per-application obligation | TenantEvaluation compliance framework |
Map your association’s statute obligations to TenantEvaluation’s feature set in one session.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the key 2026 Florida HOA law changes affecting CAMs?
The 2026 Florida legislative session produced limited direct changes to Chapters 718 and 720, but several updates still affect CAMs. The most operationally significant change for HOAs was the amendment to Section 720.3035, effective July 1, 2026, which prohibits associations and architectural review committees from requiring a governmental building permit as a prerequisite for reviewing a parcel owner’s application for structures or improvements.
Separately, Chapter 2026-168 rewrote conflict-of-interest standards in the Florida Not For Profit Corporation Act, which HOA boards must follow because Section 720.3033 incorporates those standards by reference. For condominiums, HB 1021’s website posting requirement for associations with 25 or more units became effective January 1, 2026, and HB 913’s reserve, inspection, and recordkeeping requirements have been in effect since July 1, 2025. CAMs managing portfolios that include both HOAs and condominiums must track overlapping statute timelines separately by association type.
What are the record-retention requirements under Chapters 718 and 720?
Under Chapter 718, most condominium official records must be retained for at least 7 years. Structural integrity reserve studies and milestone inspection reports carry a 15-year retention requirement, while ballots, proxies, and voting records must be kept for 1 year. The declaration, articles of incorporation, bylaws, current rules, and meeting minutes function as permanent records.
Under Chapter 720, all official records, including governing documents, board and member meeting minutes, financial records, contracts, fining records, architectural review submissions, and the membership roster, must be retained for at least 7 years. Associations with 100 or more parcels must post specified records on a website or app. Condominium associations with 25 or more units must maintain a password-protected website with official records accessible to owners under HB 1021. Written official-records requests must be fulfilled within the statutory timeframe under Chapters 718 and 720, with statutory penalties for noncompliance.
How much does violation-tracking compliance software cost?
Pricing for HOA compliance and violation-tracking software varies significantly by platform structure. Broad property management platforms such as AppFolio and RealPage typically charge monthly subscription fees regardless of application volume. TenantEvaluation operates on a pay-per-application model with no upfront fees, so associations pay based on actual usage rather than a fixed monthly cost.
For management companies overseeing multiple associations, this model aligns platform cost directly with onboarding activity and can generate revenue through TenantEvaluation’s revenue-sharing structure, where the platform deducts its service fee from collected application fees and rebates the remainder to the association or management company. CAMs evaluating software cost should factor in staff time recovered, fine collection improvements, and liability reduction alongside the platform fee itself.
Recap: Five Integrated Capabilities for Florida CAMs
Florida CAMs managing 10 or more associations in 2026 need a platform that delivers five integrated capabilities. These include statute-mapped deadline tracking for Chapters 718 and 720 notice sequences, digital record posting and retention that satisfies HB 1021 and HB 913, violation-to-fine workflows that enforce §720.305 procedures and cut resolution time, centralized lease tracking that connects applications to occupancy with real-time status visibility, and FCRA-compliant screening layered with biometric identity verification, age-restricted documentation, accelerated approvals, and connected payment collection.
TenantEvaluation is the only platform built specifically for Florida community associations that integrates all five compliance capabilities into one connected system. With 5,000+ communities, approximately 100,000 applications processed annually, and $150M generated for communities, the platform replaces fragmented manual processes with a unified operational approach that reduces risk and supports audit readiness.
See exactly how TenantEvaluation maps to your 2026 Florida compliance obligations.
