Written by: Luis Teran, Co-founder, CEO, TenantEvaluation
Key Takeaways
- Florida HOA boards keep full fiduciary authority when they hire a management company. The firm acts as the board’s operational agent under statutory and governing-document rules.
- Community size and complexity drive the right management model. Under-50-unit associations often succeed with portfolio management, while 200-plus-unit communities typically need on-site or hybrid staffing.
- Boards must decode four common fee structures: flat, per-door, à-la-carte, and vendor mark-ups. Request a complete written schedule before comparing proposals so you can see how far total costs may exceed the base fee.
- A formal RFP, structured interviews, CAM-license verification, and red-lined contract review on auto-renewal, termination, fee escalation, indemnification, and data ownership protect the association and create a defensible selection record.
- Evaluating HOA management companies in Florida? See the screening, onboarding, and lease-tracking platform your new manager should be running.
Can an HOA Board Hire a Management Company, and What Do the Governing Documents Require?
In most Florida associations, the board can hire a management company without a membership vote. Fla. Stat. § 718.111(1) grants the condominium board broad corporate authority to enter contracts and employ personnel, and Fla. Stat. § 720.303 places fiduciary responsibility for HOA operations with the board of directors. The governing documents, including the declaration, bylaws, and any management agreement provisions, still control. Some require owner ratification above a spending threshold or for contracts exceeding a defined term.
Before issuing any RFP, the board should review:
- The declaration for any owner-approval triggers tied to management contracts
- The bylaws for board spending authority limits and contract-term restrictions
- Any existing management agreement for auto-renewal windows and termination obligations
- Fla. Stat. § 718.3025 (condos) or § 720.3055 (HOAs) for written-contract and competitive-bidding requirements
The distinction between the board’s authority to hire and its fiduciary duty in selecting remains critical. Florida condominium directors owe a fiduciary duty equivalent to the duty corporate directors owe shareholders, requiring decisions made in good faith, on an informed basis, and in what the director reasonably believes to be the association’s best interests. A board that rubber-stamps the cheapest bid without a documented selection process has exercised its authority but may have breached its duty.
Under Fla. Stat. § 718.3025(1), any condominium management contract must be in writing and must specify services, reimbursable costs, service frequency, minimum personnel, and any financial or ownership interests held by the developer or board members in the contracting party. Services not stated on the face of the contract are unenforceable. For HOAs, Fla. Stat. § 720.3055 imposes competitive-bidding requirements for certain contracts above specified thresholds.
Assess Your Community’s Needs Before You Talk to Any HOA Management Company
The scope of services a board should demand, and the fee it should expect to pay, depends heavily on community size and operational complexity. Florida law does not require a management company at any size; communities under 25 units can almost always self-manage cost-effectively, communities 25 to 100 units often work well with a hybrid financial-only model, and communities above 100 units generally need full-service management or an onsite CAM.
Segment the decision by community profile:
- Under 50 units: Portfolio management is standard. One licensed CAM carries multiple associations with firm-level back-office support. Minimum monthly contracts typically run $1,500–$3,000.
- 50–200 units: Portfolio management remains common, but the board should ask specifically how many communities the assigned CAM carries. A typical portfolio manager is assigned 6–15 communities simultaneously and spends roughly 8–10 hours per week on each.
- 200+ units: On-site or hybrid management is often warranted. On-site management places the manager and often additional staff physically at the community full-time and is typically reserved for larger communities, high-rises, master-planned communities, age-restricted communities, or communities with amenities requiring daily operational support.
Before contacting any management firm, the board should assemble:
- Unit count and community type (HOA, condo, 55+, mixed-use)
- Current reserve status and any known reserve shortfall
- Primary pain points with the current or prior management arrangement
- After-hours and emergency response expectations
- Whether the community is age-restricted under HOPA, which adds a documentation and verification layer that not every management firm handles consistently
- Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) status for condo buildings three or more habitable stories
HOA Management Company Fee Structures Decoded
Florida management fees are quoted in four primary models. Boards that understand each model before comparing proposals avoid choosing the cheapest headline number and discovering the true cost later.
Flat monthly fee: A single fixed amount regardless of unit count. This model is common for very small communities. Tampa Bay-area full-service packages start at approximately $350–$400 per month for associations with up to 25 units.
Per-door (per-unit) fee: The most common Florida model. Industry-reported base management fees in Florida run approximately $10–$45 per door per month for full-service management, with most Florida firms quoting $10–$30 per unit per month depending on community size, service level, and complexity.
À la carte pricing: A lower base fee with additional charges for specific services. Add-on fees for after-hours emergency calls, special-assessment processing, extra board meetings, and capital project oversight typically increase total management cost by 20% to 40% beyond the base fee.
Maintenance and vendor markups: Some contracts allow the management firm to mark up vendor invoices or use related-party vendors. Florida fee red flags include a too-cheap base fee paired with an aggressive à-la-carte schedule, vague “additional services billed as incurred” language, and markups on vendor invoices or related-party vendors.
On the question of who pays, in Florida, the association pays the management company as a budgeted operating expense funded through homeowner assessments. Individual owners never pay the firm directly.
When comparing proposals, evaluate total annual cost at the community’s actual activity level rather than the headline base fee. Extras quietly exceeding 25–30% of the base fee are the classic underpriced-contract pattern. To catch them, request a written fee schedule itemizing every charge before any negotiation begins.
What Should an HOA Management RFP Include?
A formal Request for Proposals forces written answers instead of sales promises and creates a documented, defensible selection record. The RFP serves as the board’s primary protection against a future claim that the selection process was arbitrary.
A complete Florida HOA management RFP should include the following sections:
- Scope of services: Full list of operational, financial, and compliance functions expected, including SIRS coordination for condo buildings
- Staffing model and ratio: Named CAM or CAM team, portfolio size, and manager-to-community ratio
- Transition plan: Timeline, records handoff process, vendor introductions, and owner communications
- Technology and reporting: Owner portal, financial reporting frequency, board dashboard, and resident screening and onboarding platform
- Insurance and bonding: E&O coverage minimums, fidelity bond, and general liability with the association named as additional insured
- References: At least three Florida community associations of comparable size and type, with contact information
- Fee schedule: Base fee, every à la carte charge, owner-paid fees, and any fee escalation mechanism
- Termination terms: Notice period, early-exit costs, and records-return obligations
Score responses on a consistent rubric before any finalist interviews. A scoring matrix that weights fee transparency, staffing ratios, technology capabilities, references, and termination terms makes the selection defensible if owners challenge it. A company that cannot provide license numbers and designations for the specific managers who would be assigned to the community is a red flag.
Verify every finalist’s individual CAM license and management firm license at myfloridalicense.com before advancing them to the interview stage. Under Fla. Stat. § 468.431, anyone paid to manage a Florida community association with more than 10 units or an annual budget exceeding $100,000 must hold a current DBPR CAM license.
Interview Question Bank for HOA Management Company Candidates
The interview stage separates firms that can answer operational questions from firms that can only present marketing materials. Use this 15-question bank with every finalist:
- How many communities does the CAM assigned to our association currently carry, and what is the firm’s maximum portfolio size per manager?
- Who answers the phone at 2 a.m. for a water main break, a live employee, an answering service, or a voicemail?
- What is your emergency response protocol, and what is the guaranteed response time?
- How are financial reports delivered to the board, and what is the standard reporting cycle?
- How are reserve contributions tracked, and how do you coordinate Structural Integrity Reserve Study compliance for condo buildings?
- What technology platform does the firm use, and does it include a board-facing dashboard with real-time financial visibility?
- What resident screening and onboarding platform does the firm use, and is it built specifically for community associations?
- How are applications and approvals tracked, and can the board access application status in real time?
- How are lease expirations monitored, and what happens when a lease expires without renewal documentation?
- How are application fees and deposits collected and reconciled, and where do those funds go?
- What is the firm’s payment collection process for delinquent assessments?
- What is the transition timeline from contract signing to full operational handoff?
- How does the firm handle 55+ age verification documentation for age-restricted communities?
- Can you provide three Florida references of comparable community size and type, with direct contact information?
- How are association records returned at contract termination, and within what timeframe?
The questions about screening workflows, lease tracking, and payment collection expose operational gaps that a polished sales presentation will not reveal. A management firm that cannot describe its resident onboarding platform in specific terms is likely running those processes manually. That pattern leaves the board with the same administrative burden it wanted to eliminate.
HOA Management Contract Red Flags
The management contract is the highest-risk document a volunteer board will sign. The clauses below are the ones that generate the forum complaints boards describe as “getting stuck,” “they don’t answer,” and “we can’t get out of the contract.” The table below maps each clause to what it looks like in practice, why it traps the board, and the specific language to request instead.
| Clause | What It Looks Like | Why It Traps The Board | What To Demand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto-renewal | Renews for a full term unless notice is given 60–90 days before end date | Missing the window by even a week can lock the association into another year regardless of board dissatisfaction | No auto-renewal, or a short renewal with a 90-day opt-out window |
| Termination for convenience | Exit allowed but carries a flat fee or payout of remaining term | Board pays to leave even for poor performance; some Florida contracts attempt to charge $5,000–$25,000 in transition fees | Termination without cause on 60-day notice, no liquidated damages |
| Fee escalation | Base fee increases annually without a cap or index | Costs compound without board approval | Capped annual increase tied to a published index |
| Indemnification | Association indemnifies the manager even where the manager was involved | Community covers claims the manager caused | Mutual indemnification; manager carries E&O and fidelity bond |
| Data ownership | Manager claims ownership of records or charges a transfer fee | Florida statutes do not authorize a management firm to charge the association for records the association already owns under Fla. Stat. § 718.111(12) and § 720.303(5) | Records are association property; return within 20 business days at no cost per Fla. Stat. § 468.4334(3) |
One additional red flag specific to Florida condominiums: HB 1021 (2024) requires Florida condo management contracts to include a statement in 12-point font affirming compliance with Chapter 468 professional standards; if the disclosure is missing, the contract is voidable and the association may terminate by written notice without penalty. Boards should check for this disclosure before signing.
Who Pays When an HOA Is Sued Over a Management Decision?
When a Florida association is sued over a management decision, the association is generally the named defendant and pays defense costs and any judgment from association funds. That reality makes indemnification language, the manager’s E&O coverage, and the board’s D&O policy central review items before the management contract is signed, not after a claim arrives.
Under Fla. Stat. § 718.111(12)(d), Florida condo associations are obligated to maintain directors and officers (D&O) insurance, and directors are entitled to indemnification when sued for acts in their official capacity, subject to certain exceptions. The business judgment rule under § 718.111(1)(d) protects a director who acts in good faith and exercises ordinary diligence, but that protection is stripped by gross negligence, fraud, criminal activity, or self-dealing.
For 55+ communities specifically, discrimination claims are commonly excluded from an association’s general-liability policy; defense for the board typically must come from a D&O policy written to cover fair-housing claims, and the management firm needs its own E&O reviewed for the same exclusion. Because those coverage gaps are common, treat insurance certificates as a screening gate: a management company that cannot produce certificates of insurance covering E&O and fidelity bonding in amounts exceeding the association’s combined reserve and operating account balances should not advance past the RFP stage.
This section is educational guidance only. Any decision touching indemnification, insurance adequacy, or litigation exposure should be reviewed by the association’s Florida-licensed community association attorney before the contract is executed.
Transition, Offboarding, and How to Switch HOA Management Companies Mid-Contract
The time to plan the exit is before signing, not after a dispute. The termination clause negotiated at contract execution determines whether a future switch becomes a 60-day administrative process or a multi-year legal dispute.
The contract terms that make a future switch possible include:
- Termination without cause on 60-day written notice with no liquidated damages or early-exit fee
- No auto-renewal, or a short auto-renewal with a clearly defined opt-out window on the board calendar
- Records-return obligation confirmed in writing, with the statutory deadline and no-cost requirement stated in the contract
- Bank accounts titled in the association’s name, not the management firm’s name
- Vendor contracts in the association’s name, so service continuity is not held hostage to the management relationship
- Resident data and lease documentation confirmed as association property, with a specific handoff protocol
For 55+ communities, the survey file, age affidavits, and hardship records must transfer intact at contract termination, because a community that discovers at handoff that its census lives in a departed manager’s inbox is a community with an unenforceable age restriction. Boards should confirm that the incoming management firm’s onboarding platform can receive and organize this documentation from day one.
Where TenantEvaluation Fits, the Screening, Onboarding, and Approval Layer Your New HOA Management Company Should Run
TenantEvaluation is built specifically for community associations and management companies, with FCRA compliance as the foundation. When a Florida board hires a new management company, it also inherits, or chooses, the resident screening, onboarding, approval, and lease-tracking platform that company runs. That platform decision deserves the same scrutiny as the management contract itself.
TenantEvaluation serves 5,000+ communities and processes approximately 100,000 applications per year. It is a direct reseller of TransUnion and Equifax data, not a third-party scraper, with strict permissible purpose controls, automated adverse action workflows, and built-in audit trails for every application. For a board evaluating a prospective management company, the right questions about the screening platform include:
- Is the platform built specifically for community associations, or adapted from a generic rental tool?
- Does it include a board-facing review and voting dashboard?
- How does it handle 55+ age verification documentation?
- How are lease expirations tracked in real time?
- How are application fees and deposits collected and reconciled?
TenantEvaluation answers every one of those questions with a purpose-built capability:
- All-in-one 100% online application platform that lets applicants complete the entire process online via web or mobile, with smart form logic that adjusts to community-specific requirements and applicant type
- QuickApprove, an accelerated approval workflow that moves applications from submission to decision faster. It includes real-time application tracking, automated communication support, customized approval letters, a personalized welcome package, and a board-ready review and voting dashboard, all without losing control, compliance, or visibility.
- IDVerify+, biometric identity verification embedded directly into the screening workflow, using AI-powered liveness detection, government ID validation, and biometric facial matching to confirm physical identity in real time.
- 55+ Communities Verification, a built-in capability that helps Florida condos and HOAs standardize how age-restricted requirements are handled across applications, reducing manual work, improving documentation consistency, and strengthening operational efficiency and control
- Lease Tracking, centralized, real-time lease visibility and lifecycle control from application to occupancy, connecting resident onboarding, unit data, approvals, and lease documentation into one streamlined, audit-ready workflow that replaces spreadsheets and scattered email chains
- TEpayments by Zinc, a connected payment workflow inside TenantEvaluation that collects application fees, deposits, and other required resident payments within the onboarding process. Payments go directly from the applicant to the association’s designated account, and TenantEvaluation never holds the funds.
TenantEvaluation has generated $150M for communities, carries a 4.8/5 Google rating, and delivers up to 70% time savings on application processing, freeing up to 50 hours of staff time per day. Its partners include RealManage, Castle Group, FirstService Residential, Campbell Property Management, and Associa.
Conclusion: The Final Pitch
As this guide has shown, the management contract carries more risk than any other document a volunteer Florida board signs. A clear, documented, compliant process protects the association and the board members who sign it.
The structural takeaways from this guide:
- Confirm the board’s authority in the governing documents before issuing any RFP
- Assess needs by community size, because the right management model for 40 units differs from the right model for 400
- Decode fee structures across all four models before comparing proposals
- Run a real RFP with a scoring rubric so the selection is defensible
- Interview with a structured question bank that exposes operational gaps, not just sales capabilities
- Red-line the contract on auto-renewal, termination, fee escalation, indemnification, and data ownership before signing
- Plan the exit before the ink dries, because the termination clause negotiated today determines the cost of switching tomorrow
Practical next steps: review the governing documents this week, assemble the RFP using the checklist above, verify every finalist’s CAM license at myfloridalicense.com, and confirm the resident screening, onboarding, approval, and lease-tracking platform the new manager will use from day one.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Boards evaluating management companies tend to raise the same four questions. Here are direct, concise answers.
Can an HOA Board Hire a Management Company Without a Membership Vote?
In most Florida associations, the board can hire a management company without a unit-owner vote under Fla. Stat. § 718.111(1) for condos and Fla. Stat. § 720.303 for HOAs. The declaration, bylaws, and any existing management agreement still control, and some communities require owner ratification above a defined dollar threshold or contract term. Boards should review their governing documents with association counsel so they exercise both their hiring authority and their fiduciary duty to select carefully.
How Do HOA Property Managers Get Paid, and Who Pays Them?
The association pays the management company as a budgeted operating expense funded through homeowner assessments. Individual board members and homeowners never pay the management company directly. Management fees are typically structured as a flat monthly fee, a per-door monthly rate, or a base fee plus à la carte charges for specific services. In Florida, management fees typically represent roughly 5–12% of a community association’s operating budget, approved as part of the annual budget and collected through regular assessments.
What Should an HOA Management RFP Include?
A strong Florida HOA management RFP outlines scope of services, staffing model, transition plan, technology and reporting, insurance and bonding, references, a complete fee schedule, and termination terms. The board should score responses on a consistent rubric before finalist interviews so the selection process remains transparent and defensible.
Who Pays When an HOA Is Sued Over a Management Decision?
The association is generally the named defendant and pays defense costs and any judgment from association funds. Boards should review indemnification language, the manager’s E&O coverage, and the board’s D&O policy before signing the management contract, not after a claim arrives.
