Legal News You Can Use: 2025 - 2026 Community Association Legislative Update

2025-2026 COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

NEW STATUTORY AMENDMENTS

Board Meetings (Sections 718.103 and 718.112 of the Florida Statutes) With the rise of Zoom and other remote meeting technologies, many associations adopted virtual platforms to conduct board meetings,

allowing directors to participate without being physically present. However, the Condominium Act previously offered no guidance or regulation for these types of meetings, often creating uncertainty and raising questions.

The Condominium Act has now been amended to specifically regulate meetings that are held by video conference (such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or similar platforms) by imposing the following requirements: » The notice for any meeting conducted by video conference must state that the meeting will be held via video conference, include a hyperlink and conference telephone number for unit owners to attend the meeting via video conference, and state the address of the physical location where unit owners can also attend the meeting in person. ▪ Note – This appears to support the previously accepted view that associations must offer a “hybrid” meeting format (providing unit owners with both in-person and virtual attendance options) when the board holds a video conference meeting. ▪ Note – This also appears to eliminate the practice of allowing directors to virtually attend board meetings while denying unit owners the same option. » If a board meeting is conducted via video

conference, the video conference must be recorded, and the recording must be maintained as an official record of the association. » If a board meeting is held to consider a proposed annual budget, and if such meeting is conducted by video conference, then a sound transmitting device must be used so that the conversation of members attending remotely may be heard by the board or committee members attending in person, as well as by any unit owners present at the meeting. ▪ Note – Interestingly, this enhanced requirement appears to apply exclusively to budget meetings and does not appear to extend to other types of board meetings. These new requirements may be the most impactful legislative changes of the year in terms of an association’s day-to-day operations. However, the added obligations and burdens could discourage associations from holding board meetings by video conference, potentially undermining the apparent legislative purpose of facilitating video conferences in the first place (i.e., promoting transparency and accessibility for the unit owners). ■

4 | Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert