HOA Q&A: How long must HOAs keep the minutes for board meetings?
Editor’s note: Attorneys at Goede, DeBoest & Cross respond to questions about Florida community association law. The firm represents community associations throughout Florida and focuses on condominium and homeowner association law, real estate law, civil litigation, estate planning and commercial transactions.
Q: I recently submitted a request for records to my condominium association asking for copies of the minutes of all board meetings for the past five years. It took them over three weeks to respond, and when they did, they said that they only had the minutes from the meetings from this past year. Does Florida law only require them to keep the minutes for the past year, or are they supposed to turn over the minutes from past years also? What are my legal options if the Association is in violation of the law? -- H.J., Clearwater
A: First, please note that pursuant to section 718.111(12)(b), Florida Statutes, the Association must provide access to the records within 10 working days after receipt of the written request. Accordingly, assuming your request was submitted in writing, the Association was not timely in its response pursuant to the statutory requirements. Second, the same statutory provision also provides that certain official records of the Association, including, but not limited to, the minutes of all meetings of the Association, the board of administration, and the unit owners, must be permanently maintained from the inception of the Association. Therefore, the Association must also provide all of the other past minutes that you requested, not just the past year. Under section 718.111(12)(c)(1), Florida Statutes, the Association’s failure to provide you with the records within 10 working days creates a rebuttable presumption that the Association willfully failed to comply. Under the statute, you could be entitled to your actual damages or minimum damages in the amount of $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days, beginning on the 11th working day after the Association’s receipt of the written request. We recommend that you consult with a licensed Florida attorney familiar with condominium law if you intend to pursue the matter.
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Q: I recently attended a meeting of the board of my HOA, and one topic that was brought up was about MRTA expiration of our documents. I was unfamiliar with what that was, but one of the board members said that it meant we needed to “renew” our documents soon. Can you please explain what this means? -- G.K., Plantation
A: MRTA is an acronym that stands for “Marketable Record Title Act” and is codified under Chapter 712, Florida Statutes. The purpose of MRTA is to wipe out certain encumbrances on real property after 30 years from recording. Under MRTA, old encumbrances are automatically eliminated from real property, which are often abandoned or long forgotten but never officially terminated, so that title to real property remains as clear as possible in connection with issuing title insurance. Without it, over time, title to many real properties would become unnecessarily overburdened with irrelevant and/or outdated encumbrances. Unfortunately, the recorded governing documents of Homeowners’ Associations are not excepted from MRTA requirements (but note that it is generally not applicable to condominium documents), so certain steps will need to be taken in order to preserve your documents, as advised by your Board. If the 30-year deadline has not yet expired, the board will need to hold a duly-noticed board meeting and vote to preserve your documents, then record a notice in the public records which puts the public on notice that the documents remain on the real property for another 30 years. If the 30-year deadline has passed, then your Association would need to “revitalize” the documents, which requires the majority vote of the owners in your Association (i.e. not just the Board). Please consult your Association’s attorney to ensure that all technical procedures for the preservation or revitalization of the documents are followed.
Destiny Goede, Esq., is an Attorney at the Law Firm Goede, DeBoest & Cross. Visit www.gadclaw.com or to ask questions about your issues for future columns, send your inquiry to: [email protected]. The information provided herein is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The publication of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship between the reader and Goede, DeBoest & Cross, or any of our attorneys. Readers should not act or refrain from acting based upon the information contained in this article without first contacting an attorney, if you have questions about any of the issues raised herein. The hiring of an attorney is a decision that should not be based solely on advertisements or this column.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: HOA Q&A: How long must HOAs keep the minutes for board meetings?