Bills Impacting Community Associations in 2021 Florida Legislative Session

There are several bills being debated by state lawmakers in the current legislative session that will impact Florida community associations. The most significant proposed legislation for associations is also one of the most important for many of the state’s businesses.

HB 7, which creates COVID-19 liability protections for Florida businesses and nonprofit organizations, including community associations, has cleared its first committee stop with an 11 to 6 vote. Its advocates contend the measure is a necessary component to Florida’s economic recovery. The Florida House Speaker has vowed to make the bill a priority. Its next stop is the House Health and Human Services Committee.

One of the other measures that community association industry watchers are tracking is HB 21. House Bill 21 revises the requirements for construction defect causes of action relating to certain violations, and revises provisions relating to the requirements for notices of claim, property inspections, and service of copies of notices.

There are also bills pertaining to vacation rental properties that seek to pre-empt local regulations with state laws governing rentals and establishing licenses for such units by the Division of Hotel and Restaurants under the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

A couple of bills have also been introduced that would impact community association assessment notices and authorize associations to extinguish discriminatory provisions from their governing documents.

Our firm’s other community association attorneys and I will continue to monitor the progress of these and other bills impacting community associations as they make their way through this year’s legislative session. We encourage industry followers to enter their email address in the subscription box on the right to receive all of our latest articles.