Q: I am requesting from the association office the names of each unit owner in my condominium association. Is the office legally required to furnish that list to me? (J.G., via e-mail)
A: If your request for the names of each unit owner was made in writing, the association is legally required to make them available to you for inspection or copying within 10 working days after the association received your written request. If the request was not made in writing, there is not a similar legal requirement.
The Florida Condominium Act provides that a current roster of all unit owners is an official record of the association that must be maintained by the association. Under the Act, the association is also legally required to make the current unit owner roster available to any unit owner for inspection or copying (at a reasonable expense) at all reasonable times on the condominium property (or otherwise within 45 miles of the condominium property or in the county where the condominium property is located) within 10 working days after receipt of a written request. Inspection and copying of the current unit owner roster would be subject to any reasonable rules regarding the manner and frequency of such inspections and copying duly adopted by the Board. The association may, but is not obligated to, offer the option of making the current unit owner roster available to you online or by e-mail.
The failure of the association to make the current unit owner roster available to you for inspection or copying within 10 working days creates a rebuttable presumption that the association willfully failed to comply with this legal requirement. A unit owner who is denied access to the current unit owner roster, or any other official record, is entitled to the actual damages or minimum damages of $50 per calendar day up to 10 days beginning on the 11th working day after the date the written request was received by the association.
For anyone who is concerned about personal information of theirs being shared with other unit owners, the Act protects certain telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, and other “personal identifying information” of unit owners, including social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, and credit card numbers. Although the law does not clearly define what is and is not “personal identifying information,” unit owner names, their unit numbers, and their mailing addresses are not personal identifying information exempt from official records inspection and copying requirements and are readily available online from the county property appraiser.
Q: My elderly mother lives in a neighborhood with a homeowners’ association. She is not really computer savvy. All of the newsletters and information alerts that the HOA sends out are by e-mail, so she is not in the loop as to what is going on in her neighborhood. This seems very unfair to me. Is this legal? (L.G., via e-mail)
A: It is not illegal.
Condominium, cooperative and homeowners’ associations in Florida must send official notices (for example the annual meeting notice) by U.S. Mail or hand delivery. However, if a property owner signs a consent form, the association may send them official notices by electronic transmission, typically referred to as e-mail.
In recognition of the prevalence and convenience of electronic communication, the law was also amended a few years ago stating that proxies for association meetings could be sent in by e-mail (scanned attachment) regardless of any provision in the association’s bylaws to the contrary.
For better or worse, the days of the mailed out “Association Newsletter” are reaching their end. There is no legal requirement for these communications and most associations use the means that is both easiest for the association, and most convenient for the majority of its members. In most cases, this involves either “e-mail blasts” or website postings, with no paper involved.
Originally posted on floridacondohoalawblog.com. Written by Joe Adams