Florida SB 906: Homeowners’ Associations

Bill Text

906 
Homeowners’ Associations 
2025-12-15T06:29:15Z 
Creating the Office of the Homeowners’ Association Ombudsman within the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation; specifying the powers and duties of the ombudsman; providing the duties of the division relating to the development, construction, sale, lease, ownership, operation, and management of residential parcels and complaints; authorizing the division to issue citations and adopt rules; requiring the division to maintain a toll-free telephone number accessible to parcel owners, etc. 
Original Filed Version 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
__ 

 Florida Senate - 2026 SB 906 

 By Senator Garcia 

 36-01002-26 2026906__ 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to homeowners’ associations; creating 
 3 s. 720.3024, F.S.; creating the Office of the 
 4 Homeowners’ Association Ombudsman within the Division 
 5 of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes 
 6 of the Department of Business and Professional 
 7 Regulation; providing for funding of the office; 
 8 directing the Governor to appoint the ombudsman; 
 9 requiring that the ombudsman be an attorney admitted 
 10 to practice before the Florida Supreme Court; 
 11 prohibiting the ombudsman, officers, or full-time 
 12 employees of the office from holding certain 
 13 positions, engaging in certain activities, or 
 14 receiving certain remuneration; providing for the 
 15 principal location of the ombudsman’s office; 
 16 authorizing the ombudsman to establish branch offices 
 17 upon the concurrence of the Governor; specifying the 
 18 powers and duties of the ombudsman; providing a 
 19 process for monitoring homeowners’ association 
 20 elections; providing for the appointment of an 
 21 election monitor to attend an annual meeting of parcel 
 22 owners and to conduct the election of directors; 
 23 requiring that an association subject to election 
 24 monitoring pay all costs associated with the process; 
 25 requiring the division to adopt rules; creating s. 
 26 720.3025, F.S.; providing the duties of the division 
 27 relating to the development, construction, sale, 
 28 lease, ownership, operation, and management of 
 29 residential parcels and complaints; providing that the 
 30 division has complete jurisdiction to investigate 
 31 complaints and enforce compliance over associations 
 32 still under developer control; specifying the 
 33 jurisdiction of the division to review records and 
 34 investigate complaints after turnover; authorizing the 
 35 division to conduct necessary investigations within or 
 36 outside this state with specified analysts to make 
 37 certain determinations or to aid in the enforcement of 
 38 rules or forms; authorizing the division to require or 
 39 authorize any person to file a statement in writing 
 40 under oath for such investigations; authorizing 
 41 specified employees of the division to take certain 
 42 actions reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery 
 43 of material evidence; authorizing the division to 
 44 apply to the circuit court for an order compelling 
 45 compliance of such actions; authorizing the division 
 46 to institute enforcement proceeding in its own name 
 47 against certain persons; specifying the actions the 
 48 division may take and penalties the division may 
 49 impose in such proceedings; defining the term 
 50 “willfully and knowingly”; requiring the division to 
 51 provide officers or board members an opportunity to 
 52 voluntarily comply within a specified timeframe before 
 53 being subject to civil penalties; specifying the 
 54 manner in which penalties may be imposed; prohibiting 
 55 such penalties from exceeding a specified sum; 
 56 requiring the division to adopt rules regarding 
 57 penalty guidelines; specifying the criteria for such 
 58 guidelines; requiring that all amounts recovered be 
 59 deposited with the Chief Financial Officer to the 
 60 credit of the Division of Florida Condominiums, 
 61 Timeshares, and Mobile Homes Trust Fund; requiring the 
 62 division to order a developer who fails to pay the 
 63 civil penalties to cease and desist from further 
 64 operation until the civil penalties are paid or to 
 65 pursue enforcement of the penalties in court; 
 66 requiring the division to pursue enforcement in a 
 67 court of competent jurisdiction if an association 
 68 fails to pay its civil penalties; specifying when the 
 69 cease and desist order or the order from the court 
 70 imposing such penalties becomes effective; specifying 
 71 where such action must be brought; requiring the 
 72 division to issue a subpoena to require production of 
 73 certain records if a parcel owner presents the 
 74 division with proof that the parcel owner has not 
 75 received a copy of the official records after the 
 76 parcel owner requested access to official records in 
 77 writing by cert