HOA - can a director be legally excluded from inspections of official records

FL Statute 720.303(5)c 1-7 cites documents which are not accessible to members or parcel owners.

Does anyone know of any FL law (or case law) which states that ALL association directors are allowed to inspect all association related data including the exceptions listed in 720.303(5)c1-7 ?

Can the Board adopt a policy which only allows the president or vice president to see records which are excluded by 720.303(5)c1-7?

It would seem to me that each Director should be entitled to view all documents in order to be able to best maintain their fiduciary duty to the homeowners per F.S. 720.303(1).

Just curious David what records exactly are you looking to see? And why?

And what reason do YOU think the Board might be resisting turning these records over to you or anyone else?

This rule or policy about who can see what was enacted when?

So during the timeframe you are asking to see records for were you serving on the Board?

Sounds to me the Board appears to believe they should resist your request for some reason. Any idea why?

If it is lawyer correspondence then that is lawyer-client privilege situation. Meaning your HOA's lawyer does NOT answer to you as "individual" members. The lawyer's client is the WHOLE of the HOA. Their conversations would then be confidential between the board/board representative that had the conversation. If there were any court decisions those would be for public viewing at the courthouse unless the judge deemed otherwise.

I don't get why people in HOA's think the HOA's lawyer is their personal lawyer to go to to discuss their legal issues with the HOA. The lawyer purpose is to represent the HOA membership as a whole in court since it is incorporated. The lawyer relationship is then with the board or the asssigned board representative such as the president, who has the ability to have confidentiality.

So just spit out what your issue is overall instead of witch hunting down every little "Legal" avenue. Seriously there is no such thing as the "HOA police" who can throw someone in jail for violating a HOA rule. You get thrown in jail for violating real world laws. Just address the issue you have straight on instead looking up every little law code you can find. Most people will just glaze over and not respond when you talk like that anyways.

David:

I could begin by providing you with the laws as they exist here in NY or perhaps give you the details of the documnents on the proerty where I reside but doing so always seemed like quite a wase of time to me as you live in Florida. And I for one understand the laws here or what is required here has no meaning or value when you live elsewhere. Some people think what takes place where they live is in fact important. It is really worthless.

As to your situation it seems your request has not been met wih open arms. Now as you have chosen not to share and would rather make some claim about being able to do your fiduciary DUTY I guess we will have to let that go.

The advice you might be provided would be more valuable if you gave us the details but IMO that is not the case.

So you want to look at the legal records of the HOA. This because you feel as a Director you have the right to see them. I asked if you were a Director for the period these records cover? If not then when did you join the Board?

Now can the Board legally withhold these records my guess NO not legally. Can they withhold them anyway? My guess YES they can. See in the real world Florida like California has lots of rules, owners rights, guidelines, restrictions, paperwork up the ying yang. But the problem is the politicians who saw themselves as experts forgot o add any real enforcement provisions in MANY of these "rules". So YES on paper the HOA cannot or must but in real life there are in fact no HOA police patrols driving through your property waiting to enforce what the limited politicians passed.

So YES you might be in fact RIGHT but then you need to decide how far are you willing to push your agenda? In most cases you would need to file a suit, perhaps with a lawyer and let the courts enforce, if they see fit to do so) and then the HOA would use your money to defend the suit and in the end the BEST you might get is to see the records. What this might all cost you my guess more than a cup of coffee.

We had a similar situation where a new member of the Board began to contact our MC and requested records from YEARS ago. She just felt as a Board member she could direct the MC to do as she pleased and never bothered to consider the cost to the property. WE quickly put an end to her requests and her ability to demand records. Were we LEGALLY able to do that? Well that's a grey area. Just in this case the remainder of the Board understood this served no positive purpose for the property.

Bottom line all depends on what you are willing to do and how far you are willing to take this. In the end the question you need to ask yourself "What am I hoping to get out of all of this?" And is the cost
(there will be costs) worth it to me?

IMO better be something really important to sue your fellow Board members, fellow propery owners and run up legal costs for yourself and the property. Better be more than a witch hunt to boost your ego.

Now let me tell you about the laws in Mississippi................

His question was if directors can be excluded from seeing correspondence between the attorney - not if a regular homeowner could. He stated that the president and vice president are the only ones allowed and the other board members are not privvy to that information. So this isn't a matter of "witch hunts." It is really simple - is it against the law to prevent board members other then the president or vice president from viewing correspondence.

I would think that it would be important for the rest of the board to have access to such information, otherwise how could an appropriate decision be made? What if the lawyer advises against something and then the president and vice president hide that information and tell the rest of the board the lawyer OK'd it?

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your comments. I completely agree with you. I have posted this question as a general one so that it could help anyone else searching similar issues. I felt no reason to give details which can turn a simple question into a post for entertainment purposes. Personally, I believe that laws are helpful to direct law abiding people on proper conduct. I am not looking for "HOA police"; just Florida legal information. I also believe that a Board of directors should believe that decisions are based on the majority of a Board, not the private decisions of one or two people. That simply is not good business practice as it may work well for a trusted few, but could work terribly in other situations.

Once upon a time there was a property owner. Now this man decided to join the Board of his HOA with the goal of performing his fiduciary duties at all costs. Suddenly, for some reason he decides he MUST have access to the legal records of correspondence between the HOA Presdient and the property's attorney. Now......... was this need to read these documents aquired AFTER joining the Board or was his joining the Board his attempt to gain access to these records? His view why bother giving details when just one side will do.

Now the Board President seems to have an issue with this. WHY someone asked??????? The OP decides to avoid answering that question too. No sense providing details. The President just must have a bug up his behind for NO reason.

Just makes no sense that he can not now have total access to any documents he desires because he needs them to find _______________???

That's the MILLION dollar question.

Now the OP might be able to make this an issue but I would plan for some blowback as his actions have already caused a pushback by the President.

Is it possible the OP is looking to dig up dirt? Is it possible no one else supports his agenda? Seems the OP is the only one that knows and he is less than forthcoming with the details because that just clouds the exchange of information. An open honest discussion.

In most cases if you had a simple request for documents for a legitimate reason other than causinbg problems my guess most Boards would gladly turn over this information. My guess this is NOT the case here.

When you ask rather simple questions and the other person fails to respond with a simple answer gives me the impression like many people there is plenty more to this simple request than the OP is telling.

With all the laws in Florida there must be one that covers this. The problem finding that law. Getting the Board to abide by it. And if not finding some agency of the governement that WILL enforce it. Makes sense to me.................................

In addition to 720 you may want to check out 617 - the corporate laws that HOAs are typically organized under.

While some here are interested in why the original poster wants the information I don't really see that as an issue. Who cares if it is a witch hunt or if he is just a director who wants to be privy to all the information legally allowed? The question at hand is simple - can the P and VP limit access to attorney-client correspondence to other board members.

There could be plenty of reasons why the P and VP are acting the way they are. Maybe they do have bugs up their rear end. It doesn't matter.

Kevin it may not matter to YOU but it does to me. If someone comes to this site fails to offer an honest representation of the circumstances surrounding their situation I am less inclined to offer my assistance. Since their true motive doesn't concern you HELP away. As you live in Florida I am sure you have some information to offer as to how the OP can get want they want. I too would be interested in the approach you suggest.

You see for me it all comes down to what is best for the property. NOT serving the personal agenda of one owner whether they be on the Board or not. Now what the case here is we cannot determine because other that the excuse of doing his fiduciary duty the OP has decided nothing else need be told.

Kevin do you now serve on a Board? Have you served? Just adds to the picture.