Any advantage of a Mandatory FL HOA not for profit to become a statute 720 HOA?

Our Florida Mandatory HOA is a not for profit corporation that is governed by the Florida 617 statutes. What are the advantages / disadvantage to become a HOA governed by Florida Statute 720? Our current deed restrictions were written in 1975 and we are in the process of updating them. (Our HOA is MARTA compliant) There is a division within the homeowners regarding being able to fine / and or have lein rights. Please help!

Here is a link to what I found when I Googled Florida statues 720. http://www.ccfj.net/HOAFS720partI.htm

I’m sure you will have a better understanding of it than I would.
Good luck

Chuck W.

My impression is that Florida 720 is one of the better POA laws in the country — perhaps along with the Virginia POA Act. However, neither Act addresses the important consideration of providing an effective process for dispute resolution that is low cost to owners/members. Good law doesn't help much if it requires punitive costs to enforce the law, or defend your rights against an abusive board. The POAs don't have that problem; they just use the association funds. The economics of litigation are highly stacked against the individual owner/member. Florida has a condominium ombudsman, but not a HOA ombudsman.

Anyway, read Chapter 720 at
http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0720/ch0720.htm. You will find that it has important provisions concerning members' access to almost all records, open meetings, right to address the board at meetings, etc.

Typically, nonprofit corporation laws are based on for-profit corporation which are less democratic than King Arthur's court. It appears that Florida's nonprofit law is Chapter 619 at
http://www.flsenate.gov/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0619/ch0619.htm
but I am not sure. You will have to find the right law as specified in the governing documents for your association and compare to Chapter 720.

All non-profit HOA in Florida are governed by Florida Statute 720. Legal questions regarding the corporation that are not covered by 720 are covered by Statute 617. This has evolved through legislation over the years as HOA have become more numerous and homeowner complaints grew. There is a chance that your HOA is no longer mandatory as many of the covenants cease to govern after a stated number of years and must be renewed after 20 years or so through a covenant revitalization - a legal process spelled out in Statute 720 Part III. The link below will take you to the Florida website where you can arrow down until you see section 720 in the right column, then review your documents and the law that applies to your HOA and also look for the section about covenant revitalization. The difficult part of coventants is that when the statutes change, the law trumps the documents and finding out which you have to follow constantly requires legal interpretation.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm