Every Florida HOA eventually reaches the moment when the developer
hands the keys to a member-elected board. That transition is
governed by F.S. 720.307, and it's one of the areas where
unprepared boards most commonly leave money on the table. The
statute gives the new board specific rights, specific document-
delivery deadlines, and a specific window to challenge what the
developer did or failed to do.
When transition happens
F.S. 720.307(1) specifies the triggering events:
Members other than the developer are entitled to elect at least a majority of the members of the board of directors of an homeowners' association after 90 percent of the parcels in all phases of the community have been conveyed to members other than the developer.
Translation: when 90% of the platted lots are owned by non-developers, members get majority control. The statute also allows earlier transition via:
- The developer voluntarily relinquishing control sooner (common to reduce ongoing developer obligations)
- Member petition when specific milestones are met (7 years after first sale, abandonment of development, etc.)
Most Florida master-planned communities hit the 90% threshold within 3-7 years of platting. The developer usually has a transition timeline in mind and communicates it in advance, but NOT always, which is where disputes start.
What the developer MUST deliver (the 90-day clock)
F.S. 720.307(3) enumerates the documents the developer must turn over. The clock runs from the date control transitions:
At the time members other than the developer elect a majority of the members of the board of directors, the developer shall, at the developer's expense, within no more than 90 days thereafter, deliver the following documents to the association:
Then comes the list. Abbreviated, read the full statute for the authoritative version:
- Original or certified copy of the recorded declaration and all amendments
- Articles of incorporation of the association
- Bylaws of the association
- Minute books (board meetings + member meetings)
- Financial records including all audits, reviews, compilations, bank statements, tax returns, and operating reports
- Insurance policies and claims history
- Operating contracts (landscaping, management, amenity, utility)
- Leases to which the association is a party or successor
- Employment records for any association employees
- Warranties for common-area improvements + personal property
- Keys + pass codes for all common-area facilities
- Roster of all current members + contact info
- A listing of all complaints, actions, proceedings that are pending or were resolved against the association during developer control
- A listing of all legal claims the developer was aware of that relate to the association or its property
Everything on that list must be delivered within 90 days.
What the new board should do IMMEDIATELY
Day 1 of the new board: start a transition-review project. The three deadlines that matter most:
- 90 days, everything on the list above must arrive. Log what arrived, what didn't, when.
- 1 year, window to file challenges for defective construction
per
F.S. 720.307(4). Many declarations require the new board to complete a structural-engineering survey within this window; if they miss it, latent defects become the association's cost forever. - 3 years post-transition, statute of repose on many developer- against-association claims. Get any potential claim into arbitration or court within this window.
What the developer often DOESN'T deliver (and why it matters)
Three common gaps, ranked by severity:
Gap 1: Incomplete financial records
The developer submits bank statements + the most recent audit and calls the financial-records obligation satisfied. The statute says all audits, reviews, compilations, going back to the association's inception. If three years of early records are missing, the board can't verify whether reserves were built correctly, whether assessments were collected, or whether the developer paid their own share.
Gap 2: Missing warranty documentation
Common-area improvements (pool, gate, amenity) typically carry 1- to 10-year warranties from the installing contractor. If the developer doesn't deliver warranty certificates, the board can't make claims when things break. A failed pool pump at year 2 that would have been covered under warranty instead becomes a special-assessment line item.
Gap 3: Contracts with anticipated renewal
The developer signed a 10-year landscaping contract with a firm the developer had a financial interest in, at inflated rates. The new board inherits the contract. Without the executed contract in hand, the board can't evaluate whether it's terminable for cause (self-dealing in violation of the developer's fiduciary duty) or whether it has to ride out the term.
Three failure modes on the new board's side
-
Not auditing what was delivered within the 90-day window. The new board treats "documents arrived" as done. Instead, a board secretary (or the retained attorney) has to check-mark each item on the statutory list against what arrived. Anything missing becomes a statutory-delivery violation, which matters for later claims.
-
Not engaging a transition attorney. Florida has a specialty practice area called "HOA transition counsel", attorneys who do ONLY this work. A 2-hour engagement at the 30-day mark ($600-1000) pays for itself 10x if it catches missing docs or flags a renewal-heavy contract.
-
Missing the 1-year structural-survey window. The time to identify latent defects is NOW, not when the roof fails in year 7. Budget $2K-10K for a professional survey at the 6-month mark. Defects identified before the window closes become the developer's problem; defects identified after become the association's.
Records-request implications
Every document delivered during transition becomes an association
record subject to F.S. 720.303(5)(a) inspection. See the
records-request-10-day-clock walkthrough.
A member who suspects the developer shortchanged the transition
can serve a records request for the transition-delivery log and
audit the gap.
Pairing with Compliance Monitor
If your community is approaching or recently completed transition, this is exactly the period where HOAStream's Compliance Monitor product (under development) surfaces which F.S. 720.307 items the association has in hand vs which are missing, and flags the 90-day and 1-year deadlines before they close.
Why this post exists
HOAStream quotes F.S. 720.307 + your declaration's specific
transition provisions side-by-side in under 500 milliseconds, with
citations. Not legal advice. For a specific transition, especially
one where the developer is pushing back on the document list or
claiming delivery happened when it didn't, retained Florida counsel
is the only correct next step.
CAM walkthrough: /cam. Board walkthrough: /board. Engineering transparency: /trust.