thank you for volunteering!

Any new directors is required to provide a certification of Board Training for the state of Florida.  The purpose is educate a volunteer on what an Association, its purposes and the role of a Director.  You have 90 days from the date of your appointment to submit this certification into the Official Records otherwise you will be automatically removed from the Board.

720.3033 Officers and directors.—(1)(a) Within 90 days after being elected or appointed to the board, each director shall certify in writing to the secretary of the association that he or she has read the association’s declaration of covenants, articles of incorporation, bylaws, and current written rules and policies; that he or she will work to uphold such documents and policies to the best of his or her ability; and that he or she will faithfully discharge his or her fiduciary responsibility to the association’s members. Within 90 days after being elected or appointed to the board, in lieu of such written certification, the newly elected or appointed director may submit a certificate of having satisfactorily completed the educational curriculum administered by a division-approved education provider within 1 year before or 90 days after the date of election or appointment.(b) The written certification or educational certificate is valid for the uninterrupted tenure of the director on the board. A director who does not timely file the written certification or educational certificate shall be suspended from the board until he or she complies with the requirement. The board may temporarily fill the vacancy during the period of suspension.
(c) The association shall retain each director’s written certification or educational certificate for inspection by the members for 5 years after the director’s election. However, the failure to have the written certification or educational certificate on file does not affect the validity of any board action.

It will be important that you now take a moment and go to your community website (this can be found from the main page of myHomeSpot.com), then go to the Official Records page as you will need to review the following:

– Articles of Incorporation (the creation and purpose of your corporation)
– Plat (all the areas that are in your community)
– ByLaws (explains the operation of your corporation and duties of the Board to members)
– CCRs (the requirements that pertain to owning property in the community)
– Rules and Regulations
– Architectural Guidelines
– Policies and Procedures
– Florida Statute 720 or 718

Remember that you have a fiduciary duty as a Director is to uphold and enforce these documents until the term of expiration or unless the member’s properly cast sufficient written legal documents that amend these documents.  Once you have reviewed all these documents – you may then complete the required affidavit below.

Sign the Affidavit

Attend the Training Class

Florida Statute 720 (HOA)

Florida Statute 718 (Condos)

Florida Statute 619 (non-profit corp)

Escambia County, FL Ordinances

Santa Rosa County, FL Ordinances

In the upcoming months you will need to have a meeting.  Florida law does require that all meetings are properly noticed by postal mailing to all members or by a sign posted no less than 48hrs in a conspicuous manner at the entrance.  All members have the right to attend the meeting, to record the audio and video.  

 The President is the person to call for a meeting and it responsible to prepare the agenda at least 3-4 days prior to the meeting. Items that need to appear on the agenda are any item that you would vote on, such as any expenditure of money, the engagement of a vendor, actions that effect members such as pool opening or closing.   If there are any handouts, estimates or other documents to be be reviewed at the meeting – make sure management is provided a copy of this at lease 3-4 days prior to the meeting.  No spending decision or decision that would effect a member should be made outside of a duly called meeting.  This complete agenda should then be sent to all members of the Board and posted to website or emailed to members at least 2 days prior to the meeting time/date.  This allows everyone the opportunity to discuss, lobby and develop a proper motion prior to the actual meeting. 

Board meetings are intended for the Board of Directors so they can make decisions.  Each board should arrive to the meeting already informed of the business matters and be ready to make a decision.  Members may attend board meetings and they are given an opportunity to speak at the start of the meeting for a time of no less than 3 minutes – then members should remain in order as the Board decides. 

It is important to understand Florida’s laws regarding Board meetings.  No board member shall vote outside of a meeting and a majority of the Board should not gather as to form a quorum.  A gathering of a quorum of the Board of Directors under law will constitute a unlawful meeting. 

The https://HOA.myHomeSpot.com portal will provide you real-time access to all official records and financial reports of the Association.  As a Board member, your will have 24/7 real-time access to check registers, profit-loss statement, balance sheet, accounts receivables reports, budget comparisons and more.  You can generate reports as a pdf or download to excel.  You will also have access to all the official records such as meeting minutes, contracts, historical financials, communications and other records.  

Your community webpage will provide your members and the public community details like year established, lot count, amenities, access devices, assessment history and all the governing documents.  

We make financial transparency and controls of utmost importance.  This starts with our Strongroom application for any payable.  The issuance of any payment for services rendered in a community goes through multiple controls to assure timely and accurate processing.

The process starts with receipt of an invoice.  Our accounting department will scan the invoice and put into the computer for payment with the invoice date, due date, vendor to be paid and amounts due.  Your Treasurer and/or President will then receive an email notification indicating a payment request is being made.  The invoice approver will then login to a secure website to approve or reject this payment request with the ability to view the actual invoice, prior invoices paid and how this is coded to your financials.  Once approved by the first approver, it is then sent to a second approver for the same process before a payment is issued.  Once approved by no less than two approvers, a payment is issued directly from the banking institution to the vendor.  No check stock to maintain, no manual signing and your financials are updated in real-time.

Watch the Training Video

Login to Payables Portal to Approve Invoices

Sign a Bank Signature Card

We recognize that Directors are volunteers and neighbors in the community – to make things easier we have created a community webpage and email groups.  Your Board of Directors and HOA Members need to remember a single email address instead of trying to remember the ever changing volunteer names and email addresses.

    Board of Directors: [CommunityName]@myHomeSpot.com.

    Architectural Control Board:  [CommunityName-ACB]@myHomeSpot.com

We need to remind any volunteer serving your community that any email sent to or from them involving the Association is deemed as an official record and can be legally discoverable.  For this reason, we recommend each volunteer create a separate account or use their subject line to separate their personal email from the Association.

Our firm will use the subject line when sending you an email.  The subject will start with your community name, then the subject title.  An example is Subject: Stonebrook: Board Welcome.  Using this approach will save you time searching and provide you an opportunity to aggregate.  If you email using your community assisgned email, our firm will then have all the needed records in the event of  a request and you would only need to sign an affidavit rather than printing and organizing all emails from your machine.

Florida law requires that any combined expenditure to a vendor exceeding 10% of the annual budget shall require competitive bids, and the bids to be kept in the official records for at least 1 year.  The Association should document all vendors solicited and retain their response.  myHomeSpot.com has developed a Request for Proposal Template that you can use or assign to management.

We provide an online form for your members and the Board to request maintenance – click here to use the Maintenance Form.

While Florida law does not require any committees, Board members will quickly realize the many obligations related to keeping your community operating smoothly.  We encourage volunteers to participate.

Request to Join a Committee or the Board

Grounds Committee

Architectural Review Committee

Covenant Enforcement Committee

Fine Committee

• FL Condo Association Change of Address Form.pdf
• FL CONDO FAQ TEMPLATE.pdf
• Fl Condo Governance Form.pdf
• FL Condo Sample Candidate Certification Form.pdf
• FL Condo Sample Limited Proxy Form.pdf