When does a Florida condominium association turn over?

Section 718.301 gives owners one-third of the board once people other than the developer own 15 percent of the units, and majority control on the first of seven events: three years after 50 percent of units are conveyed, three months after 90 percent are conveyed, completion of all units with none still offered by the developer, some units conveyed with none others being built or offered, a bankruptcy petition, an undischarged receiver after 30 days, or seven years after the recording of the surveyor's certificate or the first title transfer without an assignment of developer rights. Since July 1, 2025 four of those triggers do not apply to nonresidential condominiums of ten or fewer units.

How long does the developer have to turn over the records?

It differs by chapter. An HOA developer has 90 days from the date owners become entitled to elect a majority to deliver a list of twenty items at its own expense. A condominium developer must deliver simultaneously with relinquishing control, with only the audited financial records allowed up to 90 days afterward.

Do board members elected at turnover have to complete certification?

Yes, and typically all of them at once. Every director elected at a turnover election is newly elected, so each is subject to the education requirement on the same day. An HOA director files a certificate of completion within 90 days of election. A condominium director files both a written certification to the secretary and an educational certificate, within one year before being elected or 90 days after. Because the condominium window opens a year early, candidates can complete the course before the turnover election.

Does the developer leave the board at turnover?

Not necessarily. The developer keeps the right to elect at least one director while it holds for sale at least 5 percent of the parcels in an HOA, or 5 percent of the units in a condominium with fewer than 500 units and 2 percent in one with more than 500. What it gives up is control: after relinquishing control it may vote its own parcels or units like any other owner, except for purposes of reacquiring control or selecting a majority of the board.

What happens if the association does not call the turnover election?

In a condominium the association must call the election within 75 days after owners become entitled to elect and give at least 60 days' notice, and if the association fails to do so any unit owner may give the notice. Chapter 720 sets no equivalent deadline or notice period for homeowners' associations, so an HOA looks to its governing documents for the timing.

Developer Turnover: When Owners Take Control of the Association

Q: What must a developer hand over at turnover?

Deeds to common property, the recorded declaration, certified articles of incorporation, bylaws, minute books, the books and records, adopted rules, resignations of the directors required to step down, financial records, association funds and control of them, tangible property, contracts the association is party to, contractor and vendor lists, insurance policies, permits, warranties, and a current owner roster. Financial records from incorporation through turnover must be audited by an independent certified public accountant. A condominium also receives a turnover inspection report in the form of a structural integrity reserve study.

By Carlos Castellano · Current as of August 28, 2026

For as long as a community is being built and sold, the developer runs the association. Turnover is the day that ends. Owners elect a majority of the board, the developer hands over the records and the money, and a group of neighbors becomes legally responsible for a corporation that someone else has been operating. Florida sets the trigger, the deadline, and the list of what has to change hands. Here is how it works, and what the new board owes in its first weeks.

If you were just elected at turnover, start your clock. Every director elected that day is newly elected, so every one of you is on the certification deadline at the same time. A whole board usually has to certify at once, and nobody is grandfathered because the association already existed.

How to read this article

BoardComply provides education and compliance tools, not legal advice. This article explains Florida law as we read it, with citations to the statutes. Where the law is unsettled we say so, and where regulators clarify a point we will update this article and note the change. For advice about your association’s specific situation, talk to a Florida community association attorney.

When control actually passes

Turnover is not a date the developer picks. It is triggered by whichever qualifying event happens first, and the triggers are different in each chapter.

Homeowners’ associations

Under Section 720.307, members other than the developer may elect at least a majority of the board at the earlier of six events. The common one is three months after 90 percent of the parcels in all phases have been conveyed to members other than the developer. The other five are failure events: a percentage or date set in the governing documents to satisfy a mortgage-financing requirement; the developer abandoning its obligation to maintain or complete the amenities or infrastructure; a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition; loss of title through foreclosure or a deed in lieu; or a receiver who is not discharged within 30 days.

Two details boards miss. Abandonment carries a rebuttable presumption: if the developer has gone more than two years without paying assessments or guaranteed amounts, it is presumed to have abandoned the property. And before any of that, at 50 percent conveyed, owners are already entitled to elect one director. That seat is often left unclaimed simply because nobody realizes it exists.

Condominiums

Section 718.301 starts earlier and runs on seven triggers. At 15 percent of units owned by people other than the developer, owners elect at least one-third of the board. Majority control passes on the first of these: three years after 50 percent of units are conveyed; three months after 90 percent are conveyed; all units completed with none still offered by the developer; some conveyed and none others being built or offered; a bankruptcy petition; an undischarged receiver after 30 days; or a seven-year backstoprunning from the recording of the surveyor’s certificate or the first title transfer without an assignment of developer rights.

That seven-year outside limit has no counterpart in Chapter 720, and it matters: a condominium that never sells out still turns over. Since July 1, 2025, four of those triggers do not apply to nonresidential condominiums of ten or fewer units.

The developer does not necessarily leave the board. It keeps the right to elect at least one director while it holds for sale at least 5 percent of the parcels in an HOA, or 5 percent of the units in a condominium under 500 units and 2 percent in one above that. What it loses is control: after relinquishing it, the developer votes its own parcels or units like any other owner, except to reacquire control or to select a board majority.

The election itself

The condominium statute sets the mechanics and the homeowners’ statute does not. In a condominium the association must call the election within 75 days of the date owners become entitled to elect, and give at least 60 days’ notice, running it under the regular election procedure. If the association fails to call it, any unit owner may give the notice, which is the owners’ remedy when a developer-controlled board simply does nothing.

Chapter 720 contains no equivalent deadline or notice period for the turnover election. That is a real gap rather than an omission here, and it means an HOA looks to its own governing documents for the timing.

What the developer has to hand over

Both chapters require delivery at the developer’s expense, and both list it out, but the timing differs and the difference is easy to get backwards.

Homeowners’ association: the developer has 90 days from the date owners become entitled to elect a majority, for everything on a list of twenty items.
Condominium: delivery is simultaneous with relinquishing control. Only one item, the audited financial records, may take up to 90 days.

The lists themselves are close cousins: deeds to common property, the recorded declaration, certified articles, bylaws, minute books, all books and records, adopted rules, resignations of the directors who have to step down, the financial records, the association’s funds and control of them, tangible property, every contract the association is party to, contractor and vendor lists, insurance policies, permits, warranties, and a current owner roster.

The audit is the piece to watch. Financial records from incorporation through turnover must be audited by an independent CPA under generally accepted auditing standards, and the accountant is directed to check whether expenditures were for association purposes and whether the developer was charged and paid the proper assessments. On the HOA side that audit requirement applies to associations incorporated after December 31, 2007.

A condominium gets one more document with no HOA counterpart: a turnover inspection report, sealed by an architect, engineer, or certified reserve specialist, in the form of a structural integrity reserve study covering the roof, structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing and exterior painting, and windows and exterior doors. It is required regardless of the building’s height or when the certificate of occupancy issued. The vocabulary is the same as milestone inspections and SIRS, and this report is a good first read for a new board.

What changes the moment you take control

Before turnover, a condominium developer answers for the association: if the Condominium Act is violated during that period the developer is responsible for it, and actions taken by the directors it designated are treated as the developer’s own actions. After turnover, that shifts to the board the owners elected. Chapter 720 has no matching provision, so an HOA’s pre-turnover accountability is a question for counsel rather than a line you can point to.

Money changes too. While a developer still holds units for sale in a condominium, the association cannot assess it for capital improvements or take action detrimental to its sales without its written approval, though an ordinary non-discriminatory increase in common-expense assessments does not count as detrimental. On the HOA side, the pre-turnover restriction runs the other way: a developer-controlled board cannot levy a special assessment without a vote of the owners, which is covered in special assessments.

The new board’s first weeks

1. Certify. Every director elected at turnover is newly elected and on the clock. See below.
2. Confirm the handover is complete. Walk the statutory list item by item and write down what is missing, with dates.
3. Take control of the money. The statute transfers funds and control of them; signature authority at the bank is the practical half of that.
4. Read the audit. It is the only independent account of how the association was run before you arrived.
5. Inventory the contracts. You are now a party to every one that came across.
6. Elect officers and set your meeting calendar. The board appoints its own officers, and the secretary starts keeping the records.

Where this stops: turnover audits as an engagement, construction-defect claims, and disputes over documents the developer never delivered are attorney and management work. A new board’s job in week one is to know what it received, what it did not, and what it now owes.

Certification, for a whole board at once

This is the part turnover guides written for developers and lawyers leave out. Every director seated at turnover is newly elected, so the education requirement lands on all of them on the same day.

An HOA director has 90 days from election to file a certificate of completion with the association. A condominium director files two things, and the window is wider: within one year before being elected or 90 days after. Nothing about a turnover election changes either deadline, and the association keeps the proof.

The practical move is to have candidates certify before the turnover election rather than after. The condo statute expressly allows it up to a year ahead, and a board that walks in already certified spends its first ninety days on the handover instead of on coursework.

Turning over soon? A board can certify together before the election, so nobody is racing a deadline during the handover. Our HOA and condominium certifications are self-paced, and each certificate is issued the moment that director finishes so the secretary can file it right away.