States have passed laws (Florida 718.111 and SB398) which mandate that condo associations and homeowner associations need to have an association website. But not just any website, it must be able to do certain things or your association is not in compliance.
It must make the following information privately available, and ensure each member be only able to view and change his or her property info, messages and posting, and not see or modify the private information of another general member of the association.
Within the PRIVATE access areas members need to:
- All governing documents, to include the declaration, articles of incorporation, bylaws, CC&Rs and every amendment that has been recorded
- A copy of every contract or document (still waiting to be executed), as well as a summary of any open bids
- Current and pending budgets
- Annual financial reports
- Information on your board of directors, including each member’s certification document, any contract between the board member and the association, and any declarations of conflicts of interest
- Supporting documents for consideration at unit-owner and annual general meetings, at least 7 days prior to the meeting
- Board meeting Notice, Agenda and supporting items pending votes, at least 48 hours prior to the date of the meeting
- The Board is expected to redact or restrict from general view any information not intended to be accessible to owners
THEN, it must be made PUBLICLY available:
- Meeting notices for unit-owner and annual general meeting, available14 days prior to the meeting
- Links on the homepage to public facing information
- A point of contact for the association estoppel designee. Florida example: "Each association shall designate on its website a person or entity with a street or e-mail address for receipt of a request for an estoppel certificate issued pursuant to this section. The estoppel certificate must be provided by hand delivery, regular mail or e-mail to the requestor on the date of issuance of the estoppel certificate." [This change was passed under SB 398: Estoppel Certificates, and applies to Statutes 718 (condos), 719 (co-ops) and 720 (homeowners associations)]
Although your state or municipality may have alternate language it is clear that the intent of legislation like Florida (718.111 and SB398) is to provide owners with a private resource for managing their property interest and a transparent way of communicating to the governing association in a private and secure manner. Please visit our features page to see how CHOPAS community portals gets the job done.
