Chapter 718

Section 718.102 closes with the sentence that settles who Chapter 718 covers: “Every condominium created and existing in this state shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter.”

Before that sentence, the section states the chapter's two purposes: to give statutory recognition to the condominium form of ownership of real property, and to establish procedures for the creation, sale and operation of condominiums.

The other homeowner chapter points the same way from its side. Florida Statutes 720.302(4) takes an association subject to regulation under Chapter 718 out of Chapter 720, apart from provisions expressly incorporated, so a condominium question starts in Chapter 718 even when everyone involved just says the association.

The second stop is the definitions section, because every duty later in Chapter 718 is assigned to one of the parties it names.

The association row is the body most exterior questions end up with, and it is described on its own under condominium association. Common elements are defined by subtraction, as whatever the units leave out, and the units are what the declaration specifies, so the building parts left in common come from each condominium's declaration rather than from the statute.

Section 718.113(1) opens with the maintenance rule and its exception in one sentence: “Maintenance of the common elements is the responsibility of the association, except for any maintenance responsibility for limited common elements assigned to the unit owner by the declaration.”

The subsection goes on to require the association to provide for the maintenance, repair and replacement of the condominium property it is responsible for “pursuant to the declaration of condominium.” Two more subsections bound what happens on the common elements. Under 718.113(2)(a), “Except as otherwise provided in this section”, there may be no material alteration or substantial addition to them except as the declaration provides, and the vote that applies when a declaration is silent is set out under common elements; the section does not define material alteration, which leaves that call to the association and its counsel. Under 718.113(3), a unit owner may not do anything in the unit or on the common elements “which would adversely affect the safety or soundness of the common elements” or other property the association maintains.

Section 718.111 supplies the means. Under 718.111(3)(a), the association “may contract, sue, or be sued with respect to the exercise or nonexercise of its powers,” and those powers include “the maintenance, management, and operation of the condominium property.” The rest of the association's powers are set out in the entry for the association itself.

Applied to a roof, those sentences are the subject of who is responsible for roof cleaning in a condo, and whether the work can be done at all is whether a condo roof can be cleaned. Applied to glass, the window cleaning page on condominiums and storefronts covers exterior panes, and glass reached from one unit's balcony is the subject of cleaning windows on a condo balcony. In each case the declaration of condominium is where the association's duty is drawn.

The last section a condo exterior question tends to reach is 718.303(3), which lets the association levy reasonable fines when an owner or occupant fails to comply with the declaration, the bylaws or the association's reasonable rules.

The subsection is short and specific. “A fine may not become a lien against a unit.” A fine may be levied for each day of a continuing violation, with a single notice and opportunity for a hearing. The section caps both the fine per violation and the total, and as the section reads, those caps carry no clause letting the governing documents set different ones, which is a difference from the Chapter 720 fine section. The amounts are printed in 718.303 itself, listed in the sources below.

Under 718.303(3)(b), a fine may not be imposed unless the board first gives at least 14 days' written notice and an opportunity for a hearing before a committee of at least three members appointed by the board, with the same exclusions set out under hearing. The 14 days is a notice requirement, not a period the statute sets for curing a violation. If the committee approves the fine, payment is due 5 days after notice of the approved fine. What a particular notice asks for is written in that notice, not in the statute.