How to Raise HOA Dues in Florida | ReservesPro

Learning how to raise HOA dues in Florida starts with one uncomfortable fact, which is that the increase itself is rarely what turns owners against a board. The surprise does that. When owners have seen the insurance renewal, the reserve numbers and the repair schedule over the year, the budget meeting confirms what they expected, and the conversation stays about the building instead of about trust.

This guide covers the Florida rules for raising dues in a condo and in an HOA (they are different), how to size the increase, how to plan it across several years, and how to bring owners along. Each rule in the guide links to the 2026 statute text, so your board and your attorney can read it for themselves.

Condo or HOA? Florida has two rulebooks

Florida splits community associations into two main groups, and each follows its own chapter of the statutes. Condominium associations follow chapter 718. Homeowners' associations follow chapter 720.

National guides on this topic usually skip the difference, but the budget rules differ in ways that matter on the day of the vote. A condo budget has a built-in owner check on large increases and mandatory reserves. An HOA budget leans much more on what the declaration and bylaws say. Find your section below, then read the parts on sizing and communication, which apply to both.

How to raise dues in a Florida condo

In a condo, the board adopts the annual budget, and the budget sets each owner's assessment. Owners do not vote to approve the budget in the normal case. The statute does set a clear process, and it adds an owner check when the increase is large.

1. Send the notice and the proposed budget at least 14 days ahead. Under 718.112(2)(e)1, the board must hand deliver, mail or electronically transmit a notice of the budget meeting and a copy of the proposed budget to each unit owner at least 14 days before the meeting. The meeting is open to all unit owners, and the person who sends the notice signs an affidavit that goes into the official records.

2. Say in the notice that assessments will be considered. Under 718.112(2)(c)3, the notice of any meeting where regular or special assessments are on the table must say so, and it must give the estimated cost and the purpose.

3. Run the 115 percent test. If the proposed budget needs assessments above 115 percent of the prior fiscal year, 718.112(2)(e)2.a requires the board to propose a substitute budget at the same meeting. The substitute leaves out discretionary spending that the law does not require. Owners must consider it and may adopt it by a majority of all voting interests, unless the bylaws require a larger share. If owners do not adopt the substitute, the board may adopt the budget it first proposed.

4. Know what the 115 percent test leaves out. Under 718.112(2)(e)2.b, the test excludes required reserves, insurance premiums, and expenses the board does not expect on a regular or annual basis for the repair, maintenance or replacement of the structural items that a structural integrity reserve study covers. So an increase driven by a reserve catch-up or an insurance renewal may stay under the trigger even when the total jump is large.

5. Adopt the budget at least 14 days before the fiscal year. 718.112(2)(f)1 sets this deadline. It is separate from the 14-day notice before the meeting, so build both dates into the budget calendar.

While a developer controls the board, 718.112(2)(e)2.c caps assessments at 115 percent of the prior year unless a majority of all voting interests approves more. After turnover, the statute states no such cap, but your declaration or bylaws may have one, so read them before the board votes.

Reserves shape the number too. A structural integrity reserve study (SIRS) is the study Florida requires at least every 10 years for each condo building of three habitable stories or higher, and it covers the roof, the structure and the other items listed in 718.112(2)(g). For a budget adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners in an association that must get a SIRS can no longer vote to waive or reduce reserves for those items (718.112(2)(f)2.b), with a narrow exception for a multicondominium with an alternative funding method that the state Division approved. For a building that must get a SIRS, that rule takes a reserve waiver off the table, so the reserve line has to carry an amount based on the findings and recommendations of the most recent SIRS.

How to raise dues in a Florida HOA

An HOA board also works through the annual budget, but chapter 720 gives it a lighter statutory frame and leaves more to the governing documents.

1. Prepare the budget and give owners access to it. Under 720.303(6)(a), the association prepares an annual budget of estimated revenues and expenses, and it must give each member a copy or a written notice that a copy is available at no charge.

2. Put assessments on the notice. Under 720.303(2)(c)2, the board cannot levy an assessment at a board meeting unless the meeting notice says that assessments will be considered and what kind. A meeting where special assessments will be considered needs written notice to the members, and a notice posted on the property or broadcast, at least 14 days before.

3. Read the declaration and bylaws before you set the number. Section 720.303 does not contain the condo 115 percent substitute-budget rule. That does not mean an HOA board can raise dues without limits, because a declaration may cap annual increases or require a member vote above a set amount.

4. Know where your reserves stand. Reserves are optional for an HOA until the members vote to set them up. Under 720.303(6)(b), when reserve accounts have not been established under the statute, reserve funding is limited to the extent the governing documents limit assessment increases. Once a majority of the total voting interests approves statutory reserve accounts (720.303(6)(d)), the board must include them in each budget, and any member vote to waive or reduce them covers only one budget year (720.303(6)(f)).

If your HOA has a cap in its documents and no statutory reserves, the cap can quietly decide how well the community is funded. That is worth a conversation with your association attorney well before budget season.

How much should dues go up?

The right increase is whatever the building or the community needs, built from the bottom up. Price operating costs at current rates, set the reserve contribution from the reserve study and a funding goal, and add a margin for the costs you cannot predict. For the full fee-setting method, see how to set the right condo maintenance fee.

The approach that causes most of the trouble runs the other way. A board asks what owners will tolerate, picks a number, and trims the budget to fit. It feels kind in the moment, but it moves the cost into the future, where it arrives larger.

The reserve line deserves the most care, because it depends on a choice the board makes about its funding goal. A reserve study lists each component, which is one item that reserves pay to repair or replace, such as the roof or the elevators. Percent funded compares the money in the reserve account with the share of each component's life that owners have already used up. The Community Associations Institute's Reserve Study Standards describe three funding goals.

Baseline funding keeps the reserve cash balance just above zero. CAI calls it the goal "with the greatest risk" and says it "is not recommended as a long-term solution/plan."
Threshold funding keeps the balance above a dollar amount or percent funded that the board picks. It is only as strong as that number, and a floor set below full funding leaves part of today's wear for later owners to pay.
Full funding keeps reserves "at or near 100 percent funded," so the money in the account matches the wear the building has already taken.

Full funding is the goal, and the board decides how fast to get there. Fairness is the reason. Each owner pays for the wear that happens on their watch, instead of passing it to whoever owns the unit when the roof comes due. For a deeper comparison, read baseline vs. threshold vs. full funding.

Timing matters as much as the goal, because dollars saved in reserves earn interest while they wait, and a repair that is deferred comes due later at a higher replacement price. If dues have been held flat for several years while costs rose, the catch-up will be larger than the steady increases would have been, because the market did no work on money that was never saved. Our cost of waiting calculator shows the difference for your own numbers.

Plan the increase years ahead, not one budget at a time

Owners handle steady, predictable steps far better than a single large jump, and a board can only offer steady steps if it looks past the current year. A multi-year plan lets the board show owners where dues are headed and why, so next year's increase is already on the page before anyone asks.

A good plan puts every money decision in one place. The reserve schedule, the insurance renewal, any loan for a major project and the chance of a special assessment all pull on the same owners, and treating them as separate spreadsheets is how boards end up surprised. When the board can see them together, it can choose between raising dues gradually, financing a project, or drawing on reserves, and it can explain that choice with the numbers in front of it.

That is the work our Capital Plan does for Florida associations. It is a done-for-you, five-year plan that brings operating expenses, reserves, insurance, debt and special assessments into one board-ready report. We present it to your board or finance committee and refresh it each quarter, so the plan stays current when board members change.

Build the case before the budget meeting

The owners most likely to fight an increase are the ones who did not see it coming. The fix is to share the financial picture through the year, then use the budget packet to confirm it. In a condo association of more than 10 units, the board already meets at least once a quarter, and 718.112(2)(c) requires an owner question period on the agenda at least four times a year, which gives the board a natural place to do this.

A strong budget packet includes these items:

The operating cost changes from last year, line by line (insurance, utilities, management, contracts)
The reserve study's recommended contribution for the coming year, and the funding goal it assumes
Where percent funded stands today, and where it is headed under the proposed budget and under flat dues
The major projects due in the next five years, with their estimated timing
What the alternative looks like, such as a special assessment or a loan, if the reserves stay short

Data does not guarantee a calm meeting, but it changes the subject from "the board wants more money" to "here is what the building needs and why." An insurance renewal can move the budget sharply, and our guide to condo association insurance costs explains what drives the renewals.

How to communicate the increase

Send the proposed budget with a short cover memo from the board that names the three or four drivers of the change, so owners can read it at home before the meeting instead of hearing the number cold in the room. State the new monthly amount, what each part of the increase pays for, and what happens if the board does not adopt it.

Present the increase with the same confidence you have in the math. Apologetic language tells owners that the board is unsure the increase is needed, and owners pick up on that quickly. A short question period before the vote helps too, because owners who feel heard tend to accept an outcome even when they disagree with it.

When an owner says "we can't afford this," acknowledge it plainly, because some owners are on fixed incomes and the concern is real. Then show the comparison the board already has, which is the steady increase now against the assessment or loan that follows if reserves fall behind. For scripts and a step-by-step approach, see how to explain reserve fund increases to condo owners.

What happens when dues stay flat

When dues do not keep pace with costs, the gap does not go away. It shows up in one of three places.

Deferred maintenance. Repairs get pushed past their useful life. A roof that should be replaced on schedule and gets pushed several more years can let water into units along the way, which adds interior repairs and owner claims to the original bill.

Special assessments. Some assessments are unavoidable, because hurricanes, new code requirements and lawsuits can force costs that no budget foresaw. Underfunded reserves are the avoidable cause, and they are the one the board controls. In a condo that must get a SIRS, a special assessment, a line of credit or a loan to fund the SIRS items needs a majority vote of the total voting interests under 718.112(2)(f)2.c, so a shortfall also becomes a vote the board has to win. For prevention, see how to avoid special assessments.

Reserve underfunding. This is the slow version of the same problem. The balance erodes, percent funded falls, and the association has less room each year when a large cost arrives early.

Steady increases that follow a plan prevent all three. Framed that way, a dues increase is the board protecting what owners have invested in the building.

See how a Capital Plan helps your board plan dues increases

Frequently asked questions

Can a Florida HOA or condo board raise dues without an owner vote?

In most cases, yes. The board adopts the annual budget, and the budget sets the dues. In a condo, owners get a vote on a substitute budget only when the proposed assessments exceed 115 percent of the prior year, after certain items are excluded. In an HOA, the governing documents may require a vote or cap the increase, so read them first.

How much notice does a Florida condo board have to give before a dues increase?

At least 14 days before the budget meeting, the board must deliver a notice of the meeting and a copy of the proposed budget to each unit owner. The notice must also say that assessments will be considered and give the estimated cost and purpose. The board must adopt the budget at least 14 days before the fiscal year starts. Your bylaws can add to these rules, so check them.

What is the 115 percent rule for Florida condo budgets?

If a proposed budget needs assessments above 115 percent of the prior year, the board must also propose a substitute budget without discretionary spending. Owners can adopt it by a majority of all voting interests, unless the bylaws require more. Required reserves, insurance premiums and certain non-recurring repair costs for the structural items are left out of the 115 percent test.

How much should HOA dues go up each year?

There is no right percentage. The right increase is whatever the budget needs once operating costs are priced at current rates and the reserve contribution follows a plan to reach full funding. A board that plans several years ahead can usually spread the increase into steady steps instead of one large jump.

This article is general information about association budgets and Florida condominium and homeowners' association law. It is not legal advice, so consult your association attorney about the statutes and your governing documents. It is not financial or investment advice, so consult your CPA, your treasurer or a registered investment advisor before you change how dues, reserves or financing are set.