The Condo Board Conundrum
- Inside Track Almanac
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
Florida is home to more than 1.5 million condominium units, and the management of these communities plays a critical role in preserving property values, ensuring safety, and fostering a harmonious quality of life for residents. Yet, far too many condominium associations are entrusted to unqualified volunteer boards, often with disastrous consequences. Recent cases in South Florida, including structural collapses and financial mismanagement, have highlighted the pressing need for reform. It’s time to rethink how these associations are run.
One of the most striking examples is the tragic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside in 2021, which killed 98 people. While the structural issues were caused by years of deferred maintenance, a significant part of the problem lay with an unqualified volunteer board unable—or unwilling—to make difficult decisions. The board struggled to agree on necessary repairs, leading to costly delays. This failure to act decisively is emblematic of what can happen when volunteer boards lack the expertise to manage multimillion-dollar assets.
Closer to home, many communities along Florida’s Treasure Coast have faced their own challenges. Recent changes, not only to insurance requirements, but also to Florida law around how condo associations must fund reserves have resulted in many mismanaged roofing projects as well as confusing and often non-sensical budgets. These challenges and more have resulted in sometimes exorbitant increases to monthly fees as well as poorly executed special assessments which have created unmanageable financial burden that more and more condo owners are struggling to keep up with.
These examples are not anomalies—they are symptoms of a broader issue: the reliance on untrained volunteers to handle the complex tasks of budgeting, contracting, legal compliance, and long-term planning. At best, condominium boards are often staffed by well-meaning residents who lack the specialized knowledge required for effective governance. At worst, and in too many instances, volunteer board members often do not understand their role in representing association members, thinking and behaving more like landlords managing tenants instead of representatives of financial stakeholders in the common property.
Why Volunteer Boards Fall Short
Managing a condominium association is akin to running a business, and not necessarily an small one. Boards are responsible for maintaining infrastructure, overseeing budgets that can stretch into the millions, and ensuring compliance with a labyrinth of state and federal regulations. Despite these high stakes, there are no universal requirements for board members to have financial, legal, or managerial expertise. In many cases, decisions are made based on personal opinions rather than sound professional advice.
This lack of expertise often leads to:
Deferred Maintenance: Volunteer boards may delay costly repairs, opting for short-term savings over long-term stability. This can result in structural issues that become exponentially more expensive—or dangerous—to address later.
Financial Mismanagement: Without proper financial oversight, associations may fail to adequately fund reserves, leaving them unprepared for emergencies.
Contracting Pitfalls: Boards without experience in procurement may select unlicensed or unreliable contractors, leading to shoddy workmanship and legal disputes.
Wasted Resources and Time: Boards that fail to understand their role are more likely to get caught up in disputes between residents and maintenance issues that do not involve common property. These kinds of issues tend to dominate board meetings where more relevant topics should prevail.
The answer is not necessarily to eliminate volunteer boards but to professionalize their operations and ensure they have the tools and knowledge to succeed.
Higher Training Standards: Florida law already requires board members to certify their knowledge of condominium regulations, but this process is insufficient. Comprehensive training should be required, covering topics like budgeting, maintenance planning, and legal compliance.
Professional Management: Most associations hire licensed property management companies to oversee day-to-day operations. While some of these professionals bring the expertise necessary for effective maintenance, most fall short when it comes to guiding inexperienced and underqualified boards in proper and ethical governance.
State Oversight: Strengthen oversight by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to ensure associations and management companies comply with legal and financial requirements.
Educate and Engage Owners: Board members should work with their management companies to educate new owners with accurate and fundamental information about the association. Many new residents in Florida lack an understanding of condo ownership in general and often behave more like tenants than owners. With a better understanding of the nature of their investment, they are more likely to pay attention and engage with ongoing association business in a productive manner.
The mismanagement of Florida condominiums by unqualified volunteer boards is a ticking time bomb, as evidenced by recent tragedies and financial debacles. With so much at stake, we cannot afford to leave the governance of these communities to chance. By mandating professional management, requiring rigorous training, and fostering better oversight, we can ensure that condominium associations are run efficiently and responsibly. Florida’s residents—and their homes—deserve no less.