Florida Co-Op Records Requests — What Your Board Must Know

Florida cooperative associations are required to maintain official records and to make permitted records available for inspection and copying by unit owners and their authorized representatives. Under Fla. Stat. § 719.104(2), the obligation is specific: certain records must be maintained; access must be provided within a statutory period and at a permitted location or through an optional electronic-access method; and the association may not obstruct or charge impermissible fees. Boards that handle records requests correctly protect the association. Boards that fumble them create disputes, Division complaints, and potential statutory remedies.

What must be maintained

Florida cooperative associations are required to maintain official records including:

• Minutes of all association, board, and unit-owner meetings
• Current rules and policies
• The governing documents (declaration, bylaws, articles, proprietary lease — with all amendments)
• Accounting and financial records, including budgets, reserve records, financial statements, receipts, expenditures, and supporting records
• Contracts entered into by the association
• All current insurance policies of the association
• Ballots, proxies, and election records for one year after the election, vote, or meeting
• The current question-and-answer sheet under § 719.504
• Inspection reports under §§ 553.899 and 719.301(4)(p), retained 15 years after receipt
• Rental records where the association acts as rental agent
• Roster of unit owners with contact information (maintained per statute; access is regulated)
• Director written certifications and education certificates retained for the period specified in § 719.106(1)(d)1.b
• All other written records related to the operation of the association

This list is not exhaustive. Official records generally must be maintained in Florida for at least seven years unless another category-specific period or prudent permanent-retention policy requires longer. Verify the current statutory records list and retention periods against § 719.104(2).

The inspection-access obligation

When a unit owner submits a records-inspection request, the association must:

1. Acknowledge the request promptly as a recommended operating control.
2. Make permitted official records available for inspection and copying within 10 working days after the board or its designee receives the written request. Access must be provided within 45 miles of the property or within the county where it is located; the association may instead provide requested records electronically. Failure to provide access within that period creates a rebuttable presumption of willful failure. Statutory minimum damages may accrue at $50 per calendar day for up to 10 days, beginning on the 11th working day after receipt.
3. Charge only the statutorily permitted amounts. Inspection and copying are at the member's reasonable expense, if any; the statute uses an actual-cost rule for specified governing documents, the question-and-answer sheet, and year-end financial information; and a member may use a portable device to copy records without charge.
4. Not obstruct or deny access to records to which the requester is entitled.

Boards that delay, deny access without a supportable basis, or charge impermissible fees expose the association to disputes, Division complaints, statutory minimum damages, and potentially attorney-fee consequences under the facts and remedies described in § 719.104(2).

What boards get wrong

• Failing to make permitted records available within the statutory period.
• Rejecting a request with a vague “too broad” response instead of applying reasonable inspection rules, identifying the records that can be made available, and explaining any supported exclusion.
• Claiming records are unavailable when they exist but are disorganized.
• Applying one fee rule to every category instead of tracking the statute's reasonable-expense, actual-cost, and no-charge portable-device rules separately.
• Making an incomplete set available without identifying what is being withheld and why.

The right process

The records-request forms in the Florida Co-Op Board Handbook Forms Pack provide the infrastructure: a records-request policy (F-111), a request log (F-113), an acknowledgment letter (F-114), a fee schedule (F-122), a counsel-routing response for privileged or otherwise protected material (F-125), a records inventory (F-095), and a retention schedule (F-096). Each form is anchored to § 719.104(2) (2025).

Authorities and update notes

• Fla. Stat. § 719.104(2)(a)–(c).
• Repository rules REC-10WD, REC-FEES, and REC-EXCLUSIONS.
• Prompt acknowledgment is a recommended control, not a separate statutory deadline.