Florida Condo Board Certification: Course, Deadlines, and Renewal

Florida condo board certification has two required parts: a signed written statement that you have read and will uphold the association’s governing documents, and a four-hour education course approved by the state’s Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. Both must be submitted to the association secretary within 90 days after you are elected or appointed, or up to one year before you take office. Miss the deadline and you are suspended from the board until you comply. The requirements sit in Florida Statutes Section 718.112, and they were expanded effective July 1, 2024 to add annual continuing education.¹

The Two Pieces You Have to File

Directors sometimes assume they can pick between the written certification and the course. They cannot. Both are mandatory for every director of a residential condominium association.¹

The written piece goes to the association secretary. In it, you confirm that you have read the declaration of condominium, the articles of incorporation, the bylaws, and the association’s current written policies, and that you will uphold those documents and carry out your fiduciary responsibilities to the membership.¹

The second piece is completion of a four-hour education course administered by the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes or by a division-approved provider. Signing the certification without finishing the course leaves you uncertified, and finishing the course without filing the certification leaves you uncertified as well.¹

What the Four-Hour Course Covers

The statute fixes the curriculum. The course must address seven topics:¹

Milestone inspections for buildings three habitable stories or taller, including deadlines and reporting
Structural integrity reserve studies and the requirement to update them at least every ten years
Elections, candidate eligibility, and voting procedures
Recordkeeping, retention periods, and handling owner access requests
Financial literacy and transparency, including budgeting, assessments, and financial reporting
The process for levying fines on unit owners, with the required hearings and limits
Notice and meeting requirements for board and membership meetings

Directors who served before these topics were added to the law still have to learn them. The legislature made the course mandatory rather than optional for that reason.

Where to Take the Course and What It Costs

The Department of Business and Professional Regulation offers a free four-hour Board Member Certification course that satisfies the statute. You can register through the department’s online education calendar.²

You can also use a third-party provider that has been approved by the Division of Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes. Providers seeking approval submit their curriculum to the division for review, and the current list of approved providers lives on the DBPR website.³

Third-party courses run anywhere from free to around $199, depending on the provider and format. Because the state’s own course is free, paying for an outside provider is a matter of scheduling or format preference.

Deadlines and How Long Certification Lasts

A newly elected or appointed director must deliver both the written certification and the course completion certificate to the association secretary within 90 days after election or appointment. The statute also lets you finish both pieces up to one year before you take office, which is useful if you want to arrive already certified.¹

Directors who were already sitting on July 1, 2024 had until June 30, 2025 to comply with the expanded requirements. That date has passed. Any sitting director without both pieces on file is now out of compliance.⁴

Once filed, the written certification and course certificate stay valid for seven years, and you do not have to resubmit as long as your board service continues without a break during that period. Developer-appointed directors get a wider window: their course certificate remains valid for seven years even if service is interrupted, including appointments to boards of different associations within that window.¹

Continuing Education Every Year

Initial certification is not the end of it. One year after you submit the written certification and course certificate, and every year after that, you must complete at least one hour of continuing education covering the previous year’s changes to Chapter 718 and its administrative rules.¹

Like the initial course, the continuing hour must be delivered by the division or a division-approved provider. Skipping the annual hour carries the same consequence as skipping the initial certification.²

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

A director who does not file the written certification and course certificate on time is suspended from the board. The statute says “suspended,” not “removed.” Suspension means you cannot vote, participate in board decisions, or act on behalf of the association until you come into compliance. The other directors cannot waive the requirement or extend your deadline.¹

The board can fill the resulting vacancy temporarily while you are suspended. Your suspension lifts the moment you submit the required documents to the secretary. When multiple directors miss the deadline at once, though, the board can struggle to maintain a quorum, which is where the enforcement mechanism turns into an operational problem for the association.¹

How Owners Can Verify a Director Is Certified

The association secretary keeps each director’s written certification and course certificate as part of the official records, retained for at least seven years under the general retention rule in Section 718.111.⁵

Unit owners can inspect those records. Associations with 150 or more units must also post each director’s certification on the association’s website or app in digital format, giving owners a direct way to confirm every sitting director has actually completed the process.⁶ A missing certification in the records or on the website is worth raising at the next membership meeting.

Owner Recall When a Director Will Not Comply

If a director refuses to certify and refuses to step aside, owners have a statutory recall. Any board member can be recalled and removed with or without cause by a majority vote of all voting interests in the association. Ten percent of the voting interests can call a special meeting for that purpose by giving proper written notice; electronic notice cannot be used to call a recall meeting.¹

If the recall passes, the board must hold its own meeting within five full business days to acknowledge it. The recall takes effect at the close of that board meeting so long as it is facially valid, and the recalled director then has ten full business days to hand over any association records or property in their possession.¹

1
Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 718.112 – Bylaws
2
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Education – DBPR Condominium Information and Resources
3
MyFloridaLicense.com. Education – MyFloridaLicense
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.112 – Bylaws
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 718.111 – The Association
6
Florida Senate. Florida Code 718-111 – The Association