HOA Fees Florida

HOA, condo association and CDD are three different bills

Florida buyers usually hear one word, HOA, for three separate things. A homeowners association under Chapter 720 of the Florida Statutes runs a subdivision of houses or townhomes. It maintains common areas, enforces the deed restrictions and sometimes owns a clubhouse, gate or private roads. A condominium association under Chapter 718 runs a building where you own the unit and share ownership of everything else, including the roof, the elevators and the structure.

A Community Development District is a third layer. It is a special taxing district, usually created by a developer to pay for roads, water and sewer lines in a new community, and its assessment appears on the county property tax bill instead of a monthly invoice. Many newer subdivisions have both a CDD and an HOA, so the total monthly cost can be higher than the HOA number on the listing.

What a condo fee pays for compared with a subdivision fee

The biggest gap between house and condo dues is the building. A subdivision HOA rarely owns anything that a hurricane can tear apart, so its budget is landscaping, a pool, management and a small reserve. A condo association insures and maintains the entire structure. Its budget typically includes:

• Master insurance policy. Wind and property coverage for the building, often the largest line item in coastal towers.
• Reserves. Money set aside for the roof, painting, waterproofing, elevators and structural items.
• Staff and contracts. Front desk, security, valet, pest control, elevator service, bulk cable or internet.
• Utilities. Water, sewer, trash and common electricity are often included in condo dues.

So a higher condo fee is partly money you would spend anyway as a house owner on your own roof and insurance. When I compare a condo to a house for a client, I add the house's own insurance premium and a roof reserve to the house side before comparing monthly totals.

Subdivision dues have their own swing factors. A staffed guard gate, a clubhouse with a fitness room, private roads the association must repave, lake and pond maintenance, and bundled services such as lawn care or exterior painting all push the number up. A master-planned community may also have two associations, a master HOA and a neighborhood sub-association, each with its own fee. Ask the listing agent for every recurring charge in writing, including any one-time capital contribution due at closing, which many Florida communities collect from each new buyer.

Why Florida condo dues jumped after 2022

The most common search on this topic is why fees are so high, and for condos the answer is mostly legal and insurance-driven. After the Surfside collapse, the 2022 law known as SB 4-D and later changes required milestone inspections for condo buildings of three or more habitable stories, starting by December 31 of the year a building turns 30, or 25 if the local building official requires it, then every 10 years.

The same rules require a Structural Integrity Reserve Study every 10 years. For budgets adopted on or after December 31, 2024, owners can no longer vote to waive or reduce those structural reserves. Many associations that had underfunded reserves for years had to raise dues sharply, levy special assessments, or both, at the same time as building insurance costs rose.

Some of that shows in values. Zillow's index puts the typical Florida condo down 3.9% over the past year, against a 0.9% dip for all homes. Higher carrying costs are one reason condo buyers have been more cautious.

Documents that tell you whether the fee is enough

A low fee is not automatically good news. An association can keep dues low by skipping reserves, which usually means a large special assessment later. Before you commit, I ask for these:

• Current budget with the reserve schedule, showing what each component is funded at.
• The SIRS and milestone inspection reports for a condo building that requires them, plus any repair plan.
• Board and owner meeting minutes for the last 12 to 24 months. Talk of loans, assessments or lawsuits shows up here first.
• Insurance declarations page for the master policy, including the hurricane deductible, which the association pays and may pass to owners.
• Estoppel certificate. This shows the exact dues owed on the unit, any assessments already approved and whether the seller is current.

For a resale condo, Florida buyers can cancel within 7 days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, after receiving the association documents. For a subdivision HOA, Chapter 720 requires a disclosure summary, and a buyer who did not get it before signing has a short window to cancel. Use those windows to actually read.

How dues change what you can borrow

Lenders count HOA and condo dues in your monthly debt, the same way they count the mortgage payment, taxes and insurance. Every $100 a month of dues is $1,200 a year that the lender treats as housing cost, which lowers the loan amount you qualify for. A buyer approved for a certain price on a house with no association can find that the same approval buys a cheaper condo once a high fee is added.

For condos, the building itself also has to pass the lender's review. A building with weak reserves, heavy delinquencies or open structural issues can be classed as non-warrantable, which narrows your loan options. Ask your lender to run the condo questionnaire early in the deal, not after the inspection period.

Where fees tend to be higher across the state

Fees follow buildings and amenities more than counties, but the pattern is predictable. Expect the highest dues in high-rise coastal markets where the building and its insurance are expensive: Zillow puts the typical condo at $460,054 in Miami Beach and $620,883 in Sunny Isles Beach, where condos dominate the market. Gated golf communities with staffed gates and clubhouses usually sit in the middle to high range. Inland subdivisions with few shared amenities sit at the low end.

Statewide, Zillow shows all home values up 18.6% over five years. Dues do not follow a home's value, so a modest villa in an older building can carry a larger fee than a newer house worth twice as much. Compare total monthly cost, not price alone, and if you want a shortlist filtered by realistic dues as well as price, that is the easiest place to start.