Florida has two statutes governing estoppel certificates for community associations.
Which one applies depends on whether the community is organized as a homeowners
association under Chapter 720 or a condominium under Chapter 718.
Fla. Stat. §720.30851
Florida Homeowners' Association Act. Applies to residential
HOAs governed under Chapter 720. 19 required disclosure items
covering assessments, violations, transfer fees, insurance,
reserves, and governance. $299 standard fee cap. 3-day buyer
rescission (§720.401).
Fla. Stat. §718.116
Florida Condominium Act. Applies to condominiums governed
under Chapter 718. 19 required disclosure items with parallel
structure to the HOA Act. $299 standard fee cap. 15-day buyer
rescission (§718.503).
Common Requirements
Both statutes: 10 business day delivery deadline, 30-day
certificate validity, three-tier fee caps ($299 standard /
$179 delinquent / $100 expedited), open violations disclosure.
30-day validity. Florida estoppel certificates expire 30 days
after issuance. If a closing is delayed past the validity window, a new certificate
must be requested. CommunityPay tracks validity dates and flags certificates
approaching expiration.
The statutory items that must be included in each estoppel certificate,
mapped to the specific subsection of law. This is the checklist title officers
and board members use to verify completeness.
(1)(a)
Assessment paid-through date and next assessment due date
(1)(b)
All assessments, fees, and other charges levied against the parcel, itemized
(1)(c)
Approved special assessments that are scheduled to be levied
(1)(d)
Assessments to be levied against the parcel in the next 12 months
(1)(e)
Capital contribution or transfer fees due upon sale or transfer
(1)(f)
Other fees payable by the parcel owner to the association
(1)(g)
Outstanding violations of record against the parcel
(1)(h)
Whether board approval is required for transfer of the parcel
(1)(i)
Right of first refusal and whether it has been exercised
(1)(j)
Other associations or entities serving the property
(1)(k)
Insurance coverage description and contact information for insurance agent
(1)(l)
Amount of reserves and designation for specified projects
(1)(m)
Current year operating budget
(1)(n)
Pending litigation to which the association is a party
(1)(o)
Declaration, articles, bylaws, rules, and all amendments
(1)(p)
Most recent financial report or balance sheet
(1)(q)
Parking space designation for the parcel
(1)(r)
Restrictions on use, lease, or rental of the parcel
(2)
Certificate validity period and preparation date
(8)(a)
Assessment paid-through date and next assessment due date
(8)(b)
All assessments, fees, and charges levied against the unit, itemized
(8)(c)
Approved special assessments that are scheduled to be levied
(8)(d)
Assessments to be levied against the unit in the next 12 months
(8)(e)
Capital contribution or transfer fees due upon sale or transfer
(8)(f)
Other fees payable by the unit owner to the association
(8)(g)
Outstanding violations of record against the unit
(8)(h)
Whether board approval is required for transfer of the unit
(8)(i)
Right of first refusal and whether it has been exercised
(8)(j)
Other associations or entities serving the property
(8)(k)
Insurance coverage description and contact information for insurance agent
(8)(l)
Amount of reserves and designation for specified projects
(8)(m)
Current year operating budget
(8)(n)
Pending litigation to which the association is a party
(8)(o)
Declaration, articles, bylaws, rules, and all amendments
(8)(p)
Most recent financial report or balance sheet
(8)(q)
Parking space or storage unit designation for the unit
(8)(r)
Restrictions on use, lease, or rental of the unit
(9)
Certificate validity period and preparation date
Florida requires disclosure of open violations — outstanding violations
of record against the parcel or unit. CommunityPay pulls this from the ViolationRequest
model, surfacing unresolved violations that could affect the closing.
Most Florida associations still produce estoppel certificates by hand —
pulling numbers from accounting software, hunting for insurance certificates,
checking violation logs, and copying it all into a Word document. The 10-day
deadline makes this a recurring fire drill that creates real liability.
|
Manual Process |
System-Generated |
| Turnaround |
3–7 business days |
Minutes |
| Data accuracy |
Depends on who prepares it |
Live from ledger |
| Statute mapping |
Manual checklist, easy to miss items |
Every item mapped to subsection |
| Validity tracking |
Manually calculated, easy to miss |
30-day expiration enforced, alerts on approach |
| Verifiability |
None — Word doc or scanned PDF |
SHA-256 content hash, QR verification |
| Risk flags |
Not surfaced |
Deterministic (stale data, delinquency, violations) |
| Audit trail |
Email chain, maybe |
Immutable packet with event log |
Sample in development. The Florida estoppel certificate follows the same
institutional packet format used across all CommunityPay compliance artifacts,
adapted for Florida-specific statutory requirements.
- Cover page with compliance profile and statutory reference
- Compliance matrix showing status of all 19 required items
- Assessment paid-through date and itemized charges
- Open violations disclosure from ViolationRequest model
- Transfer fee and board approval requirements
- 30-day validity date prominently displayed
- Risk flags panel with severity-based indicators
- SHA-256 content hash and verification section
- Branded footer with QR verification code
Every certificate includes a SHA-256 content hash and verification URL.
Recipients can independently confirm the document has not been altered
after generation.
From request to delivery. Title companies can submit requests via API or form.
The board reviews disclosures before generation. The certificate is generated
from live ledger data and delivered with an HMAC-signed callback.
01
Request received.
Title company submits via API (POST /api/v1/rc/request/),
public form, or board initiates directly. Property address matched to HOA and unit.
02
Board review.
Request appears in the Vault RC Requests queue. Board reviews
disclosure items and can set overrides for items requiring
board-confirmed information (litigation, violations, transfer approvals).
03
Board approves.
Disclosure modal shows all items that will be included.
Board confirms, and the system pulls live data from every
relevant model in the ledger.
04
Certificate generated.
Compliance profile selected, snapshot assembled, compliance check
computed, risk flags evaluated, PDF rendered with branded footer
and verification QR. SHA-256 content hash computed from canonical JSON.
30-day validity date stamped.
05
Delivered.
Requestor notified. If a callback URL was provided, HMAC-SHA256 signed
POST delivered with exponential backoff (5 retries). Certificate
available in the Vault with full event log.
Florida has both statute profiles in production.
The same compliance-profile-driven architecture supports six states today.
| State |
Statute |
Profile |
Items |
Status |
| WA |
RCW 64.34.425 |
Condominium Act |
20 |
Production |
| WA |
RCW 64.90.640 |
WUCIOA |
26 |
Production |
| CA |
Cal. Civ. Code §4525-4530 |
Davis-Stirling Act |
15 |
Active |
| OR |
ORS 94.670 |
Planned Community Act |
13 |
Active |
| FL |
Fla. Stat. §720.30851 |
HOA Act |
19 |
Active |
| FL |
Fla. Stat. §718.116 |
Condominium Act |
19 |
Active |
| TX |
Tex. Prop. Code §207 |
HOA Act |
10 |
Active |
| TX |
Tex. Prop. Code §82.157 |
Condominium Act |
10 |
Active |
Profile-driven, not template-driven. Each compliance profile defines
required items, statutory references, fee caps, delivery deadlines, and mandatory disclosures.
Adding a new state means adding a new profile — the generation engine, PDF rendering,
and verification infrastructure are shared.
An estoppel certificate is only as trustworthy as the data behind it.
When the certificate is generated from the same system of record that
processes payments, tracks reserves, and enforces governance controls,
every figure is verifiable back to the source transaction.