Do purely virtual association meetings comply with the law?
The first quarter of the year is when the vast majority of Condominium and Homeowners’ Associations hold their annual members meetings. With the risk of spreading COVID-19 still around until vaccinations get widely distributed, many Associations are continuing to turn to having virtual meetings, rather than in person meetings, utilizing internet services such as Zoom or GoToMeeting.
The question arises whether such pure virtual annual meetings comply with the law.
For Condominium Associations, Section 718.112(2)(d)1., Florida Statutes, provides that: “An annual meeting of the unit owners must be held at the location provided in the association bylaws and, if the bylaws are silent as to the location, the meeting must be held within 45 miles of the condominium property.”
I do not know where the virtual meeting service provider servers are but I would bet they are not within 45 miles of a condominium property in Southwest Florida. Therefore, we encourage clients to set their annual meeting place locally either at the condominium property or at the manager’s office and by virtual login and just let the members know that the only persons who will be permitted at the physical site are Directors and/or Management Personnel and that all members need to attend the meeting via the virtual link.
Instructions for attending via virtual link (or phone call in for those not able to connect by the virtual link) should be clearly set out in the notices of the annual meeting/annual election.
For Homeowners’ Associations, there is no such 45 mile requirement. However, Section 720.306(2), Florida Statutes, provides that: “The association shall hold a meeting of its members annually for the transaction of any and all proper business at a time, date, and place stated in, or fixed in accordance with, the bylaws.”
Most bylaws for Homeowners’ Associations are either silent or require the meeting to be held in the County were the neighborhood is located.
As long as one director or one manager is on their computer at the physical location, there should be no statutory deficiency is such virtual meetings. It is also good to have someone by the door at the physical location to provide any members, who may show up physically at the meeting, with the login information so that they can go back to their unit or home computer or phone to attend the meeting virtually or do so at a location other than the meeting room by their cell phone.
