In a few short months, the 2025 hurricane season will be upon us, and it is important to start planning ahead.
For many years, the Condominium Act provided that each board of a residential condominium was required to adopt hurricane “shutter” specifications including color, style, and other factors deemed relevant by the board. The Homeowners’ Association Act did not have a similar provision.
However, during the 2024 legislative session, changes were made to both the Condominium Act and the Homeowners’ Associations Act to require the adoption of hurricane “protection” specifications (not just hurricane shutter specifications). The changed wording was generally viewed as the legislature’s acknowledgement of impact windows and impact doors as effective hurricane protections.
Broadly speaking, the purpose of having hurricane protection specifications is to provide owners with guidance as to the color, style, design, materials, and appearance of hurricane protections that will be permitted in an association. Besides statutory compliance, associations will want to adopt these specifications to position themselves to use their architectural control authority (where applicable) to disapprove of the installation of nonconforming storm protections.
Condominiums
The Condominium Act defines hurricane protections to mean “hurricane shutters, impact glass, code-compliant windows or doors, and other code-compliant hurricane protection products used to preserve and protect the condominium property or association property.” The board may not refuse to approve the installation or replacement of hurricane protection by a unit owner which conforms to the specifications adopted by the board. However, a board may require the unit owner to adhere to an existing unified building scheme regarding the external appearance of the condominium.
Homeowners’ Associations
The Homeowners’ Association Act provides that the term “hurricane protection” includes, but is not limited to, “roof systems recognized by the Florida Building Code which meet ASCE 7-22 standards, permanent fixed storm shutters, roll-down track storm shutters, impact-resistant windows and doors, polycarbonate panels, reinforced garage doors, erosion controls, exterior fixed generators, fuel storage tanks, and other hurricane protection products used to preserve and protect the structures or improvements on a parcel governed by the association.” The board or any architectural other such similar committee may not deny an application for the installation, enhancement, or replacement of hurricane protection by a parcel owner which conforms to the specifications adopted by the board or committee. The board or committee may require a parcel owner to adhere to an existing unified building scheme regarding the external appearance of the structure or other improvement on the parcel.
What Does This Mean?
If your association has not adopted hurricane protection specifications, it should do so right away. While the absence of specifications is not a license for owners to install any hurricane protections they desire, as time passes and the 2024 statutory changes become less recent, it will become more challenging for associations to justify why they have not provided owners with written guidance as to the protections that will be allowed.
Furthermore, many associations will want to utilize hurricane protection specifications to ensure that hurricane protections are uniform and do not result in architectural asymmetry. Also, in condominiums, because hurricane protections will likely be attached to the common elements, the association also has an interest in ensuring that the installations will not cause damage to the common elements. For these and other reasons, having a written set of specifications for hurricane protection is an important task for associations to complete. Questions about how to go about drafting and adopting hurricane protection specifications should be directed to legal counsel.
