Our Florida-based condominium association board of directors has a history of changing property management companies annually. As the current president of the board of directors, I prefer to address issues directly rather than throw them under the bus. I asked Claude to help me better understand the steps we can take to have a solid working relationship with our management company and ensure the board of directors is managing their areas of concern. Here are some suggestions to consider.

Board Time & Operations Plan

Resident Communications & Common Area Maintenance Oversight with a Portfolio Property Manager

Prepared for: Condominium Association Board of Directors  |  State: Florida

Date: July 22, 2026

1. Purpose

This plan identifies the highest-leverage use of board time given a portfolio property manager whose attention is divided across multiple properties. It draws a clear line between decisions the board must make itself, tasks that belong with the manager, and Florida statutory obligations that carry fines or liability if missed. The goal is not to add board workload — it is to concentrate volunteer hours on the few things only the board can do, and to set up systems so resident communications and common area maintenance run predictably without constant board involvement.

2. The Portfolio Manager Reality

A portfolio manager typically works from the management company’s office and rotates across several communities, rather than sitting on-site full time. Industry norms suggest roughly one on-site visit per week for a mid-size association, with time on any single visit ranging from about 15 minutes to a few hours depending on active projects. This model works well for routine administration but creates two risks the board should manage deliberately:

• Response lag: residents may wait longer for a reply when the manager is off-site or handling another property.
• Maintenance drift: issues that need a trained eye (deferred repairs, slow leaks, corrosion) can go unnoticed between visits unless the board or on-site staff/vendors are doing routine walk-throughs.

Florida law is unambiguous: the manager cannot make decisions on the board’s behalf—the manager executes, the board decides. That division is the organizing principle for everything below.

3. Division of Responsibilities

Use this matrix to decide who owns what. Ambiguity here is the single biggest cause of both slow resident communication and deferred maintenance.

Function	Board Owns	Portfolio Manager Owns
Resident communications	Sets communication policy, tone, and escalation path; approves mass notices on legal/financial/safety matters; handles complaints about the manager or fellow directors	Day-to-day correspondence, routine notices, work-order updates, maintaining the resident contact list and e-mail consents
Common area maintenance	Approves budget/reserve spend, awards vendor contracts, sets inspection cadence, owns milestone/SIRS compliance	Schedules and attends routine inspections, coordinates vendors, tracks work orders to completion, reports status to board
Records & compliance	Ensures required records/website postings exist; completes annual director education	Maintains official records, posts to the association website/portal, retains e-mail/meeting records
Vendors & contracts	Approves contracts above threshold set in bylaws; reviews performance annually	Solicits bids, manages vendor relationships day-to-day, flags renewals

4. Priority 1 — Resident Communications

What the board should personally do

• Set a response-time standard: e.g., acknowledge all resident inquiries within 2 business days, even if the answer is “still working on it.” Put this in writing so residents and the manager share the same expectation.
• Designate one communication channel of record: a single association e-mail/portal, not individual board members’ personal e-mail or texts. Under Fla. Stat. §718.111(12), board e-mails about association business are official records — routing everything through one channel keeps the board compliant and makes records requests manageable.
• Collect e-mail consents properly: Florida law requires unit owners to consent (opt in) before the association can rely on e-mail for official notice. Have the manager complete this collection once, then maintain it going forward.
• Reserve board involvement for: legal notices, assessment/special-assessment communications, safety matters (e.g., milestone inspection findings), and any complaint that implicates the manager or a director.

What to delegate to the portfolio manager

• Routine work-order status updates and maintenance notices
• A recurring newsletter or portal update (monthly is typical) summarizing completed and upcoming work
• First-line response to routine questions (amenities, parking, trash, etc.)

Recommended cadence

Frequency	Action
Weekly	Manager clears the inquiry log; anything unresolved after 2 business days is flagged to the board liaison
Monthly	Newsletter/portal update covering maintenance status, upcoming projects, and any board decisions
Quarterly	Board reviews a log of resident complaints/requests to spot recurring issues (e.g., one building, one vendor)
Annually	Board reviews and re-issues the communication policy; confirms e-mail consent list is current

5. Priority 2 — Common Area Maintenance

What the board should personally do

• Own statutory compliance deadlines. These carry fines and liability the board cannot delegate away:
  • Milestone structural inspections (Fla. Stat. §553.899) — required at 30 years of building age (25 years if within 3 miles of the coast), and every 10 years after. Buildings turning 30 in 2026 generally must complete this by December 31, 2026. Missing the deadline can trigger $500/day fines and code-enforcement referrals. Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) — required for buildings with 3+ habitable stories; boards may no longer vote to waive or reduce SIRS-related reserve funding for fiscal years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
  • Reserve funding — the statutory base threshold is $25,675 for 2026 (adjusted annually); confirm the reserve budget reflects current SIRS findings.
• Approve the inspection/vendor calendar, not just individual repairs — set it once a year so the manager is executing against a known schedule rather than reacting.
• Walk the property periodically (even quarterly) as a board, independent of manager visits — a second set of eyes catches issues a rotating manager may miss between visits.

What to delegate to the portfolio manager

• Routine weekly/biweekly common-area walk-throughs with photo documentation
• Vendor scheduling and coordination for approved contracts
• Work-order tracking from report to completion, with status visible to the board
• Flagging anything that looks like a capital issue (roof, plumbing, structural) for board review — not fixing it unilaterally

Recommended cadence

Frequency	Action
Weekly/biweekly	Manager (or on-site staff/vendor) walks common areas, logs findings and photos
Monthly	Manager reports open work orders and vendor status to the board
Quarterly	Board (or a maintenance committee) does an independent walk-through; reviews reserve spending against plan
Annually	Board reviews/updates the SIRS, reserve budget, and vendor contracts; confirms milestone inspection timeline if applicable
Every 10 years (or 30-yr mark)	Milestone structural inspection per §553.899

6. 2026 Florida Compliance Checklist

Items the board should confirm are current — several changed for 2026:

• Director education: new directors must complete a 4-hour course within 90 days of election/appointment; all directors need 1 hour of continuing education annually to remain eligible.
• Website/portal posting: associations with 25+ units (non-timeshare) must maintain a password-protected website or app for posting official records as of January 1, 2026.
• SIRS reserve funding: owners can no longer vote to waive or reduce SIRS reserve components for budgets adopted on or after January 1, 2026.
• Milestone inspections: confirm building age against the 30-year (or 25-year coastal) trigger; buildings turning 30 in 2026 face a December 31, 2026 deadline.
• Reserve threshold: $25,675 for 2026 — confirm the budget matches.
• E-mail as official record: board e-mails on association business are official records subject to inspection — route business through the association channel, not personal accounts.

This checklist is a starting point, not legal advice — confirm current requirements and deadlines with the association’s attorney, since Florida condo law has changed significantly in recent years and continues to evolve.

7. Where Board Time Delivers the Most Value

Given limited volunteer hours, the board’s time is best spent, in order of priority:

• 1. Statutory compliance decisions (milestone inspections, SIRS, reserves, director education) — highest liability, cannot be delegated.
• 2. Setting policy once (communication protocol, inspection calendar, vendor approval thresholds) so the manager can execute without repeated board sign-off.
• 3. Periodic independent verification (quarterly walk-throughs, quarterly complaint-log review) rather than constant oversight.
• 4. Escalation handling — the manager should filter routine matters; the board should only see what genuinely needs a decision.

Time that should NOT go to the board: drafting routine resident notices, chasing individual work orders, or being the first point of contact for maintenance requests. If the board finds itself doing these regularly, it is a sign the manager’s scope or the communication protocol needs adjustment — not a sign the board needs to work harder.

8. Next Steps

• 1. Adopt a one-page communication policy (channel of record, response-time standard, escalation path) at the next board meeting.
• 2. Confirm milestone inspection and SIRS status/deadlines with the manager and, if needed, the association’s engineer.
• 3. Set the inspection and vendor-review calendar for the next 12 months so the manager can execute against it.
• 4. Confirm the association’s website/portal meets the 2026 posting requirement if it has 25+ units.
• 5. Schedule the board’s own quarterly walk-through, independent of the manager’s routine visits.