HOA and condo association loans in Florida
We place loans for Florida community associations, from $100,000 with no set maximum, and your board pays nothing unless the loan closes. What Florida requires of you first depends on whether you are a condominium or a homeowners association, because the state treats the two very differently.
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Which Florida rules apply to your association
Florida puts condominiums and homeowners associations under different chapters, and the difference decides whether a state inspection and reserve regime reaches you at all.
Chapter 718 governs condominiums. A residential condominium association carries a structural integrity reserve study, and a building in the condominium or cooperative form carries a milestone inspection, both on deadlines written into statute.
Chapter 720 governs homeowners associations. Neither requirement reaches them. Reserves are something a Chapter 720 budget may include, not something the state obliges you to hold.
Both are set out below. If you are not certain which applies to you, your declaration will say.
Condominium and cooperative associations, Chapter 718
A building that is three habitable stories or more in height, as determined by the Florida Building Code, and that is subject in whole or in part to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership, must have a milestone inspection.
The first is due by 31 December of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, based on the date the certificate of occupancy was issued, and every 10 years after that. Where local circumstances warrant it, including proximity to salt water, the local enforcement agency may require the inspection at 25 years instead.
The requirement does not reach a single-family, two-family, three-family or four-family dwelling with three or fewer habitable stories above ground.
A residential condominium association must have a structural integrity reserve study completed at least every 10 years after the condominium's creation, for each building on the condominium property that is three habitable stories or higher in height as determined by the Florida Building Code.
Fla. Stat. § 553.899 and § 718.112(2)(g), read 18 September 2026.
How Florida lets you pay for the work
Reserves may be funded by regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit, or loans. A special assessment, line of credit or loan used that way requires the approval of a majority vote of the total voting interests of the association.
An association that must have a structural integrity reserve study may also secure a line of credit or a loan to fund capital expenses required by a milestone inspection or by the study itself. Once that facility is in place, funding from it must be immediately available for the board to draw on for required repair, maintenance or replacement expenses, without further approval by the members.
That last point is what makes a facility useful against a deadline. A board that has to call a members meeting before every draw cannot move at the speed an inspection report asks for.
Fla. Stat. § 718.112(2)(f)2.c.(I) and (II), read 18 September 2026.
Homeowners associations, Chapter 720
Florida's milestone inspection and structural integrity reserve study requirements do not apply to you. The milestone inspection reaches buildings in the condominium or cooperative form of ownership, and the reserve study requirement sits in the Condominium Act.
What Chapter 720 says about reserves is permissive. Your budget may include reserve accounts for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance the association is responsible for. Where reserves are established under the statute, how they are determined, maintained and waived follows the rules in that section.
So for a Florida HOA the question is not what the state requires of you. It is what your own declaration requires, and what a lender will ask to see. A lender will generally want a current reserve study whether or not Florida obliges you to hold one, and a board that can show a funding plan presents a stronger file than one that cannot.
Fla. Stat. § 720.303(6), read 18 September 2026.
Florida communities we have funded
Solar farm for clubhouse and street lighting
- Loan amount
- $6.4 million
- Structure
- Line of credit → 15-year term
- Community
- Groveland, Florida, 1,147 units
Retaining wall replacement
- Loan amount
- $950,000
- Structure
- 7-year fixed rate
- Community
- Boca Raton, Florida, 278 units
“It was clear from the start that the expertise provided by HOA Loan Services was indispensable during the long process of securing a loan.”
Boards also ask
Should we take a loan or levy a lump sum special assessment?
They fund the same project and feel completely different to owners. A lump sum special assessment asks every owner for a large payment at once, which is where boards meet the hardest resistance and where owners on fixed incomes get hurt. A loan spreads the same cost over years, so the monthly impact per unit is far smaller, and it does not depend on every owner having cash available. The tradeoff is interest: over the life of the loan you pay more in total. Some communities are better served by a phased project or a smaller assessment paired with a smaller loan. We model all of them side by side so your board decides with the same numbers in front of everyone.
Why do associations borrow money?
To fund major capital projects, cover emergency repairs, or avoid a lump sum special assessment that asks every owner for a large payment at once. Waiting is also a decision — deferred work rarely gets cheaper, and an unsafe condition can force the timeline for you.
How do we get an HOA loan?
Five steps. You tell us about the project and send your financials; we review what your association can realistically support and confirm your borrowing authority; we take your project to the lenders most likely to approve a community like yours and bring back competing proposals; your board selects one and completes the approval process your documents require; the loan closes and funds draw as the work proceeds. Most boards spend a few hours of their own time across the whole process. From application to closing it usually runs 30 to 90 days.