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Article
Courtesy of Local 10 News WPLG
By Forrest Saunders
Published December 18, 2025
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s long-simmering fight over
homeowners associations is hitting a turning point. A sweeping reform bill
was officially filed this week, answering months of growing calls from
residents and protestors who say the system is broken.
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After months of rising
frustration from homeowners, news investigations, and a
rally outside the Capitol, Florida’s HOA reform debate now
has a bill number, HB 657.
Filed by Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, a Miami Republican, the
32-page package would overhaul how HOA and condo disputes
are handled, create a new community association court and,
for the first time, give homeowners a legal pathway to
dissolve their HOA.
“This is going to be one of the largest HOA reform packages
of our state’s history. We’re completely reinventing the
wheel when it comes to HOA and condominium disputes,” Porras
said.
Porras says the bill directly responds to the outcry from
residents across Florida who say they’ve been trapped by
abusive boards, runaway fines, or overwhelming legal costs.
Many of the concerns, he said, often directed at the state’s
main enforcement agency, DBPR. |
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Aerial view of southwest Miami-Dade's The Hammocks
area.
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“Homeowners are going to have the ability to petition
that court and be able to sue their HOA without having to deal with the
bureaucracy of the state,” he said.
If homeowners want to eliminate their HOA entirely, the bill outlines strict
requirements: 20% of homeowners must support a dissolution petition, then
two-thirds must vote to approve it. A judge would then review a final plan
before an HOA could be legally wound down.
The filing comes just weeks after Paul and Brandy Miller, a Tampa Bay couple
leading the HOA Reform League – Florida, rallied frustrated homeowners
outside the Capitol. The couple delivered lawmakers a thick stack of letters
from residents who say current laws offer them little protection.
“We’re here to have a voice,” Paul Miller said. “To the all the people that
are out there right now that are on our social networks, that are cheering
us on via text messages and posts on our Facebook group— they’re saying, you
know, ‘Yay, thank you so much for being our voice.’”
But industry leaders aren’t sold. While they’re monitoring the bill, they’ve
previously warned that major overhauls may be unpopular and unnecessary.
Polling cited by management groups shows 80% of HOA residents enjoy living
in their communities and believe the benefits are worth the dues. They argue
the real solution is enforcing existing laws — not dismantling associations
or creating new systems.
“We think enforcement is the right answer, not more laws that may or may not
get enforced,” said Mark Anderson, executive director of the Chief Executive
Officers of Management Companies (CEOMC). “To say nothing of, obviously, the
legal contracts that it would violate to try to dissolve and ban a form of
living that people have chosen to form for themselves.”
Porras maintains he has support lined up in both legislative chambers and
says the bill reflects years of homeowner complaints and a system that, in
his words, “has failed too many.”
“I do think that once HOAs or HOA board members start being sued or start
having their day in court or have a judge subpoena them, things are going to
start to change,” he said.
HB 657 now heads to committee assignments, with its next hurdle being
securing a hearing date. Lawmakers return to Tallahassee on January 13th.
Meanwhile, the Millers plan to keep the pressure on. They have another rally
scheduled in Miami this February and say more events are coming as the
session unfolds.
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