How do I know if my HOA is properly funding reserves?
Use the free tool — HOA Budget Reader
What this guide covers
You got a proposed budget, or you're looking at last year's financial report, and you want to know if your HOA is putting away enough money for the roof, the roads, or whatever your community's big shared items are. This page explains what Florida law actually requires and what it leaves up to your own community. It does not tell you whether your reserves are "enough" — nobody outside your association can answer that from a budget alone.
Reserves depend on your own documents
How your community funds reserves — whether it's required at all, how the amount is calculated, whether owners can vote to waive or reduce it — depends on your association's own declaration and bylaws. This guide can't read those documents for you and can't guess what they say. Read your declaration and bylaws before you assume anything about what your board is required to set aside.
What the law does say
- Fla. Stat. 720.303 covers the association's budgets, financial reporting, and official records — including your right, as a member, to inspect the records behind the numbers.
- Fla. Stat. 720.3086 is the association's financial report requirement — what the association has to produce each year.
- The association has 10 business days to make official records available after a written request. That's how you can go see the invoices, contracts, or reserve study behind a single budget line, under 720.303.
Questions worth asking before the vote
- Does the declaration or bylaws require reserves for specific items, and if so, which ones?
- Is there a reserve study, and when was it last updated?
- If a reserve line looks small or missing compared to the assets the community owns, ask the board to explain it — don't assume it's wrong, and don't assume it's fine.
- Can you make a written records request under 720.303 to see the backup for a line item before the meeting?
If this isn't your situation
This guide is built around Chapter 720, Florida's homeowners' association law. If you live in a condominium, a cooperative, a timeshare, or a mobile home park, Chapter 720 is not your statute — condominiums are governed by Chapter 718 instead — and you should not rely on anything here. And if what you actually have is a violation notice or a fine rather than a budget, that's a different situation; use the HOA violation responder tool instead.
What this guide can't tell you
This is not legal or financial advice, and it is not an audit. It cannot tell you whether your reserves are correctly funded for your specific community, and it cannot detect misuse of funds. For anything contested, talk to a Florida community association attorney.
What to do next
Paste your proposed budget or reserve schedule into the free tool. It reads your own document and your own numbers — not a generic example — and explains, line by line, where the money goes and what each reserve line is meant to cover, along with questions worth raising before the vote.
HOA Budget Reader reads what you type and explains Florida Chapter 720 in plain language. It can be wrong, it is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for reading your community's own declaration and bylaws, and it is not an audit — it cannot detect misuse of funds. For anything contested, talk to a Florida community association attorney.