HB 657 Clears House Commerce: Ending Presuit Mediation for Associations and Creating Community Association Courts

The House version of this year’s major community association bill would change how homeowners’ association and condominium disputes are resolved. On February 26, 2026, the Florida House Commerce Committee took up HB 657, a bill that would eliminate presuit mediation requirements for community associations and authorize each circuit court to create a community association court program ². The Commerce Committee staff analysis, dated March 3, 2026, describes the fourth committee substitute, which had earlier been approved by the Housing, Agriculture & Tourism Subcommittee (16 to 0), the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee (14 to 1) and the Budget Committee (24 to 0) ¹.

Presuit mediation today

Under current law, certain disputes between an HOA and a parcel owner must go to presuit mediation before they are filed in court ¹. The covered categories include covenant enforcement fights, such as conflicts about how a parcel or the common areas are used or altered, along with amendments to the governing documents, meetings of the board, its committees or the membership (election and recall disputes excepted), and owners’ access to official records ¹. The proceedings follow the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and are privileged and confidential to the same extent as court-ordered mediation ¹.

The statute also has teeth. A party who fails to respond to a mediation demand, agree on a mediator, pay fees on time or appear without the mediator’s approval allows the other side to proceed in court and seek the costs and fees of the mediation, and a party who refuses to participate is barred from recovering fees and costs in later litigation over the dispute ¹.

What the bill would do

According to the staff analysis, the bill would:

• Eliminate presuit mediation requirements for community associations ¹.
• Authorize community association court programs. A circuit court could create a program, presided over by at least one designated judge, with jurisdiction over disputes under the Condominium Act, Cooperative Act and Homeowners’ Association Act ¹. The program is described as an optional, voluntary process and an alternative to mediation or arbitration ¹. It could enforce owners’ statutory rights, compel compliance by associations and boards, order dissolution of an association, appoint a termination trustee, impose civil penalties, issue injunctions and award fees and costs ¹.
• Add judgeships. The bill would create two judgeships in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit (Miami-Dade) and one each in the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Circuits to implement the programs ¹.
• Allow HOA termination. Owners holding at least 50% of the voting interests could petition for a plan of termination, which would need approval by two-thirds of the total voting interests and acceptance by the court within 45 days ¹.
• Create a duty of loyalty. HOA directors, officers and committee members would owe a duty of loyalty, would have to disclose conflicts in writing and could not participate in the related discussion or vote ¹.
• Address “Kaufman” language. New associations would have to include language subjecting them to current and future statutes, and existing associations would have to vote on whether to add it ¹.

To carry out the bill, the House’s proposed budget would fund twelve positions with $1,000,000 in general revenue plus $1,210,396 drawn from the State Courts Revenue Trust Fund, contingent on passage ¹.

What it could mean for association disputes

If enacted, the bill would remove a mandatory step that now brings many HOA disputes to the table before suit. Nothing in the analysis describes a prohibition on mediation, and the court program itself is framed as an alternative that parties may choose ¹. Voluntary mediation before or after filing would remain an option. The question for boards, managers and owners is whether a new court program, available only where a circuit creates one, will resolve disputes faster or at lower cost than the current process ¹.

The bill was still moving through the House when the analysis was published, and its final form in both chambers remained uncertain ¹.

Tony Roca, a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, mediates HOA and condominium disputes, including presuit mediation under section 720.311, Florida Statutes. Boards, managers, owners and their counsel can check his live availability and book a mediation by Zoom statewide.