Florida Condominium Termination Calculator

How this calculator works

Terminating a Florida condominium is one of the highest-stakes governance actions in Chapter 718. It dissolves the association as a real-property regime, transfers the building (typically to a developer assembling a redevelopment site), and distributes the net sale proceeds to unit owners. The statute that governs the procedure — F.S. § 718.117 — was rewritten substantially in the 2007 reform era, refined through several legislative sessions, and most recently amended by HB 1021 (2024) in response to a wave of high-profile Florida termination disputes after Hurricane Ian (2022) and the 2024 hurricane season.

This calculator walks the three pieces of the math that owners, boards, managers, and counsel actually need:

1. The vote thresholds. F.S. § 718.117(3) — the optional-termination path — requires affirmative approval by at least 80% of the total voting interests, with no more than 5% rejecting. Both percentages operate on the full voting-interest denominator, not on votes cast.
2. The distribution math. F.S. § 718.117(11) distributes the net sale proceeds (sale price minus association debts minus termination costs) to unit owners. The default allocation is each unit's share of common expenses; the plan may propose an alternative allocation if approved.
3. The unit owner's net. Each owner's share of distributable proceeds, minus the unit's mortgage payoff at closing, is the owner's net dollar outcome. When the mortgage exceeds the share of proceeds, the unit owner is underwater in the termination — a scenario HB 1021 (2024) explicitly addresses through expanded judicial-review remedies under § 718.117(13).

The calculator also flags two procedural facts that produce most of the contested terminations: the mortgagee-consent requirement under § 718.117(4)(b), and the procedural windows (60 days for owner review of the plan before the vote; 90 days post-recording to commence judicial review).

The three statutory paths to terminate

F.S. § 718.117 provides three distinct termination paths. The math and procedure differ on each.

Optional termination — § 718.117(3). The most-traveled path. A termination plan is approved by 80% of voting interests with no more than 5% rejecting. This is the path the calculator's vote math addresses. Nearly every Florida termination in the 2020s has traveled this route — typically driven by a developer assembling a redevelopment site (oceanfront parcels in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and the Florida Keys) and offering a premium over per-unit retail.

Economic-waste / impossibility termination — § 718.117(2). Triggered when reconstruction after a casualty is not economically feasible. A common path after total-loss hurricane events. Requires a vote of the owners and, in contested cases, judicial confirmation that reconstruction is in fact not feasible. The threshold and the procedural mechanics differ from § 718.117(3), and the calculator's vote math does not directly apply.

Declarant termination during the original declaration window. A vanishingly rare path that requires the original developer's right to terminate to be reserved in the declaration and to remain unexpired. Almost never relevant in Florida buildings 10+ years past initial sale.

The calculator focuses on the § 718.117(3) optional-termination path because that is the path that produces nearly every owner-facing termination question in Florida.

The 80% / 5% threshold structure

The two thresholds of § 718.117(3) operate against the full count of voting interests in the association, not against votes cast.

For a 100-unit building, 80% approval means at least 80 yes votes (the calculator uses ceiling math, so a 101-unit building requires 81). The 5% objector cap means no more than 5 affirmative no votes (the calculator uses floor math, so a 6th objector blocks the termination on a 100-unit building).

A subtle but consequential feature: abstentions and non-votes are excluded from both numerators. They do not count toward 80% approval, and they do not count toward the 5% objector cap. An owner who fails to return a ballot within the plan voting window is treated as having neither approved nor rejected the plan. The practical effect is that an apathetic ownership base favors the plan — a campaign opposing termination must mobilize affirmative no votes from at least 6% (on a 100-unit building, 6 of 100) of voting interests to push past the 5-objector cap.

This is the single most-misunderstood feature of § 718.117. Owners who oppose termination often assume that "doing nothing" sends a no signal. It does not. The statutory denominator runs against total voting interests, but the objector cap runs only against affirmative rejections.

The distribution math: net proceeds and per-unit shares

F.S. § 718.117(11) distributes the net sale proceeds to unit owners. The net is:

Net distributable = Sale FMV − Total association debts − Termination costs

Association debts include operating-line balances, reserve-funded loans, unpaid vendor invoices, and any judgment liens against the association. Termination costs include legal fees (drafting and recording the plan, defending judicial-review actions), broker commission on the bulk sale, appraisal costs, and the wind-down administration. Florida termination engagements in the 2024–2026 market typically run $150K–$500K for a mid-size building.

The default allocation per § 718.117(11) is each unit's share of common expenses as set out in the declaration's Exhibit B / Schedule B. For an equal-share 100-unit building, that's 1% per unit. For a building with weighted shares (penthouse units owning more, smaller units owning less), the allocation follows the recorded percentages.

A termination plan may propose an alternative allocation — for example, square-footage-weighted, view-weighted, or appraised-value-weighted. The alternative must be disclosed in the plan, approved by the requisite vote, and is one of the issues most likely to draw a F.S. § 718.117(13) judicial-review challenge. The calculator's math accepts whatever percentage the user enters; verify the plan's allocation methodology against the recorded declaration.

The unit owner's net: the underwater scenario

The calculator's primary output is the unit owner's net after mortgage payoff — the share of distributable proceeds minus the unit's mortgage payoff at closing. A positive number is a check at closing; a negative number is an underwater position, where the mortgage exceeds the share of proceeds.

Worked example — 100-unit condo, no mortgage on this unit:

• FMV: $30,000,000
• Total debt: $1,000,000
• Termination costs: $200,000
• Net distributable: $28,800,000
• Unit's share (1% equal share): $288,000
• Mortgage payoff: $0
• Net to owner: $288,000 (positive — owner receives a check at closing)

Worked example — same building, owner with a $350,000 mortgage payoff:

• Net distributable: $28,800,000
• Unit's share (1% equal share): $288,000
• Mortgage payoff: $350,000
• Net to owner: −$62,000 (negative — underwater)

The underwater owner has three avenues. First, vote no and try to add to the 5% objector cap to block the plan. Second, negotiate with the lender for a deficiency waiver or modified payoff — Florida lenders frequently negotiate in termination scenarios because foreclosure on a terminated condo unit is procedurally awkward. Third, commence a F.S. § 718.117(13) judicial-review action within the 90-day post-recording window to challenge the FMV or the allocation methodology.

HB 1021 (2024) tightened § 718.117(13) specifically to give underwater owners a clearer remedy. The court can order an independent appraisal, can review the plan's allocation methodology, and in extreme cases can decline to confirm the plan. The remedy is real but procedurally demanding — engage Florida community-association counsel during the 60-day pre-vote owner-review window, not after the vote.

Mortgagee consent — the closing-mechanics problem

F.S. § 718.117(3) does not require mortgagee consent for the vote to pass. But F.S. § 718.117(4)(b) requires the termination plan to identify each outstanding mortgage, and at closing each mortgagee must release the lien against its unit for title to convey to the bulk buyer. An objecting mortgagee can stall closing on the affected unit indefinitely.

The practical pattern: most mortgagees release on payoff through the closing agent, with no friction. The friction arises in two scenarios — an underwater unit where payoff exceeds the share of distributable proceeds (the lender may refuse to release without owner contribution to the shortfall), and an unusual mortgage product (private-money, hard-money, or institutional with adversarial servicing).

The calculator flags the mortgagee-consent issue as a unit-level closing-mechanics problem, not an association-level vote-threshold issue. The two are distinct: the vote can pass even with hostile mortgagees, but the affected units may not be able to convey on the originally-planned timeline.

Procedural windows

Two windows drive the calendar of a Florida termination:

60-day pre-vote owner review — F.S. § 718.117(4), as amended by HB 1021 (2024), requires the termination plan to be furnished to each unit owner with a statutory review window. The current standard is 60 days. Material amendments to the plan during the window can restart the clock. Engage counsel during this window, not after the vote.

90-day post-recording judicial-review window — F.S. § 718.117(13). An owner who wishes to challenge the FMV, the allocation, or the procedure must commence a judicial-review action within this window after the plan is recorded. Miss the window and the remedy is gone. The clock runs from recording date, not from closing date.

The full procedural calendar looks roughly like: plan delivery to owners → 60-day owner review → vote → plan recording → 90-day judicial-review window → closing. From plan delivery to closing typically runs six to twelve months on a contested termination, three to six on an uncontested one.

What the calculator does not do

This calculator is a planning and analysis tool. It does not:

• Verify the underlying facts. It takes the FMV, the debt figure, the cost figure, and the unit's share percentage at face value. The association's records, the closing agent's payoff letters, and the recorded declaration are the binding sources.
• Apply to economic-waste or declarant terminations. The vote math addresses § 718.117(3) optional termination. The two other paths have different mechanics.
• Replace counsel for contested cases. Termination disputes that reach F.S. § 718.117(13) judicial review involve procedural complexity beyond a calculator's scope. Engage Florida community-association counsel within the 60-day pre-vote window.
• Compute tax consequences. A termination distribution may produce capital gain or loss to the unit owner. The tax math is fact-specific and the calculator does not address it; consult a Florida-licensed CPA.

How this page is maintained

The 80% / 5% thresholds of F.S. § 718.117(3) have been stable across the 2024 and 2025 legislative sessions. HB 1021 (2024) materially amended the procedural side — owner-review windows, judicial-review remedies, plan-disclosure detail — and we have folded those changes into the calculator and this page. We monitor each Florida legislative session and re-stamp the page within the quarter after any substantive change.

Last reviewed: 2026-05-15 against F.S. § 718.117 (all subsections), HB 1021 (2024).