HOA Approval for Pavers in Orlando (FL Statute 720)

Why HOA Approval Is Separate From Your Permit

This is the first thing to understand: clearing the government permit does not clear your HOA, and vice versa. They are two independent approvals. Florida Statute Chapter 720, the Homeowners’ Association Act, governs planned communities with deed restrictions and a mandatory HOA. Where the community’s declaration provides for it, the HOA has authority over the external appearance of lot improvements, including a paver driveway, walkway, or pool deck. So a paver project in an HOA community typically needs both the Orange County or City of Orlando permit and the HOA’s architectural sign-off.

In many Orlando-area master-planned communities, Lake Nona, Baldwin Park, the gated Windermere neighborhoods, the architectural review is the longer of the two, so it pays to start it early.

What the ARC Can and Cannot Control

The architectural review committee has real authority, but it is not unlimited, and Statute 720.3035 draws the line.

If you are denied, you are entitled to know exactly which rule your application failed.

The 2026 Change That Helps You: Permit Not Required First

Here is a genuinely useful update most homeowners and even some contractors do not know about yet. Effective July 1, 2026, House Bill 803 amended Statute 720.3035 to address a common headache: many exterior changes that need ARC approval also need a building permit, and homeowners were getting stuck in a chicken-and-egg loop.

The statute now provides that an HOA or its ARC may not require you to have a government building permit issued as a prerequisite for the ARC’s review. In other words, your failure to obtain the permit before submitting to the ARC is not a valid basis to deny your application. Practically, this means you can run the HOA approval and the government permit in a sensible order without the HOA blocking you for not having the permit in hand first.

The 30-Day Auto-Approval Myth

You will read all over the internet that a Florida HOA has 30 days to respond to an architectural application or it is automatically approved. Be careful with this, because it is not quite right.

Florida Statute 720.3035 does not set a universal 30-day deadline. There is no statutory clock that applies to every HOA. What actually matters is the deadline written into your community’s declaration. Many older Florida HOA declarations do include an automatic-approval provision, commonly 30, 45, or 60 days from a complete submission, and Florida courts treat missing that internal deadline as constructive approval. But the number, and whether it exists at all, comes from your governing documents, not from a blanket state rule. Always check your own declaration for the real deadline rather than assuming 30 days.

Which Orlando Communities This Affects Most

The master-planned and gated communities have the most active architectural review: Lake Nona and Laureate Park with their strict New Urbanist palettes, the gated Windermere communities like Isleworth and Keene’s Pointe, Baldwin Park with its community association, and the gated enclaves in Dr. Phillips and Lake Mary. In these communities, plan the ARC submission as early as the permit, because it often takes longer.