Q. Can a husband and wife serve at the same time on a condo board, or is it a conflict of interest? The husband is the president, and the wife is the treasurer. There are three board members in a 13-apartment condo complex.

—Considering the Ethical Implications

A. “A husband and wife, or other co-owners, who jointly own a unit in the condominium may not be able to both be serve on the board,” says shareholder James Robert Caves III for the law firm of Becker in Fort Myers, “but it would not be because it is a conflict of interest. Rather the Condominium Act, Chapter 718, Florida Statutes, restricts co-owners from serving on the board together. Section 718.112(2)(d)2., Florida Statutes provides in relevant part as follows:

In a residential condominium association of more than 10 units or in a residential condominium association that does not include timeshare units or timeshare interests, co-owners of a unit may not serve as members of the board of directors at the same time unless they own more than one unit or unless there are not enough eligible candidates to fill the vacancies on the board at the time of the vacancy. 

“Therefore, if the husband and wife were co-owners of more than one unit in the condominium, or if there were not enough other eligible candidates to fill the vacancies on the board, then both would be permitted to serve on the board at the same time. If, however, neither of the statutory exceptions applied, then co-owners could not serve on the board together. So for example, if they both deiced to run in a contested election for the board, one of them would have to forgo serving on the board, even if both of them would have been elected to the board by the members.”