HOA approval and condenser placement in Altamonte Springs
Submit the equipment location, not the equipment. Under Florida Statute 720.3035(1)(b)2 a homeowners' association may not review or deny a like-for-like replacement of air-conditioning equipment that is not visible from the street, an adjacent parcel or an adjacent common area. Condominiums are governed by the declaration instead, which is a different question.
What the statute actually removes from an HOA's reach
F.S. 720.3035(1)(b)2Florida Statute 720.3035 governs architectural control in a homeowners' association. Subsection (1)(b)2 bars an association from reviewing or denying an application to replace heating, ventilating or air-conditioning equipment with equipment of the same type, where the replacement is not visible from the street in front of the parcel, from an adjacent parcel, from an adjacent common area or from a community golf course.
Read that carefully, because the whole thing turns on two words. Same type, and visible. A condenser going back on the same pad, behind the same fence, is protected. A condenser moving to the front elevation is not. Converting from strip heat to a heat pump changes the equipment type, so do not assume the exemption carries.
Florida Statute 720.3035(1)(b)2. This governs homeowners' associations. Condominium associations are governed by Chapter 718 and by the declaration.
Why this is a bigger question in Altamonte Springs than next door
61.65% multi-familySeminole County as a whole is 65.03% single-family detached. Altamonte Springs is 28.54% detached and 61.65% multi-family — the inverse of its neighbours. Of the twenty largest platted communities in the county's parcel extract for this city, 12 are recorded as condominiums: 3,550 of 5,319 parcels, or 66.7%.
So in this city the more common case is not the HOA statute at all. It is a condominium declaration, and that is a document, not a statute.
Housing mix: City of Altamonte Springs CITY PLAN 2030, Housing Element DIA, Tables 3.1–3.2. Plat counts: Seminole County Property Appraiser CAMA extract (Parcels.csv, 5 September 2026), tax district A1 — Altamonte Springs. 13,253 improved residential parcels: single-family, townhome and condominium. Apartments and manufactured homes excluded.
Condominium: read the declaration, not the internet
Chapter 718 sets the frameFor a condominium, whether the association or the unit owner controls — and pays for — the air-conditioning equipment serving a single unit turns on the declaration. Chapter 718 sets the framework; the declaration decides. Two buildings on the same street can answer this differently.
So this page will not tell you what your declaration says. What it will tell you is what to ask for: the section governing limited common elements, the section governing alterations, and the architectural-review form if one exists.
Where the condenser can actually go
Lot lines are closeAltamonte Springs is about 9.10 square miles holding 22,990 housing units at roughly 5,081 people per square mile. Lot lines are close. Condenser pads sit near property boundaries and bedroom windows, so sound rating and placement matter more here than in the larger-lot subdivisions of Longwood or Lake Mary.
Which is why the pad location is settled before the equipment is ordered rather than after it arrives: we read the setback for your parcel rather than guess at it and have you move a pad twice.
Density, land area and housing units: 2020 decennial census.
Related questions
FAQHow do I get HOA approval for a new AC unit?
Submit the equipment location, not the equipment. Under Florida Statute 720.3035(1)(b)2 a homeowners' association may not review or deny a like-for-like replacement of air-conditioning equipment that is not visible from the street, an adjacent parcel or an adjacent common area. Condominiums are governed by the declaration instead, which is a different question.