📅 Effective Date: October 2026
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Version: REG-LEGAL-COMPLIANCE-2026-V1.0
Binding Agreement & Acceptance of Terms:
Continued access to or use of the Hearthside HOA platform, website (hearthsidehoa.com), resident portals, or associated services by any community association, board of directors, board member, property manager, managing agent, committee member, or homeowner constitutes full, unconditional, and irrevocable agreement to these Terms of Service. If you do not agree to each and every term, covenant, and statutory exclusion set forth herein, you must immediately cease all access to and use of the platform.
1. Exclusive Governing Law (State of Florida)
These Terms of Service, your access to hearthsidehoa.com and associated applications, and any dispute arising out of software workflows, hosting, communications, dues tools, town hall modules, architectural reviews, or records services shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the State of Florida, United States, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
2. Mandatory Individual Binding Arbitration & Venue (Fla. Stat. ch. 682 & FAA)
All disputes, claims, or controversies shall first be submitted to informal good-faith negotiation for thirty (30) days. If unresolved, disputes shall be settled solely by final, confidential, individual binding arbitration in Orange County, Florida under the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Commercial Arbitration Rules, governed by the Florida Arbitration Code (Fla. Stat. ch. 682) and the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA, 9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.). Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court having jurisdiction.
3. Exculpatory Release & Limitation of Liability
Pursuant to Florida supreme court precedent (Sanislo v. Give Kids the World, Inc., 157 So. 3d 256), you release, acquit, forever discharge, hold harmless, and covenant not to sue HearthsideHOA, its parent entities, developers, officers, infrastructure providers, and agents from all claims of every kind arising out of system downtime, data transmission interruptions, or administrative reliance, including claims of ordinary negligence. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall HearthsideHOA’s aggregate liability exceed the total subscription fees actually paid by the Association in the twelve (12) months preceding the event giving rise to liability.
4. Class Action & Jury Trial Waiver
All claims must be brought in an individual capacity. You irrevocably waive any right to initiate, join, or participate as a plaintiff or class member in any class, collective, consolidated, or representative proceeding against HearthsideHOA. Both parties knowingly and voluntarily waive any right to trial by jury.
5. Software License Scope & Administrative Tool Designation
HearthsideHOA provides cloud-hosted association management software tools designed to assist communities with administrative workflows and recordkeeping. HearthsideHOA is not a property management company, law firm, certified public accounting firm, or debt collection agency. Associations retain complete sovereign control and authority over rule enforcement, approvals, accounting records, meeting notices, and legal decisions.
6. User Authentication, Security & Closed-Circuit Onboarding
Accounts are pre-seeded exclusively from verified county deed registries and board-approved homeowner rolls. Homeowners access the platform using cryptographically generated, single-use 32-character invite tokens that are atomically burned upon initial credential setup. Users are responsible for safeguarding authentication credentials and must promptly report any unauthorized access.
7. Third-Party Integrations & Carrier Communications
HearthsideHOA utilizes third-party delivery infrastructure for transactional postal mail and committee email routing. Transactional SMS and email notifications are delivered subject to carrier operational availability. Standard carrier message and data rates may apply.
8. Statutory Compliance, Legal & Debt Collection Limitations
8.1 No Legal, Tax, or Accounting Advice
The Hearthside HOA platform provides operational tools, automated templates, notice generators, statutory cure period calculators, and delinquency tracking workflows. These tools are administrative instruments and mathematical calculation aids only. Hearthside HOA is not a law firm, certified public accounting firm, financial institution, or licensed community association management (CAM) entity. Hearthside HOA does not review association inputs, minutes, bylaws, or communications for statutory sufficiency or legal validity. The Association, its Board of Directors, and its authorized management agents bear sole, non-delegable legal responsibility for ensuring that all community notices, meeting calls, fine assessments, covenant enforcement actions, and lien procedures comply strictly with applicable state, federal, and local statutes—including but not limited to Florida Statutes Chapters 718 and 720, the California Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act (Civ. Code § 4000 et seq.), and Texas Property Code Chapters 207 and 209.
8.2 Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and State Debt Collection Disclosures
The Platform provides zero-trust ledger fencing and peer isolation mechanisms designed to prevent unauthorized third-party debt exposure. The Association expressly acknowledges and warrants that it acts solely as the creditor or the direct authorized agent of the creditor. Hearthside HOA is not a "debt collector" as defined under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.), the California Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Civ. Code § 1788 et seq.), the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (Fla. Stat. § 559.55 et seq.), or the Texas Debt Collection Act (Tex. Fin. Code Ch. 392). The Association agrees never to use the Platform, public message boards, prospective buyer portals, or member directories to disclose, broadcast, or transmit an individual's delinquent debt, balance, or collection status to unentitled third parties or neighboring owners.
9. Life-Safety, Emergency Access & Physical Premises Liability Exclusion
9.1 Absolute Prohibition and Disclaimer of Emergency Dispatch & Access Codes
In strict accordance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 101 Life Safety Code, local municipal fire marshal codes, and municipal dispatch regulations, the Platform is NOT an emergency response, municipal dispatch, or emergency vehicle bypass system. The Platform shall not be used to store, cache, manage, distribute, or broadcast master municipal override codes, fire department Knox Box PINs, police bypass keycodes, or EMS emergency gate codes. All municipal life-safety and emergency responder access provisions must be established exclusively through physical, code-compliant hardware (such as physical Knox key vaults or Opticom optical/radio sensors) inspected and approved by local municipal fire marshals.
9.2 Assumption of Risk & Premises Liability
The Association assumes all tort liability and premises risk related to physical access control, resident RFID fobs, mobile gate credentials, visitor passes, and amenity access scheduling. Hearthside HOA expressly disclaims all liability under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 344 and applicable premises liability law for unauthorized facility entry, vehicle gate tailgating, gate mechanical failure, property damage, burglary, vandalism, personal injury, or municipal code citations arising from expired tenant credentials, network latency, local hardware malfunction, or improper gate controller wiring.
10. Assessment Surcharges, Payment Integrity & Free Payment Mandate
10.1 Payment Card Industry Standards & Surcharge Caps
Payment processing services are integrated via embedded PCI DSS v4.0.1 compliant iframes provided by certified Level 1 payment processors (e.g., Stripe, Inc.). The Association acknowledges that credit card payment surcharges are strictly governed by state surcharge statutes (including Cal. Civ. Code § 1748.1, Fla. Stat. § 501.0117, and Tex. Fin. Code § 339.001), the Durbin Amendment (Dodd-Frank § 1075), and payment network operating regulations. The Platform programmatically caps credit card processing surcharges to statutory maximums (not to exceed 3.0% or the actual merchant cost of acceptance) and enforces itemized point-of-sale disclosure.
10.2 Mandatory Statutory Fee-Free Payment Method
To maintain statutory compliance, the Association warrants and covenants that it will continuously maintain and offer at least one readily accessible, fee-free payment alternative (such as ACH direct bank debit or physical paper voucher/check submission) for all mandatory regular and special assessments. Hearthside HOA shall have no liability for merchant settlement delays, banking chargebacks, card processing disputes, or association liquidity constraints.
11. Data Privacy vs. 7-Year Statutory Record Retention Override
11.1 Two-Tier Privacy and Deletion Architecture
In harmonizing consumer privacy rights (such as the California Consumer Privacy Act / CPRA, Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.100 et seq., and the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act) with overriding statutory corporate record retention mandates, the Association and its members agree to the following two-tier data deletion lifecycle:
- (a) Tier 1: Personal Identifying Information (PII) Scrubbing. Upon verified account closure, resident departure, or verified statutory deletion request, the Platform will purge personal telephone numbers, personal email addresses, profile photographs, push notification tokens, mobile device identifiers, vehicle license plate registrations, and active RFID gate fob pairings, and will de-link user identities on community forums by converting authors to generic former-resident identifier tokens.
- (b) Tier 2: Mandatory Statutory Retention Override. Members and Associations acknowledge that under United States Internal Revenue Code § 6001, Florida Statutes § 720.303(4), California Civil Code §§ 5200–5210, and Texas Property Code § 209.005(m), association accounting records, double-entry financial ledgers, assessment payment receipts, official meeting minutes, architectural review committee (ARC) permits, and election participation tallies must be immutably preserved for a mandatory minimum period of seven (7) years. The Association and its members agree that preserving de-identified parcel ledger histories and corporate records fulfills all contractual and legal privacy obligations and does not constitute an actionable failure to delete under privacy statutes.
12. Electronic Balloting, Proxies & Estoppel Resale Limitations
12.1 Secret Electronic Ballots and Proxy Revocation
Electronic voting and balloting features utilize cryptographic decoupling mechanisms designed to separate voter identity from cast ballot selections in accordance with California Davis-Stirling Act (Civ. Code §§ 5100–5145) and Florida Statutes § 720.306 / § 718.112 double-envelope standards. The Association remains exclusively responsible for formally authorizing electronic balloting via board resolution or bylaw amendment, collecting written or electronic member consent where required by state law, and verifying statutory quorum requirements. Under statutory corporate law, a direct electronic ballot cast by an owner automatically revokes and supersedes any prior proxy executed for that parcel. Hearthside HOA shall not be liable for challenged election outcomes, contested board elections, or disqualified proxies.
12.2 Estoppel SLA Tracking and Fee Forfeiture Limitations
The Platform provides automated estoppel and resale certificate delivery clocks and state fee clamping engines designed to track statutory deadlines (such as Florida Statutes § 720.30851 10-business-day standard / 3-business-day rush clocks and statutory fee caps). The Association bears sole responsibility for monitoring pending closing requests and delivering verified payoff packages before deadlines lapse. Hearthside HOA disclaims all liability for forfeited association estoppel fees, title escrow delays, closing cancellations, or uncollected delinquent assessment balances resulting from the Association's failure to meet statutory delivery windows.
13. Indemnification & Defense Covenants
The Association covenants and agrees to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless HearthsideHOA, its corporate affiliates, officers, directors, software architects, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, demands, liabilities, damages, losses, civil penalties, administrative fines, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs through all appellate proceedings) arising out of or related to: (a) the Association’s breach of any applicable federal, state, or municipal statute, regulation, or administrative rule; (b) any collection, lien, or foreclosure action initiated or prosecuted by or on behalf of the Association; (c) any dispute arising from elections, voting tabulations, meeting notices, or proxy disputes; (d) physical access control operations, gate mechanical failures, or life-safety hardware installations; (e) disclosure or distribution of resident financial or collection data in violation of FDCPA or state debt collection statutes; or (f) any unauthorized, erroneous, or defamatory content published or broadcast across association forums or notice boards.
14. Modification, Severability & Entire Agreement
HearthsideHOA reserves the right to amend or update these Terms of Service periodically to reflect evolving statutory requirements or software capabilities. Notice of material modifications will be posted to hearthsidehoa.com with an updated effective date. Continued access to or use of the platform after notice of modifications constitutes acceptance. If any provision of these Terms is adjudicated to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable by an arbitrator or court of competent jurisdiction, that provision shall be severed to the minimum extent necessary, and all remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect. These Terms, together with any executed enterprise order form, constitute the entire agreement between the parties regarding the platform.