Fidelity-Bond Records Your Association Should Keep

Keep the requirement and decision trail

Preserve the official legal source used, governing-document excerpts, contracts, counsel or professional guidance, and the board’s analysis. Date each copy or link review so a later reader can tell which version informed the decision.

Keep limit worksheets with budgets, reserve schedules, statements, assessment records, peak-funds projections, assumptions, and approvals. The goal is reproducibility: another authorized reviewer should be able to understand the selected amount without reconstructing undocumented conversations.

Keep the complete transaction package

Retain the signed application, supplemental forms, attachments, proposals, quote revisions, board authorization, invoices, payment evidence, binders if any, complete issued contract, declarations, endorsements, certificates, and correspondence resolving discrepancies.

Store a certificate as evidence supplied for a particular purpose, not as a substitute for the contract. Index each policy period separately and preserve replaced endorsements so the terms in effect on a particular date can be identified.

• Exact submission sent to underwriting
• Authorized proposal and transaction evidence
• Every issued form and endorsement
• Corrections, notices, and delivery records

Keep operational and incident records securely

Maintain current and historical signer lists, bank authority, management agreements, control descriptions, reconciliation evidence, audit or review reports, and records of access termination. These materials can support renewals and explain who could control funds during a relevant period.

Segregate suspected-loss and claim files with appropriate access controls. Preserve discovery dates, notices, transaction records, investigative materials, proof-of-loss submissions, and insurer communications. Follow counsel’s direction on privilege and legal holds. Policy reporting requirements and actual wording control.

Set retention and ownership rules

Assign a records owner and backup, identify the official repository, and define naming, version, access, backup, and disposition procedures. Coordinate policy periods with applicable statutes of limitation, contract reporting windows, tax and corporate records rules, pending claims, and litigation holds.

Retention is jurisdiction-specific. Florida’s official HOA and condominium records provisions treat insurance policies as association records and generally specify seven-year retention for covered nonpermanent records. That rule should not be treated as a universal period, and qualified counsel should resolve the association’s schedule.