HOA rules and AC condenser placement in Lake Mary and Heathrow
Since 2024, s. 720.3035(1)(b)2., Fla. Stat. bars a homeowners association from reviewing or denying an HVAC replacement that is not visible from the street, an adjacent lot or a golf course, where it is materially similar to what other homes in the community already have. Moving the condenser is a different question.
What the statute actually protects
Florida law limits what an association may do about an air-conditioning replacement. Under s. 720.3035(1)(b)2., Fla. Stat., an association may not enforce architectural review over HVAC equipment that is not visible from the front street, an adjacent parcel, an adjacent common area or a community golf course, provided it is materially similar to equipment already in use in the community.
In plain terms: a like-for-like changeout on an existing side-yard pad, screened or fenced the way the neighbours’ are, is generally not the association’s business. That is worth knowing before you accept a four-week architectural review timeline in August.
What the statute does not do is make the equipment invisible to every other rule. Setbacks, easements and the building code still apply, and if the unit is moving to a new location, or is visible where the old one was not, you are outside the protection.
Heathrow is the reason this page exists
Heathrow’s residential core is roughly 2,200 homes split across about thirty separate sub-developments — Muirfield Village, Regency Green, Turnberry and Brampton Cove among them — each with its own or a shared HOA. Screening rules, pad materials and equipment locations are set at the sub-HOA level, not community-wide.
So the answer to “what does the HOA allow in Heathrow” is that there is no single HOA to ask. Two houses three streets apart can sit under different architectural guidelines. A contractor who says “Heathrow is fine, we do it all the time” is answering a question about a place, not about your sub-association.
Heathrow is also unincorporated, so the permit is a Seminole County permit rather than a City of Lake Mary one. An outdoor unit swap there can need sub-HOA architectural review and a county permit, in that order. Which desk your address answers to ›
A practical order of operations
- Establish first whether the unit is moving. If it is not, and it is not visible from the street or an adjacent lot, cite s. 720.3035(1)(b)2. and ask the association to confirm in writing that no review is required.
- If it is moving, get written association approval before the equipment is ordered. Moving a pad after an inspection means a second permit and a second invoice.
- Ask what the guidelines say about screening material, pad height and distance from the property line, and get the answer from your own sub-association rather than the master.
- Check that the proposed location still meets code clearances — from the property line, from the electrical meter, from openable windows. HOA approval does not override the building code.
- In a townhome or condo, confirm who owns the line set where it crosses a common element. That determines who pays when it has to be replaced.
Sources for this page
Researched 6 September 2026. Fees, rebate amounts and code minimums change — check the issuing authority before you rely on a figure.