HOA board checklist

HOA annual meeting checklist.

A planning timeline for the board, from setting the date to filing the minutes. Print it, assign each item to someone, and check it off as you go.

Your bylaws and state law set the rules. Notice periods (minimum and sometimes maximum), how notice must be delivered, quorum, proxy and absentee or electronic voting rules, and election procedures all come from your governing documents and your state’s community association or nonprofit corporation statutes, and they differ from place to place. The timing below is a planning guide only; replace it with the exact requirements that apply to your association. This is general information, not legal advice; ask your association’s attorney when in doubt.

Before you start: pull the rules

  • Bylaws sections on annual meetings, notice, quorum, proxies, voting and elections
  • Declaration / CC&Rs and any election rules or policies the board has adopted
  • Applicable state statute(s) for your association type, and any recent changes
  • Last year’s notice, agenda, sign-in sheet and minutes, as a starting point
  • Board seats up for election this year and the length of each term
Well before notice goes out

Plan

  • Set the date, time and location (or virtual / hybrid platform, if your documents and state law allow it)
  • Work back from the meeting date to your required notice deadline and put it on the calendar
  • Confirm the owner roster and mailing / email addresses are current (and who has consented to electronic notice, if that is permitted)
  • Send a call for board candidates, with the deadline and how to submit, if your process uses one
  • Ask the treasurer or manager to prepare the financial report and budget materials
  • Request the reserve study update or reserve summary, if you have one
  • Collect committee reports
  • Decide who will run the meeting, take minutes, check in owners and count votes (consider neutral inspectors of election if your rules call for them)
By your notice deadline

Send notice

  • Notice states the date, time, place (or how to join remotely) and purpose, as your bylaws require
  • Agenda attached or included
  • Candidate list and any candidate statements
  • Proxy form and / or absentee or electronic ballot, with instructions and return deadline
  • Budget, financial summary or other materials your documents require to be sent in advance
  • Delivered by every method your documents and state law require (mail, email with consent, posting)
  • Proof of notice kept: copy of the notice, mailing list and date sent (an affidavit of mailing if your rules call for one)
Between notice and the meeting

Prepare

  • Calculate the quorum number from your bylaws (by owners, units or voting interests)
  • Track proxies and ballots as they arrive; keep them secure and unopened if secret ballots apply
  • Send a reminder, especially if quorum looks uncertain
  • Prepare the sign-in sheet listing every unit and voting interest
  • Print or share the agenda, prior minutes, financials and budget
  • Prepare ballots for in-person voting and a place to count them
  • Test the video / audio setup if anyone is joining remotely
Meeting day

Run the meeting

  • Check in owners and record proxies as they are presented
  • Call to order; confirm and announce that quorum is present (and record how it was determined)
  • Confirm proof of notice
  • Approve the minutes of the last annual meeting
  • Officer and committee reports
  • Financial report: year-to-date results, the budget for the coming year, and reserve fund status compared with the reserve study
  • Election: introduce candidates, collect ballots, count, and announce results
  • Other business noticed on the agenda (keep votes to items your rules allow without prior notice)
  • Owner open forum, if your agenda includes one
  • Adjourn and note the time

No quorum? Check your bylaws for how to adjourn and reconvene, and whether a reduced quorum applies at the adjourned meeting. Do not conduct business that requires a quorum.

After the meeting

Follow up

  • Draft minutes: date, attendance, quorum, actions taken, motions and vote results, election results
  • Have the minutes reviewed by the secretary; they are typically approved at the next annual meeting
  • Announce election results to all owners
  • Hold the organizational board meeting to elect officers, if your bylaws provide for it
  • Update bank signers, the state filing and the management company with new officers / directors, as needed
  • Store ballots, proxies, sign-in sheets and proof of notice for the retention period your documents or state law require
  • Make minutes and records available to owners as your rules and state law provide

Common pitfalls

  • Notice that is late, early or incomplete. It can put decisions made at the meeting in question. Count the days carefully.
  • Miscounting quorum. Know whether proxies and absentee ballots count toward quorum under your rules.
  • Loose ballot handling. Keep a clear chain of custody and let a neutral person count where possible.
  • Thin minutes. Minutes are the record of what was decided. Capture motions and results, not every comment.

Run your next meeting without the binder.

In HOAOS the board schedules meetings, builds agendas, records attendance against quorum and runs owner elections online, by proxy or on paper, with approved minutes filed in the community's document library.

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