Community and Homeowner’s Association Q & A Part One

Question: If a community or homeowner’s association member doesn’t vote at all, does that count as a “no” vote?

Answer: Actually, that is not correct. A homeowner’s association or community member not casting a vote at all is neither a “yes” nor a “no.” For all types of community or  homeowner’s associations, the Governing Documents require a certain number of actual “yes” votes to pass an amendment or adopt a proposition.

Votes are cast by ballot in person or by limited proxy. The proxies are good for an additional 90 days after the original meeting date, if a quorum is not reached, or there are not enough affirmative approval votes to accomplish the business.

So, if you don’t have enough “yes” votes received by the time of the homeowner or community association’s meeting, check to see if there are still enough homes or units that didn’t vote at all to make it possible to solicit enough “yes” votes to pass the amendment.

Then, recess the meeting and continue to solicit more “yes” votes for up to 90 more days from members of the community or homeowner’s association whom have yet to place a vote. Then, the meeting would be reconvened within the 90-day window, and the results announced at that time. The Minutes would show only the date of the original meeting, as the recessed meeting is a continuation of the same meeting.

If there aren’t enough remaining votes within the community or homeowner’s association to allow for the possibility of getting enough actual “yes” votes during the 90 days, or you don’t get enough additional votes to carry the proposition, then the amendment or the proposition cannot be adopted, and the Minutes would reflect that the amendment or the proposition failed.