What Is A Quorum & Why Does It Matter To The HOA Board?

A quorum refers to the minimum number of association board members who must be present at a meeting for it to conduct business.  Virtually every homeowners association has a provision for quorum requirements in the governing documents and sometimes even on the community website.  If your HOA often has difficulty reaching a quorum during meetings, here are a few helpful suggestions to straighten that out.

 

A common rule is that when a meeting doesn’t reach the quorum, it should be rescheduled for a future date.  Therefore, all the effort and planning that was done for the meeting is wasted and the board is forced to use more time to plan for another meeting.  Every once in a while the scenario repeats and the future meeting doesn’t happen due to quorum issues.

A non-quorum presents an undesirable consequence as the board has no power to carry out what they have planned.  If the meeting was meant to determine a new assessment, then homeowners have to accept the current assessment until enough members attend the meeting.  Again, if it was an election to choose new directors, the old directors have to continue to serve.

 

A proxy is where a person assigns their vote to another person in writing.  It enables members to be counted as being in attendance at a meeting even when they’re not able to be present.  Members complete quorum forms and assign their voting rights to other members, just in case they’re not able to attend the meeting.

Without a quorum, HOA meetings cease and if this is a common problem in your association, you may ultimately notice inefficiency in the completion of projects.  For that reason, use your community website to encourage all members to attend the meetings and sign a proxy so they’re represented when they fail to show up!