Board Members
HOA Board Members: Roles, Duties and Serving on the Board
HOA board members are homeowners, usually unpaid volunteers, elected by the other owners to run the association. Together they look after the common areas, collect and spend assessments, enforce the governing documents and hire the people who do the day-to-day work.
In this section
Ten guides in three groups:
Roles, duties and the rules the board follows
Deciding to serve and getting elected
Working well as a board
The basics
What HOA Board Members Do and What They Owe the Association
They make those decisions as a group, by vote, at board meetings.
This section is for anyone who serves on a board, has just been elected or is thinking about running. Homeowners who want to understand what their board can and cannot do will find it useful too.
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It starts with the core ideas every director should know, then points you to articles on duties, on deciding whether to serve, and on working together once the board is seated.
Just elected or appointed? The New Board Member Guide walks you through what to learn first, in order.
A board member has authority only as part of the board. One director acting alone usually cannot sign a contract, waive a fine or change a rule unless the board has voted to allow it. The board’s own authority comes from state law and from the association’s governing documents: the articles of incorporation, the bylaws, the CC&Rs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) and any rules the board has adopted. Read all of them before your first meeting. What Are the Rules for an HOA Board of Directors? explains what each document covers.
Most boards have officers: a president who runs the meetings and speaks for the board, a secretary who keeps the minutes and records, a treasurer who watches the money, and sometimes a vice president. Officers have specific jobs, but in most associations every director has one vote. What Are an HOA Board Member’s Responsibilities? walks through each role.
Every director also owes the association a fiduciary duty. In plain terms, you must act in good faith, put the association’s interests ahead of your own and make informed decisions. California’s wording is a useful example. A director of a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, the form many associations there take, must act in good faith, in a manner the director believes to be in the best interests of the corporation, and with the care, including reasonable inquiry, that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances (Corporations Code section 7231). Other states use their own wording, so check the law where your association is located.
That duty does not mean doing everything yourself. Boards rely on managers, accountants, attorneys and committees all the time. What stays with the board is responsibility for the decision. A few habits follow from that. Some are also written into state law or your bylaws, and all of them are good practice: ask questions until you understand what you are voting on, disclose any personal interest in a decision and stay out of that vote, apply the rules the same way to every owner, and keep written records of what the board decided and why.
If you have just joined the board, The Must-Have HOA Management Checklist for New Board Members is a practical place to start.
3 guides
Roles, Duties and the Rules the Board Follows
What Are an HOA Board Member's Responsibilities?
Covers the board's common duties, what the president, vice president, secretary and treasurer each do, and the fiduciary duties every director owes.
What Are the Rules for an HOA Board of Directors?
Explains the articles of incorporation, bylaws, CC&Rs and board-adopted rules, and where a new rule can run into state or federal law.
The Must-Have HOA Management Checklist for New Board Members
A practical checklist covering records, finances, budget and reserves, maintenance, meetings, communication and insurance, with the items California law requires.
3 guides
Deciding to Serve and Getting Elected
Things to Consider Before Joining Your HOA Board
What to weigh before you run, including the time commitment, the legal duty you take on, liability and insurance, eligibility, and the homework to do first.
The Benefits of Joining Your HOA Board
What you gain from serving, such as a vote on how assessments are spent and a clear view of the finances, and what the role does not include.
How to Become an HOA Board Member
The qualities a good director needs and the steps that improve your chances of being elected, such as attending meetings, joining a committee and reading the governing documents.
4 guides
Working Well as a Board
3 Common Mistakes HOA Board Members Make
The missteps boards make most often, including regulating residents' lifestyles instead of property, communicating and documenting poorly, and not delegating, and why it pays to own your errors.
Battling Board Members: When HOA Board Members Fight
Why boards fall into disputes, from power plays to personal gain, and ways to end them, such as training on procedure, a mediator or a closed meeting with the association's attorney.
How to Set Up and Run HOA Committees
How to give a committee a clear purpose, a charter, a chair, a budget and a way to report to the board, with the committees associations use most.
Maintaining Your HOA Records
Which records to keep and for how long, how to store and destroy them safely, and how to set up a filing system the next board can follow.
A to Z
Every Article in This Section
Sources
The Law Behind This Page
Every legal point on this page comes from the official text. Each link below opens it in a new tab.
Corporations Code sections: 7231
Keep going
Related Sections
Board Meetings and Elections
How the board makes its decisions and how directors are chosen.
Finances
The association's money, which every director shares responsibility for.
Rules and Governing Documents
The documents that give the board its authority and set its limits.
Management
Self-management, management companies and management contracts.
Start here
Start With Your Responsibilities
What Are an HOA Board Member's Responsibilities? walks through each role. Start there, then work through the rest of the section.
This page is general educational information, not legal advice. Laws vary by state and your association's governing documents control many of these questions, so check with your association's attorney about your situation.