When Is an HOA Quorum Needed?

Having sufficient representation in a meeting helps indicate the possible voice of the majority of residents. An HOA quorum can help ensure this, and it needs to be reached before your association can conduct certain procedures.

What is a Quorum for a Meeting?

A quorum is the fewest number of attendees you can have to formally hold a valid meeting. For HOAs, a quorum is required to conduct key meetings, including board meetings, annual meetings, HOA membership meetings, and board member elections.

The requirements for a formal quorum will vary by area and association. If you need to know how many people must attend your meetings to meet an HOA quorum, you will have to check both state law and your governing documents.

But why is a quorum needed to make decisions?

This rule is in place to ensure there’s adequate representation when making decisions. It’s in place to prevent only a few people from making decisions on behalf of the entire community.

When is an HOA Quorum Needed?

Your HOA will need to reach a quorum to conduct official business. Usually, this applies to any meeting where they need to take a vote.

These include the following:

Annual Meetings: These meetings cover major community business, such as board elections and budget planning. Given the importance of these elections and decisions, an HOA quorum is always required for them to move forward.
Special Meetings: These meetings are usually called to discuss specific issues. Those usually arise unexpectedly, such as special assessment decisions and other urgent community matters.
Board Meetings: These meetings mostly involve a board member’s vote and require a quorum before the directors can finalize a decision.

How Much is a Quorum?

You may wonder what constitutes a quorum in an HOA. This actually depends on factors such as state law requirements and what’s mentioned in your community’s governing documents.

Common HOA Quorum Requirements

Different HOAs will have different stipulations regarding quorum. It also varies depending on the voting body involved.

For membership meetings and votes, an HOA may need anywhere from 10% to 50% or more to reach a quorum. Unfortunately, homeowner turnout is usually small, since most may be busy. Having a smaller quorum minimizes any decision-making delay that may happen if it’s not reached.

Meanwhile, the quorum for board meetings is usually a simple majority or higher, which is at least 50% plus one. Having this number helps ensure that the community is represented enough in these meetings.

Quorum Requirements in Illinois

Illinois has several state laws that outline HOA requirements to reach a quorum. Here are some to take note of:

Illinois Common Interest Communities

Common interest community associations in Illinois require at least 20% of members to reach a quorum. This applies unless the said community has a different, lower number set forth in its governing documents.

Given this, Illinois HOAs should avoid relying on past practice when conducting meetings. Instead, it should always be confirmed with the governing documents first. This should be done even before sending out meeting notices for homeowners.

Illinois Condominium Associations

On the other hand, condo associations in Illinois should follow the quorum requirement found in their community’s governing documents. The rule, however, also relies on the size of your condo community.

In condominiums that house over 20 personal units, you can reach a quorum for homeowner meetings at 20%. However, residents can indicate a higher quorum if there’s enough or a majority of the voting power that votes for the said change.

Additionally, the state’s Condominium Property Act allows COAs to recognize certain ballots and electronic voting systems to count toward the quorum. However, this can only happen if the association already has these procedures in place.

Illinois Board Meeting Quorum

If there’s a number other than a majority, condominium associations should specify in the bylaws how many board members constitute a quorum. Meanwhile, common interst communities usually have the bumber stated in the governing documents of the community..

What Happens If There is no Meeting Quorum?

Without a quorum, your association cannot conduct official HOA business. Early on in the meeting, the one heading the proceedings can announce that a quorum was not met and promptly adjourn the gathering.

When you do this, it can affect your community by delaying key decisions needed to run the HOA. Without a quorum, your association can’t discuss budgets, amend rules, conduct elections, and other important matters. To resolve it, the board will need to reorganize a meeting and conduct another notice. Apart from the delays, this also means your HOA will have to use resources to conduct another meeting.

When rescheduling your meeting, however, you should check the stipulations for unmet quorums in your governing documents. There are HOAs that allow reconvening with a lower quorum. You can also check if proxies and absentee ballots are allowed to help reach a quorum.

How Boards Can Help Reach Quorum

If you notice a problem with your HOA reaching a quorum, as a member of the HOA board, you need to be proactive in resolving it.

Here are some things you can consider doing to do so:

Send Out Clear Notices: Communication is crucial to reaching a quorum. Low membership turnout may happen from miscommunication. As such, notices need to include key information about the meeting, including its logistics and agenda.
More Voting Options: Many residents lead busy lives, so not everyone may have time to attend meetings in person and vote. To help with this, your HOA may offer alternative ways to cast a vote. Some things to consider include virtual meetings, absentee ballots, proxies, and eVoting.
Send Early Reminders: People are more likely to attend a meeting if they know about it early. Sending early reminders gives residents the opportunity to plan around the meeting and schedule accordingly.

Having Enough Representation

In running a community, representation should be a crucial part of the decisions made. This is why quorums are in place. After all, you are living in a shared community. Each decision will affect all residents, not just some.

The Forth Group provides condo management services to communities in Chicago and the surrounding areas. Call us today at (312) 379-0400 or contact us online to get started!

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