HOA glossaryGovernance

What is Quorum?

Quorum is the minimum participation required for a meeting's votes to count, set as a percentage of owners for member meetings or directors for board meetings.

Owner-meeting quorums are the perennial problem: many communities set them at 30% to 50% of membership in documents drafted decades ago, and cannot reach that today. Failed quorum means no election, no budget ratification, and an adjourned meeting.

Tools that help include proxies, absentee ballots, electronic voting where permitted, and reduced-quorum provisions that lower the threshold at a properly noticed reconvened meeting. Some states allow a bylaw amendment to reduce quorum — often itself requiring a quorum to pass.

Board quorums are simpler: usually a majority of directors currently in office. Actions taken without quorum are voidable.

Related terms

ProxyA proxy is a written authorization letting another person attend and vote on an owner's behalf, commonly used to reach quorum at annual meetings.Annual MeetingThe annual meeting is the yearly gathering of all owners where directors are elected and the association's finances and plans are presented.BylawsBylaws are the association's internal operating manual — they govern how the board is elected, how meetings run, and how the corporation makes decisions.Board of DirectorsThe board of directors is the group of owners elected to govern the association, set the budget, enforce the documents, and hire vendors on behalf of all members.

Answers straight from your own documents

Melo tells residents what Quorum means in your community — citing the exact page of your CC&Rs, budget, or rules.