The Guide to California HOA Laws

• Director elections and certain other member votes must be conducted by secret ballot.
• Each director’s seat must be elected at least once every four years.
• Ballots must be counted by an independent inspector of elections in a public, noticed meeting, under sections 5110 and 5120 below.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

You need a private voting system to satisfy this requirement. An electronic voting system, with the option of paper ballots, allows the HOA board to carry out secret ballots.

What this means for homeowners:

Voting in board elections is private by law, and a board cannot use open-voice votes to elect directors. If your community has been skipping formal elections, it may already be out of compliance. 

This may be the most operationally significant recent change for California HOA boards.

• This bill caps most fines at $100, and it removes several enforcement tools that associations have traditionally relied on.
• It introduces a new IDR requirement, though the statute is ambiguous about whether IDR is now mandatory for both parties.  
• Enforcement uncertainty remains high in 2026 as boards, attorneys, and courts work through the ambiguity. 

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

It’s still too early to say what the ultimate outcome of the IDR requirement will be. Consult an experienced California HOA attorney if you have questions.

What this means for homeowners: 

On the face of it, this law is good news for homeowners. Most fines will now be $100, and the IDR requirement offers a formal dispute path before things escalate to the courtroom. However, this law is still being interpreted, so HOA members should seek guidance from a California HOA attorney. 

Electronic voting is an option, but not yet mandatory. 

• It allows opt-in electronic voting for director elections and governing document amendments.
• Assessment votes are excluded from electronic voting.
• Election operating rules cannot be amended within 90 days of an election under Civil Code section 5105, so rule changes that enable electronic voting have to be adopted well ahead of the cycle.
• Paper ballot alternatives must still be offered to all members.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

Compliant electronic voting requires you to be able to notify people of updated election rules. HOA software with mass communication capabilities and digital surveys lets you do both with one tool. These rules are codified at Civil Code section 5115.

What this means for homeowners: 

An HOA board can now offer digital voting for elections, but only after formally updating its election rules with proper notice. Homeowners still retain the right to vote by paper ballot. 

• If the initial quorum is not reached, a reconvened meeting held at least 20 days later requires only 20% of the membership, or less if the governing documents allow.
• The board must issue notice for the reconvened meeting 15 days in advance. 

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

This is good news for HOA boards, it means that quorum numbers aren’t as difficult to achieve. And one way to boost attendance is to implement HOA software that lets you send mass communications, so homeowners know when meetings are scheduled and how to stay involved when they can’t attend. 

What this means for homeowners: 

Boards that have historically struggled to hit quorum now have a workable path forward. This reduces the risk of stalled elections and deferred governance decisions that affect the whole community.

• The law expands harassment protections to include HOA managers and community association staff.
• It allows restraining orders in cases involving threats, repeated disturbances, or intimidation directed at management personnel. 

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

This rule aims to create a more civil, harmonious environment for those who work for the HOA. Hopefully, it will encourage homeowners to be more courteous to volunteers, too. 

What this means for homeowners:  

Hostile or threatening conduct directed at a property manager or HOA staff will no longer be tolerated. While homeowners in California have more rights than in many other states, they do not have the right to harass their neighborhood volunteers. 

If the number of qualified candidates is not more than the number of open seats as of the nomination deadline, the association may declare those candidates elected by acclamation instead of holding a vote. The inspector of elections makes that determination. Acclamation is only available if the association held a regular director election within the last three years and gave individual notice of the election and the nomination procedure, beginning at least 90 days before the nomination deadline. The statute sets additional conditions, so review it in full before relying on this.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

An uncontested election does not have to mean a full ballot cycle. If you meet the conditions, acclamation saves the notice, printing, and counting work entirely. The catch is that the 90-day notice requirement means you have to plan for acclamation before you know whether you will need it.

What this means for homeowners:  

If no more people run than there are seats, the board can seat them without a vote. That is legal, but only when the association has kept up with regular elections and gave you proper notice and a real chance to be nominated.

The association must select one or three independent third parties to serve as inspector of elections. An inspector may be a member of the association, but may not be a director, a candidate for director, or a relative of either. An inspector also may not be anyone currently employed by or under contract to the association for any other paid service. The statute names a volunteer poll worker with the county registrar of voters, a licensee of the California Board of Accountancy, and a notary public as examples. The inspector determines who is entitled to vote and the voting power of each membership, rules on proxies, receives ballots, hears and determines challenges connected to the right to vote, counts and tabulates the votes, determines when polls close, and determines the results.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

If your board has been counting its own ballots, that is not permitted in California. Appoint the inspector before nominations open and publish who it is. Naming a neutral counter in advance removes the most common objection raised after a close election, and it takes the job off your volunteers.

What this means for homeowners:  

Your ballot is counted by someone who is not running and does not sit on the board. If you have a question about eligibility or how a ballot was handled, the inspector decides it, not the board.

Section 5115 sets the election calendar and the ballot procedure. The association must give general notice of the nomination procedure and deadline at least 30 days before that deadline. At least 30 days before ballots go out, it must give general notice of the ballot return date, time and address, the electronic ballot deadline and instructions if electronic voting is used, the date, time and location of the meeting where quorum is determined and ballots are counted, and the full list of candidates. Ballots and two preaddressed envelopes must be mailed first class or delivered at least 30 days before the voting deadline. The voter may not be identified by name, address, or lot, parcel, or unit number on the ballot itself. The association must follow the confidentiality method California counties use for vote by mail: the unsigned ballot goes into a sealed envelope, that envelope goes into a second sealed envelope, and the voter signs the second envelope and notes the address or interest that entitles them to vote. The second envelope is addressed to the inspector of elections.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

Everything in your election calendar keys off these 30-day windows, so build the timeline backward from the meeting date before you announce anything. The two-envelope method is what keeps the ballot secret while still letting the inspector verify who sent it, so do not shortcut it by having owners sign the ballot.

What this means for homeowners:  

You should receive at least 30 days’ notice before nominations close and another 30 days before ballots arrive. Your ballot is not signed and cannot carry your unit number, so no one on the board can connect your vote to you.

Votes must be counted and tabulated by the inspector of elections, or the inspector’s designee, in public at a properly noticed open meeting of the board or the members. Any candidate or any other member of the association may witness the counting. No one, including a board member or an employee of the management company, may open or review a ballot before that meeting. The inspector may verify the member’s information and signature on the outer envelope beforehand. Once the inspector receives a secret ballot it is irrevocable. The tabulated results must be promptly reported to the board and recorded in the minutes.

What this means for HOA board leadership: 

The count is a noticed public meeting, not an administrative task you finish at the kitchen table. Put it on the calendar with the rest of the election timeline and let candidates know they are welcome to send someone to watch.

What this means for homeowners:  

You can attend the count. If you want to see how the election was decided, you do not need permission and you do not have to file a records request.