Quick Answer
New York has a Condominium Act and no comparable act for homeowners associations. A condominium's election rules are in bylaws the act requires it to adopt, and the act lists what those bylaws must cover (Real Property Law §339-v). A homeowners association incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation takes its defaults from the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law (N-PCL), and its certificate of incorporation and bylaws can change many of them.
| Question | HOA (not-for-profit corporation) | Condominium |
|---|---|---|
| Meeting notice | Written, 10 to 50 days ahead if given personally, by first class mail, fax or email; 30 to 60 days by any other class of mail (§605(a)) | The method of calling meetings in the bylaws (§339-v(1)(b)) |
| Quorum | A majority of the votes. The certificate or bylaws may lower it, but not below 100 votes or one-tenth of the votes, whichever is less (§608(a), (b)) | A majority of the unit owners unless the bylaws set another percentage (§339-v(1)(b)) |
| Proxies | Allowed unless the certificate or bylaws say otherwise; invalid after 11 months unless the proxy says otherwise (§609(a)) | Your bylaws |
| Online meeting | If the board decides, unless the certificate or bylaws restrict it (§603(a)) | If the board of managers decides (§339-v(1)(b)) |
| Acting without a meeting | Consent of every member entitled to vote, unless the certificate allows fewer (§614(a)) | Your bylaws |
| Electing the board | By default, a plurality of the votes cast at a meeting (§613(a)) | As the bylaws provide; at least one-third of terms expire each year (§339-v(1)(a)) |
| Removing a director | For cause by the members, or by the board with a majority present; without cause only if the certificate or bylaws allow it (§706) | The method in the bylaws (§339-v(1)(a)) |
| Filling a vacancy | A majority of the directors in office, unless the certificate or bylaws give it to the members (§705(a)) | Your bylaws |
This is our reading of the New York Real Property Law and Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, offered to support your own review, and it is not legal advice. Your declaration, certificate of incorporation and bylaws override many of these defaults. Confirm with your association's attorney before you rely on any one of them.
Which Law Governs Your Association
Condominiums. The Condominium Act, Article 9-B of the Real Property Law, applies only to property whose owners submit it to the act by executing and recording a declaration (§339-f(1)). The property is then run under bylaws annexed to the declaration, and a bylaw amendment is valid only if it is set out in a recorded amendment to the declaration (§339-u). The board of managers may also incorporate under another New York statute, consistently with the act (§339-v(1)(a)); if yours did, ask counsel how that statute applies to owners' meetings.
Homeowners associations. An HOA starts from its declaration and bylaws. If it is a not-for-profit corporation, the N-PCL supplies the defaults, and its bylaws may add any provision not inconsistent with the N-PCL, another statute or the certificate of incorporation (§602(f)). An unincorporated association has only its documents.
Cooperatives. A co-op is a different legal form: the building belongs to a corporation, residents hold shares and proprietary leases, and the vote is a shareholders' vote under the corporation law the co-op was formed under. This guide does not cover co-ops; our NYC co-op shareholder election guide does.
Condominiums: What the Bylaws Must Say
Section 339-v(1) lists what every condominium's bylaws must provide. For elections, four items matter:
- The board. The nomination and election of a board of managers, its size, and that the terms of at least one-third of the managers expire each year, along with the board's powers and the method of removing a manager (§339-v(1)(a)).
- Meetings. How unit owners' meetings are called, what percentage of unit owners makes a quorum if not a majority, and what percentage adopts decisions binding on all of them (§339-v(1)(b)).
- Officers. A president, elected from the board, who presides over board and owners' meetings, and a secretary who records them (§339-v(1)(c), (d)).
- Amendments. The percentage of unit owners who may amend the bylaws, never less than 66 and two-thirds percent in number and in common interest, unless all units are non-residential (§339-v(1)(j)).
Two definitions decide the counting. A "majority" of unit owners means more than 50 percent of the common interest, more than 50 percent of the units, or more than 50 percent of both, as the act, the declaration or the bylaws specify. Any other percentage of unit owners is read the same way (§339-e(8)). The common interest is each unit's undivided share of the common elements as expressed in the declaration (§339-e(5)), and the declaration must state each unit owner's common interest (§339-n(5)).
So ask first which measure your bylaws use. By common interest, each unit's vote carries its percentage from the declaration. By units, each unit has one vote. If they require both, a motion and a quorum have to clear both tests.
Section 339-v sets no number of days for notice and says nothing about proxies, ballots or board vacancies. Those answers are in your bylaws.
Homeowners Associations Under the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law
Notice
Notice of a members' meeting is written. It states the place, date and hour, the means of electronic communication by which members may take part, if any, and, unless it is the annual meeting, that it is issued by or at the direction of whoever called the meeting. A special meeting's notice also states its purpose (§605(a)).
The delivery method sets the window (§605(a)):
- Personally, by first class mail, by fax or by email: not less than 10 nor more than 50 days before the meeting.
- By any other class of mail: not less than 30 nor more than 60 days before it.
Email notice goes to the address on the record of members or filed with the secretary, and stops counting for a member once two consecutive electronic notices cannot be delivered. A member who asks in writing for notice by first class mail must get it that way. An association with more than 500 members may instead publish the notice in a newspaper in the county of its principal office once a week for three successive weeks, if it also posts it prominently on the homepage of any website it keeps (§605(a)).
Two more rules reach election meetings. If the board adopted, amended or repealed a bylaw that regulates an upcoming election of directors, the election notice must set out that bylaw with a concise statement of the changes (§602(e)). And in a residential not-for-profit corporation, to use the statute's term, bylaw changes the board makes go to the members in writing, on paper or electronically, within ten days (§602(g)). A member who attends without protesting the lack of notice before the meeting ends has waived it (§606).
Quorum
Members entitled to cast a majority of the total votes are a quorum (§608(a)). The certificate of incorporation or the bylaws may set a lower quorum, but not lower than the members entitled to cast 100 votes or one-tenth of the total votes, whichever is less (§608(b)). In a hypothetical association with one vote per home:
- With 400 homes, the default quorum is 201 votes, and the bylaws can lower it to 40, because one-tenth is fewer than 100.
- With 2,000 homes, the default is 1,001 votes, and the bylaws can go no lower than 100.
The members present may adjourn without a quorum (§608(d)). Where a quorum has proved impractical or impossible to obtain, a director, officer or member may petition the supreme court, on notice to the attorney general, to dispense with it, setting out the association's reasonable efforts to get one (§608(e)). A quorum or vote requirement higher than the statute's takes two-thirds of all the votes, at a meeting, to add, change or strike (§615(b)).
If meetings keep falling short, see what happens when an annual meeting fails quorum, and the quorum calculator does the arithmetic for your roster.
Proxies
Unless the certificate of incorporation or the bylaws provide otherwise, every member entitled to vote may authorize another person to act by proxy (§609(a)(1)). A proxy is invalid after 11 months from its date unless it provides otherwise, and the member may revoke it at will, apart from narrow exceptions the section lists (§609(a)(2)). Selling a vote or a proxy is barred, outside narrow exceptions the statute allows (§609(a)(5)).
The statute names two ways to give one: a signed writing, where a facsimile signature counts (§609(b)(1)), or an email to the person who will hold the proxy, with information showing the member authorized it. If the inspectors accept an email proxy, they must state what information they relied on (§609(b)(2)). Other states are compared in HOA proxy voting rules by state.
This one gets heated
Should community boards be required to use independent election administrators?
One Member, One Vote
A member entitled to vote has one vote, no more and no less; only a member that is itself an organization can be given votes in proportion to its own membership (§611(e)). If your declaration gives an owner of several lots several votes, check how your certificate and bylaws define a member before you build the roster.
Can a New York HOA or Condo Vote Online?
Yes, at a meeting. Both statutes let the board hold the meeting itself online. Neither has a section that lets members act by ballot instead of meeting, so an online vote in New York needs a structure your documents support.
An HOA under the N-PCL. Unless the certificate of incorporation or bylaws restrict it, the board may decide in its sole discretion that a members' meeting is held partly or entirely by electronic communication, and if entirely, the platform is the place of the meeting. The board must implement reasonable measures to (§603(a)):
- 1verify that each person taking part electronically is a member or a member's proxy;
- 2give each of them a reasonable opportunity to take part, including to propose, object to and vote on an action, and to see, read or hear the proceedings substantially as they happen; and
- 3record and keep a record of every vote or other action taken electronically at the meeting.
The notice must say how members can take part electronically (§605(a)). What the N-PCL does not offer is a general ballot without a meeting. Directors are elected in the manner the certificate or bylaws provide (§703(b)), and by default by a plurality of the votes cast at a meeting of members (§613(a)). Members can act without a meeting only on the written or electronic consent of every member entitled to vote, unless the certificate of incorporation says fewer is enough (§614(a)).
A condominium. The board of managers may decide in its sole discretion that an owners' meeting is held entirely or partly by electronic communication, or meet in a room and let owners attend there or online (§339-v(1)(b)). How votes are cast and counted is left to the bylaws.
What this means for your election. The vote happens at a meeting, and the meeting can be online or hybrid. Where proxies are allowed, members who cannot attend can give one, by email in an N-PCL association, and some bylaws provide for absentee or mail ballots. The N-PCL does not say in terms that bylaws may replace the meeting vote with a mail or online ballot, so before the notice goes out, have counsel confirm which of these your documents support and whether ballots returned before the meeting may be counted at it.
On vote.direct each owner gets a ballot by email or text with a code that belongs to that voter alone, owners without email can be mailed a paper packet with a prepaid return envelope, and turnout is tracked against your quorum while voting is open. Voting can close when the meeting votes, weighted voting handles a condominium that counts by common interest, and each election produces a result certificate and an exportable audit record: a record for your inspectors to work from, not a substitute for them.
Inspectors. A bylaw requiring inspectors is waived unless a member present in person or by proxy asks for them. The board may appoint inspectors in advance; otherwise the person presiding may, and must if a voting member asks (§610(a)). Inspectors decide the quorum and the validity of proxies, count the votes and determine the result, and their certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts in it (§610(b)). See the inspector of elections guide.
Electing the Board
HOA. Members meet every year to elect directors, on a date fixed by or under the bylaws (§603(b)). The board has at least three directors, and three if nothing fixes another number (§702(a)). Terms are set by the certificate or bylaws, may not exceed five years, and are one year if nothing fixes them; a director serves until a successor is elected and qualified (§703(b), (c)). Terms may be staggered in two to five classes (§704(a)), and cumulative voting applies only if the certificate or bylaws provide for it (§617).
If a month passes after the annual meeting date without enough directors elected, the board must call a special meeting to elect them. If it does not call one within two weeks, or no election follows within two months, members entitled to cast 100 votes or 10 percent of the votes, whichever is less, may demand one. At that meeting, the members who attend in person or by proxy are a quorum for electing directors only (§604(a), (b)).
Condominium. The bylaws must provide for nominating and electing the board of managers, with at least one-third of the terms expiring each year (§339-v(1)(a)). Eligibility, ballots and counting are in your bylaws. The mechanics are in how to count HOA ballots and how a nominating committee works.
Removing a Director and Filling the Seat
HOA. Directors may be removed for cause by a vote of the members, or by a vote of the board if at least a majority of the board is present. Removal without cause is available only if the certificate of incorporation or bylaws provide for it, and only by the members (§706(a), (b)). The attorney general or 10 percent of the members may also sue to remove a director for cause, and the court may bar that director from re-election for a period it sets (§706(d)).
A vacancy among directors elected at large, or a new seat from enlarging the board, may be filled by a majority of the directors then in office, however few they are, unless the certificate or bylaws give it to the members (§705(a)). Unless the documents say otherwise, the replacement serves to the end of the term, or for a term the board sets that ends at an annual meeting (§705(c)).
Condominium. The bylaws must set the method of removing a manager (§339-v(1)(a)). Section 339-v does not mention vacancies, so your bylaws decide who fills one. Other states are compared in how to fill a board vacancy and the recall process by state.
Special Meetings and Disputes
Members of an N-PCL association entitled to cast 10 percent of the total votes may demand a special meeting in writing, naming a date two to three months away. If the secretary has not given notice within five business days, any member who signed may give it (§603(c)).
A member aggrieved by an election may petition the supreme court in the judicial district of the association's office, which hears the proofs and confirms the election, orders a new one, or takes other action justice requires (§618). See what to do when an election is disputed.
What It Costs on vote.direct
A 200-unit condominium pays $19.99 per election. The flat rate starts at $4.99 for up to 50 voters, and elections of up to 25 voters are free. You can rehearse with a free test election of up to 5 test voters, and if the board would rather hand the work off, we run the election for you. The citations for New York are also summarized on the New York HOA voting rules page.
FAQ
Q: Does New York have an HOA law?
New York has a Condominium Act, Article 9-B of the Real Property Law, and no comparable act for homeowners associations. An HOA's rules come from its declaration and bylaws and, if it is a not-for-profit corporation, from the N-PCL.
Q: How much notice does a New York HOA have to give for a members' meeting?
Under the N-PCL, written notice 10 to 50 days before the meeting if given personally, by first class mail, by fax or by email, and 30 to 60 days by any other class of mail (§605(a)). A condominium follows its bylaws (§339-v(1)(b)).
Q: What is the quorum for a New York condo meeting?
A majority of the unit owners unless the bylaws set another percentage (§339-v(1)(b)), counted by common interest, by number of units or by both, as the declaration or bylaws specify (§339-e(8)).
Q: Can a New York HOA hold its annual meeting online?
Yes, unless the certificate of incorporation or bylaws restrict it, if the board verifies who takes part, lets members participate and vote, and records the votes (N-PCL §603(a)). A condominium board has the same option under §339-v(1)(b).
Q: Can a New York HOA elect its board by ballot without a meeting?
Not under the N-PCL's defaults. Directors are elected by a plurality of the votes cast at a meeting unless the documents validly provide otherwise (§613(a), §703(b)), and action without a meeting needs every voting member's consent unless the certificate allows fewer (§614(a)). The meeting can be online, and absent members can vote by proxy, including by email (§609(b)(2)).
The Bottom Line
New York gives a condominium a list of things its bylaws must decide, and gives an incorporated HOA a full set of corporate defaults. Two points trip boards up. An N-PCL association votes at a meeting by default, though the meeting can be held online. And a condominium has to know whether its bylaws count by common interest, by units or both before it can say a quorum was reached.
Sources: New York Real Property Law §339-e, §339-f, §339-n, §339-u and §339-v (Condominium Act, Article 9-B); Not-for-Profit Corporation Law §602, §603, §604, §605, §606, §608, §609, §610, §611, §613, §614, §615, §617, §618, §702, §703, §704, §705 and §706. Read in the Laws of New York at nysenate.gov on November 12, 2026.
Every rule on one page: New York HOA voting rules, with quorum, notice, proxy and electronic voting at a glance.
This article is general information, not legal advice. We recommend you do your own research and confirm anything you plan to act on. Where this article states law, the section is cited so you can read the primary source yourself rather than take our word for it. That is what the citations are for. Election requirements also turn on your own governing documents, which we have not seen, and statutes are amended. For advice about your community, consult a qualified attorney licensed in your state.
We work hard to verify every citation against the primary source, but laws change and errors happen. If you spot an inaccuracy, email support@vote.direct and we will correct it. See our editorial standards for how these pages are researched and checked.
