Owners delivered a petition for a special meeting. What does the HOA board have to do?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 18, 2026

What an HOA board does when owners petition for a special meeting: logging it, counting signatures, deadlines in TX, FL and CO, the notice, agenda and quorum.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

Treat the petition as a legal document with a clock running, not as a complaint. Write down the date and the person who received it, check that it asks for something the owners can actually decide, count the signatures against the membership roll, and if it meets the threshold, call the meeting and send notice inside the window your bylaws and state law set. The board does not get to decide whether the meeting is a good idea. If the petition is valid, the meeting happens, and a board that stalls can end up with the petitioners calling it themselves or a court ordering it. If the petition falls short, say so in writing and explain exactly why. The thresholds and deadlines below vary by state and by your governing documents, and recall petitions often follow a separate procedure, so this is a guide to the board's process, not legal advice.

Log it the day it arrives

Stamp or note the date and time the petition was received, who received it and how it came in. Make a scan before anyone marks it up, and keep the original pages in one place. That date matters more than anything else in the first week. In Colorado, the nonprofit act lets a signer set the meeting and send notice if the association has not given notice within 30 days after the demand is delivered to a corporate officer (C.R.S. 7-127-102(3)), and a court can order the meeting after the same 30 days (7-127-103(1)(b)(I)). In California, petitioners can send notice themselves if the board has not done so within 20 days of receiving the request (Corporations Code 7511(c)). Florida and Texas statutes set no response deadline that we found, but a board that sits on a valid petition for months will lose any later dispute about it. Next, read what the petition asks for. A petition can call a meeting to vote on something the owners control, such as amending the declaration, removing a director or rejecting a budget where the documents allow it. It cannot hand the owners a decision the documents give to the board, like choosing the landscaper. If the stated purpose is outside the owners' power, the meeting may still have to be held, but the board should get advice on how to word the notice.

Count the signatures the way the law counts them

Thresholds are stated in votes, not names, and they differ by state and type of association. Texas nonprofit corporation law lets members holding at least one-tenth of the votes entitled to be cast call a special meeting (Business Organizations Code 22.155), and most Texas HOAs are nonprofit corporations. Texas condominiums default to owners holding at least 20 percent of the votes under Property Code 82.108(a), unless the declaration says otherwise. Florida HOAs must hold a special meeting when called by at least 10 percent of the total voting interests, unless the governing documents state a different percentage (720.306(3)). Florida's condominium statute has no general petition rule outside recalls, so a condominium looks to its bylaws and, if it is a nonprofit corporation, to the nonprofit act: written demands from members holding at least 10 percent of the votes, delivered to the secretary, unless the articles or bylaws say otherwise (617.0701(3)(a)2.). Colorado's CCIOA lets owners with 20 percent of the votes, or any lower percentage in the bylaws, call a special meeting (38-33.3-308(1)), and the nonprofit act separately uses 10 percent unless the bylaws provide otherwise (7-127-102(1)(b)). Ask the attorney which number your Colorado association uses. To count, pull the membership roll as of the date received. Check each signature against the owner of record for that lot or unit. Then decide, using your documents, how to treat co-owners who signed separately, an LLC signed by someone without stated authority, two signatures for the same lot, and an owner who asks to withdraw. Count each lot's votes once. Write down every signature you rejected and the reason, in a spreadsheet the board can share with the petitioners.

Set the date and send the notice

Once the count clears the threshold, the board picks a date and sends notice within the state's window. Texas nonprofit corporations give notice of member meetings not later than the 10th day and not earlier than the 60th day before the meeting, and a special meeting notice must state its purpose (BOC 22.156(a)). Property Code 209.0056(a) uses the same 10 to 60 day window for any owner vote in a property owners' association, and it overrides a contrary rule in the documents. Florida HOAs give at least 14 days' notice when the bylaws are silent, with an affidavit of mailing filed in the official records (720.306(5)), and the notice must describe the purpose (720.306(4)). Colorado requires notice not less than 10 nor more than 50 days before the meeting, stating the time, place and agenda items (38-33.3-308(1)). California common interest developments must hold the meeting 35 to 150 days after receiving the request (7511(c)). Pick a date the board can actually staff: a room that fits, a sign-in table, ballots or proxies if your documents use them, and someone to run the count. Our guide on running an annual meeting when you may not reach quorum has practical steps for proxies and turnout that apply to a special meeting just as well.

Sample notice paragraph

'Notice of special meeting of the members of Willow Creek Homeowners Association. On May 2, the association received a petition signed by owners holding the votes required by Section 4.3 of the Bylaws, requesting a special meeting. The meeting will be held on June 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Willow Creek Clubhouse, 100 Willow Creek Drive. The purpose of the meeting is to vote on the proposed amendment to Article VII of the Declaration, Leasing, attached to this notice. No other business will be conducted. A quorum of 20 percent of the votes is required. A proxy form is enclosed.' Keep the purpose line close to the petition's own words. Florida HOAs (720.306(3)), Florida nonprofit corporations (617.0701(3)(c)), Colorado nonprofit corporations (7-127-102(5)) and California (7511(a)) limit the meeting to the business stated in the notice. Adding a board item to a petitioned meeting invites a challenge to the whole thing.

If the petition falls short

Answer in writing within a week or two, even when the count is far below the threshold. Say what the threshold is and where it comes from, how many valid votes the board counted, and the reasons signatures were rejected, with the spreadsheet attached. For example: 'The board counted signatures for 11 of the 84 lots, or 13 percent of the votes. Section 4.3 of the Bylaws requires owners holding 20 percent of the votes. Three signatures were not counted because the signer is not the owner of record. You are welcome to submit additional signatures. In the meantime, the board will place the leasing question on the agenda of its July 8 meeting for discussion.' That last sentence is worth adding. Most petitions come from owners who feel ignored, and putting their issue on an open board agenda often settles more than a contested meeting would.

A sample timeline

Day 0: petition received and logged. Days 1 to 5: scan, check the purpose, pull the roll, count signatures, email the attorney if the purpose is a recall or an amendment. Days 5 to 10: board meeting, or an emergency meeting if your next regular one is weeks away, to accept the count and set the date. Days 10 to 14: send notice, with proxies or ballots if used. Meeting date: at least the minimum notice period later, and in Colorado inside 30 days of delivery for the notice itself. After the meeting: minutes, vote tally and the petition kept with the official records. If the petition seeks to recall directors, check the recall procedure before using this timeline. Florida, for example, has its own recall rules in 720.303(10) for HOAs and 718.112(2)(l) for condominiums, with a 10 percent meeting call and separate deadlines. Our guide on how a recall petition works covers the owners' side.

Mistakes boards make

Counting names instead of votes. A lot owned by a married couple is usually one vote however many people sign. Rejecting signatures without saying why. A list of reasons is what keeps the dispute about numbers and not motives. Waiting for the next regular meeting. If that is six weeks away, the board may blow the deadline. Scheduling the meeting at an awkward time to suppress turnout. Owners notice, and a quorum failure on a petitioned meeting usually brings a second petition. Running the meeting as the board's meeting. The purpose belongs to the petitioners. Let a neutral chair or the attorney run it if the topic involves the board itself, and keep the board's view to a short statement during discussion.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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