An owner asked us to take their lot out of the HOA. How should the board respond?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 10, 2026

How an HOA board handles a request to remove a lot from the declaration: the cost shift, TX, FL and CO amendment votes, conditions to require and a sample reply.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

In most cases the board cannot grant it. A recorded declaration binds every lot it covers, and a board vote does not release one. Taking a lot out almost always takes a recorded amendment approved by the owners, and in some states the signatures of other owners and their lenders as well. What the board controls is the reply it sends, whether it recommends the idea to the owners, and the conditions it attaches if it does. These requests come from three directions. One owner who is tired of the dues or the rules. A buyer of several lots, such as a school, church or builder, who wants them out before building something the covenants forbid. And a developer still holding land the declaration lets it withdraw. Each one gets a different answer. Rules vary by state and by your own declaration, plat and bylaws. This guide is education, not legal advice. Run any release of a lot past the association's attorney before anyone signs anything.

Read the declaration before you reply

Pull the recorded declaration and every supplement, then search them for 'withdraw', 'withdrawal', 'de-annex', 'remove' and 'release'. You are looking for three things. 1. A withdrawal clause. Some declarations, mostly in phased communities, let the developer withdraw land it has not sold. In Colorado, a right to withdraw real estate is a development right under C.R.S. 38-33.3-103(14), and section 38-33.3-210(4) bars withdrawing any portion after a unit in that portion has been conveyed to a purchaser. Once a home in that phase sells, the right is gone. 2. The amendment article. It sets the vote and says whether lenders must consent. 3. The allocation formula. Colorado section 38-33.3-207(3) requires a declaration that allows units to be added or withdrawn to state the formula for reallocating shares afterward. If your declaration has no formula, a removal leaves the budget math unsettled, and that alone is a fair reason to decline. Then pull the plat. If the lot fronts a private road the association maintains, drains into an association pond, or holds an easement over common area, releasing it from the covenants does not release it from the infrastructure.

Run the cost shift before the board takes a position

The board's duty runs to the association as a whole, so the first question is what the release costs everyone else. Work it out in writing and put it in the board packet. Take an 80-lot community with $900 annual dues, raising $72,000 a year. A buyer of 12 vacant lots asks to take them out. Those lots pay $10,800 a year. Spread over the 68 lots that remain, that is about $159 more per lot, every year, before any other cost goes up. Reserve contributions shift the same way, and so does each lot's share of any future special assessment. Add the one-time costs: attorney time to draft the amendment, a title review, recording fees and the cost of running the owner vote. Then list what the association gives up, such as architectural control over those lots and a lien to secure what they owe. Owners vote on per-home numbers, so give them one.

The vote each state requires

Texas. Property Code section 209.0041(h) allows a declaration to be amended only by 67 percent of the total votes allocated to owners entitled to vote on the amendment. Under (h-1), a lower percentage in the declaration controls, and under (h-2), a declaration silent on amendment voting can be amended by owners of 67 percent of the lots. The section does not apply during a development period (subsection (d)), and (d-1) excludes amendments affecting land zoned for or containing commercial, industrial, apartment or condominium uses. Total votes means every vote in the community, not the votes cast. Florida. Section 720.306(1)(b) sets a default of two-thirds of the voting interests unless the governing documents or the law say otherwise. Paragraph (1)(c) is the harder part. Unless the governing documents as originally recorded allow it, an amendment may not increase the share of common expenses a parcel pays unless that parcel's record owner and all record lienholders join in it. Removing a lot raises every remaining lot's share. Ask the attorney whether (1)(c) reaches your amendment before you schedule a vote, because it can turn a two-thirds vote into a signature from every owner and every mortgage holder. Colorado. C.R.S. 38-33.3-217(1)(a)(I) sets the general amendment vote at more than 50 percent, or a higher figure the declaration states, capped at 67 percent. Subsection (4)(a) requires at least 67 percent, including 67 percent of the votes held by owners other than the declarant, for an amendment that changes a unit's allocated interests. Expect counsel to treat a removal that way, since every remaining unit's share goes up. For communities created before July 1, 1992, section 38-33.3-117 applies 217(1) and 217(7) but not 217(4), so an older declaration's own terms matter more. A challenge to an adopted amendment must be brought within one year of recording under 217(2), and an amendment takes effect only once recorded under 217(3).

Conditions to require if the board supports it

Sometimes a release is the right call: a parcel that was never built on and never used the amenities, land the city wants for a park or a school, or a lot whose owner will take over a cost the association now carries. If the board recommends it, write the conditions into the amendment or a recorded release agreement so they bind the next owner too. - Every dues installment, assessment, fine and fee paid through the recording date, confirmed by a payoff letter from the treasurer. - The requesting owner pays all costs: attorney, title work, recording and the vote itself. In Colorado, section 38-33.3-217(6) assigns amendment expenses to the association in most cases, so get a signed reimbursement agreement before any work starts. - A one-time payment toward the lot's share of reserves and any special assessment already approved, if counsel agrees it can be required. - Recorded easements and a cost-share agreement for any private road, drainage system, gate or utility the parcel keeps using. - No amenity access after release, or access only under a written fee agreement. - Lender consent wherever the declaration or Florida's 720.306(1)(c) requires it. Decide too whether the released land keeps any restriction, such as a height limit or a landscaped buffer next to existing homes. Settle that before owners vote.

Sample reply to the owner

Answer in writing within two weeks, even before the board decides. Adjust this to your documents: "Dear [name], The board received your request dated [date] to remove [address, lot and block] from the declaration of [community]. The declaration, recorded at [recording reference], binds every lot in the community, and the board does not have authority to release a lot by its own vote. A release would require an amendment approved by [percentage] of the owners and recorded in the county records[, together with the signatures of affected owners and lenders]. The board will consider at its [date] meeting whether to present your request to the owners. Before then, please tell us the reason for the request, the planned use of the lot, and whether you will pay the association's legal and recording costs. Until a release is recorded, the lot remains subject to all dues, rules and architectural requirements. [Officer name], for the board of directors" The last sentence matters most. Owners who think a release is coming tend to stop paying.

A timeline that works

- Week 1: Acknowledge the request in writing. Pull the declaration, supplements, plat and the lot's account history. - Weeks 2 to 4: The attorney reviews any withdrawal clause, the amendment vote and lender consent. The treasurer prepares the cost-shift sheet. - Next board meeting: Decide by motion in an open meeting. To decline: "Move that the board decline to present the request to remove Lot [ ] from the declaration, because the release would shift about $[ ] a year to the remaining lots and the declaration has no formula for reallocating shares." To proceed: "Move that the board present to the owners an amendment releasing Lot [ ], subject to the conditions in the attached agreement signed by the requesting owner." - 30 to 90 days out: If the board proceeds, send owners the amendment text, the cost sheet and the ballot. Our guide on how to run an HOA vote to amend the declaration covers notice, ballots and counting. - After approval: The designated officer signs and records the amendment. Colorado section 38-33.3-217(5) names the president if no officer was designated. In Florida, 720.306(1)(b) requires the association to send owners copies of the recorded amendment, or notice of where it was recorded, within 30 days.

Mistakes boards make

- Signing a release letter or quitclaim deed without an owner vote. The document probably does nothing, and the owner stops paying because of it. - Telling an owner informally that the board 'has no objection'. Months later it reads like a promise. - Pausing dues while the request is pending. The lot owes every assessment until the amendment is recorded. - Counting votes cast instead of total votes in Texas, where 209.0041(h) uses total votes allocated. - Forgetting the road and the pond. A released lot that keeps using the private street without a cost-share agreement rides free for as long as the house stands. - Treating one release as precedent. Each one raises the cost of the next for everyone left, so record in the minutes why this request was different. If the owner actually wants to merge the lot with the one next door rather than leave, that is a different request. Our guide on what to do when an owner wants to combine two HOA lots covers it.

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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