How should an HOA board run a fair violation hearing before it fines an owner?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 2, 2026

How an HOA board runs a violation hearing: TX, FL and CO notice deadlines, the evidence packet, who decides, a hearing script and a written decision letter.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

The short answer

A violation hearing is the board checking its own case before money changes hands. Run it the same way every time. Send the notice your state requires, give the owner the evidence ahead of time, keep anyone with a personal stake off the panel, let the association present first and the owner second, decide on the facts and the adopted fine schedule, and send the decision in writing by the deadline. Boards rarely lose fine disputes because the owner was right about the fence. They lose because the notice went out by the wrong kind of mail, the hearing slipped past a deadline, or the neighbor who complained also voted. Your governing documents may add steps and state law changes, so treat this as general education, not legal advice, and check both before you set a date. For the owner's side of the same process, see our guide on what happens at an HOA violation hearing.

Texas and California deadlines

Texas Property Code section 209.006 requires written notice by certified mail before the association levies a fine. The notice must describe the violation, give a date to cure it if it is curable and not a threat to health or safety, tell the owner they may request a hearing on or before the 30th day after the notice was mailed, and mention the extra protections for owners on active military duty. If the owner cures within that period, no fine. Under section 209.007, once the board receives a request it must hold the hearing within 30 days and tell the owner the date, time and place at least 10 days ahead. The board or the owner may ask for one postponement of up to 10 days, and either side may make an audio recording. If your documents allow fines at all, section 209.0061 requires a written enforcement policy listing the categories of violations, the fine schedule for each, and the hearing information, posted on the association's website or sent to owners every year. In California, Civil Code section 5855 requires written notice at least 10 days before the hearing, an executive session if the member asks for one, and a written decision within 14 days. Since June 30, 2025, it also bars discipline if the member cures before the meeting, or commits money to a fix that will take longer, and section 5850 caps a fine at $100 per violation unless the board makes a written health or safety finding at an open meeting.

Florida and Colorado rules

In Florida the board proposes the fine and a committee confirms or rejects it. Under section 720.305(2), the board must give at least 14 days' written notice to the owner's mailing or email address in the official records, describing the violation, the action needed to cure it, and the hearing date, location and access information. The hearing must happen within 90 days of the notice, before a committee of at least three members appointed by the board who are not officers, directors or employees, or the spouse, parent, child, brother or sister of one. The committee may meet by phone or video, and the owner may attend that way. If a majority of the committee does not approve the fine, it cannot be imposed. The committee sends written findings within 7 days, payment cannot be due sooner than 30 days after that notice, and a violation cured before the hearing cannot be fined. A fine may not exceed $100 per violation, and daily fines for a continuing violation may not exceed $1,000 in total unless the governing documents allow more. Colorado section 38-33.3-302(1)(k) allows reasonable fines only after notice and an opportunity to be heard. Section 38-33.3-209.5 requires a written fine policy with a fact-finding process before an impartial decision maker. It bans daily fines and requires notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, giving 30 days to cure most violations, then a second 30-day period before any lawsuit, with total fines for that violation capped at $500. A health or safety violation gets a 72-hour cure notice, and after that fines may run every other day. Send notices in English and in any language the owner has asked for.

Build the evidence packet

Texas section 209.007(f) requires the association to give the owner, at least 10 days before the hearing, a packet of every document, photograph and communication it plans to introduce. If it does not, the owner gets an automatic 15-day postponement. Do this in every state, because a hearing where the owner sees the photos for the first time goes badly for everyone. The packet holds the exact covenant or rule with its section number, every notice sent with proof of mailing such as the certified mail receipt, dated photos taken from the street or common area, the inspection log, any architectural approval or denial on file, the page of the fine schedule that applies, and the owner's letters or emails about the matter. Leave out anything you will not rely on, and anything about other owners. Number the pages so everyone can say 'page 4' instead of 'the second photo.'

Decide who sits on the panel

In Florida the committee decides, and the board's role is appointing it. Texas section 209.007 and California section 5855 put the hearing before the board. In Colorado, the governing documents and the enforcement policy say who hears it, usually the board or a committee it appoints, and section 38-33.3-209.5(2)(b) requires a decision maker with no direct personal or financial interest in the outcome beyond what every other owner has. Whoever it is, any member who filed the complaint, lives next door, has a running dispute with the owner, or has money at stake should say so and step out of that matter. If recusals leave too few directors for a quorum, check the bylaws before improvising. Pick one person to run the hearing, usually the president, and a different person to take notes. Deciding ahead of time is the fastest way to turn a fine into a grievance.

Run the hearing in order

Texas section 209.007(h) sets the order: a board member or the association's representative presents the association's case first, and then the owner or the owner's representative presents theirs. That order works anywhere. The chair opens with something like: 'This is a hearing on our notice dated May 3 about the fence at 214 Cedar Lane. A board member will describe what the association saw, and then you'll have as long as you need to respond. We'll decide after the hearing and send you a written decision by May 20.' The presenting director walks through the packet in about five minutes. The owner responds without interruption. Panel members then ask factual questions only: is it fixed, when was it fixed, was there an approval, is the photo of your lot. The chair closes by asking 'Is there anything else you want us to consider?' Most hearings belong in closed session. Texas section 209.0051(c) lets the board meet in executive session on enforcement actions, as long as any decision is summarized orally and recorded in the minutes in general terms, and California requires executive session when the member asks. If the owner does not come, the hearing can still go ahead. Texas section 209.008(b) says the owner's presence is not required. Decide on the evidence, not on the absence.

Decide and send the letter

Answer three questions in order. Did the violation happen as the notice described? Was it cured within the cure period? Which line of the adopted fine schedule applies? If the first answer is no or unclear, close the matter. If the owner cured in time, Texas, Florida, Colorado and California all bar the fine. In Colorado, an owner who sends a photo of the fix with their cure notice is treated as cured on the day they send it. If a fine applies, use the amount on the schedule. Do not pick a number in the room. Record the vote. A decision letter you can adapt: 'On May 17, 2026, the board held a hearing on the violation described in our notice of May 3, 2026: a rear fence at 214 Cedar Lane that exceeds the 6-foot height limit in Declaration Article 7.4. After reviewing the photographs and your statement, the board found that the fence exceeds the limit and has not been corrected. Under the adopted fine schedule, the board imposed a fine of $100, due by June 30, 2026. If you correct the fence before that date and send us a photo, the board will consider waiving the fine at its next meeting.' Send it well inside your deadline: 7 days for a Florida committee and 14 days in California.

Mistakes that sink fines

Sending a Texas violation notice by regular mail when section 209.006 requires certified mail. Letting the director who complained vote on the fine. Putting a Florida director or a director's spouse on the hearing committee. Fining a Florida owner for trash cans left at the curb within 24 hours of pickup day, which section 720.305(7) forbids no matter what the rules say. Showing the owner new photos at the hearing. Charging an amount that is not on the fine schedule, a daily fine in Colorado, or more than $100 in California without the health or safety finding. Holding the hearing after the statutory window closes, then starting over from the first notice. Forgetting to file the decision letter and the certified mail receipts together, so that a year later nobody can prove the steps happened. A one-page checklist that follows your written enforcement policy, kept with every case, prevents most of these. Our guide on the written policies every board should have covers drafting that enforcement policy.

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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