How do we put together an HOA owner directory without exposing anyone's phone number or email?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 1, 2026

How an HOA board builds an owner directory: what TX, FL and CO law allows, a consent form, fields, sharing, updates, misuse rules and a sample timeline.

Part of the HOA board handbook: residents and communication.

The short answer

Treat the directory as a voluntary list that owners opt into, field by field, and keep it separate from the owner roster the board uses for notices and collections. Names and property addresses are the low-risk part. Phone numbers and email addresses are where state law steps in, so get each person's written consent before you print them, keep that consent with the association's records, and honor a withdrawal in writing. Share the finished directory only with owners and residents, never on an open web page. Add a short rule that the list may not be used for selling or soliciting. A board that does those things can produce a useful directory in about six weeks. Rules vary by state and by your declaration and bylaws, so read both before you start. This guide is general education, not legal advice.

What Texas, Florida and Colorado allow

Texas. Property Code section 209.005(k) says the association is not required to release or allow inspection of records that show an owner's contact information, other than the owner's address. That protects the board when it declines to hand out phone numbers in response to a records request. It does not authorize publishing them. The safe reading is that the board needs the owner's permission before a number or email goes into a directory. Florida. Section 720.303(5)(g)6 lists email addresses, telephone numbers and emergency contact information among the records members may not inspect. The same subparagraph then lets an association print and distribute to parcel owners a directory with each owner's name, parcel address and telephone numbers, and an owner can keep their numbers out by asking in writing. Email addresses are different. An owner may consent in writing to disclosure of other contact information, so put emails in a Florida directory only with that consent. Colorado. Section 38-33.3-317(3.5)(b)(I) requires the association to withhold members' and residents' phone numbers and email addresses from inspection, except that a person may give prior written consent and the association may then publish them to other members and residents. The consent must be kept as an association record and stays valid until the person withdraws it in writing. Subparagraph (II) lets consent be given electronically if the parties agree. Elsewhere, look for a similar rule in your state's HOA or condominium act before you print anything.

Decide what goes in it

Before anyone collects a form, the board should settle three questions at a meeting. First, who is listed: owners only, or owners and the tenants and adult household members who want to be found. Colorado's consent rule covers residents as well as members, so a Colorado board can include renters who sign the form. Second, which fields. A workable set is name as the person wants it shown, street address, phone, email, and an optional line such as 'new to the area, happy to share contractor names' or 'retired nurse, call in an emergency.' Leave out anything you would not want on a stranger's refrigerator: birthdays, children's names, work schedules, gate codes, and anything about dues or violations. Third, the format. A PDF sorted by street is easiest to keep current. A printed booklet is welcome in older communities but goes out of date the day it is delivered. If the association already has a password-protected owner portal, a directory page there is better than a file that gets forwarded.

Wording for the consent form

Use one form for the directory alone. A checkbox for the emergency alert list or for email delivery of official notices belongs on a different form, because each consent covers a different use. Copy and adjust this: 'Owner and resident directory. The association publishes a directory to owners and residents of [community name] only. It is not posted publicly. Please check each item you agree to share: [ ] my name and street address [ ] my phone number: ______ [ ] my email address: ______ [ ] the note below. I agree that the association may publish the checked items in the directory until I withdraw this consent in writing. Directory information may be used only for neighborly contact and association business, not for selling, advertising or fundraising. Signature, date, property address.' In Florida, add a line telling owners that phone numbers can be printed unless they ask in writing to leave them out, and give them a box to do that. File every signed form, or the email reply that gives consent, with the association's records. In Colorado that file is required, and in every state it is your answer if an owner later says they never agreed.

A sample timeline

Week 1: the board approves the fields, the format and a short directory rule by a motion such as 'Moved that the association publish an opt-in owner and resident directory, limited to the fields on the attached consent form, distributed only to owners and residents, and updated each year, with the secretary responsible for its preparation.' Week 2: mail and email the form to every owner with a two-sentence cover note explaining that the directory is voluntary and that nothing is printed without a checked box. Owners who rent should pass a copy to their tenants. Week 4: send one reminder. Do not chase anyone further. Silence means no. Week 5: the secretary builds the list from the forms alone, not from the dues ledger, and a second director checks every entry against its form. Week 6: distribute it with a date in the footer, such as 'Current as of March 1, 2027,' and a line saying how to correct or withdraw an entry.

Sharing it and stopping misuse

Send the directory only to people on it or entitled to it, as an attachment or a portal page, not as a link anyone can open. Print 'For owners and residents of [community name] only' on every page. Colorado gives boards a specific tool here. Section 38-33.3-317(2)(b) says a membership list may not be obtained or used for any purpose unrelated to an owner's interest as an owner without the executive board's consent, and without that consent may not be used to solicit money or property, other than to solicit votes in an association election, used for any commercial purpose, or sold. Texas and Florida associations can write a similar line into the directory rule. When a real estate agent or a lawn service starts calling every number in the book, the board can point to the rule, ask the owner who shared it to stop, and remove that person's access to future editions. A directory is not the same thing as the membership list an owner can request under state records law. A request for owner names and addresses for an election campaign or a petition still goes through the records process, on its own deadline, whether or not your community has a directory.

Keeping it current

A directory decays fast in a 26 to 150 home community. Put the consent form in the welcome packet for every new owner, and drop the seller's entry when a sale closes. Each January, email everyone listed and ask them to confirm their entry. Treat a withdrawal the same day: delete the entry from the master file, note the date on the original form, and leave the person out of the next edition. Colorado's statute says that after a withdrawal the association has no obligation to change, retrieve or destroy a document published before the notice, which matches common sense. You cannot recall a PDF from 80 inboxes, so tell the person that plainly and make sure the next version is clean. If the directory lives on a portal, the change takes effect at once, which is one more reason to prefer a portal page over a file.

Mistakes boards make

Building the directory from the dues roster or the email list the board already has, so people find their cell number in print without ever having agreed to it. Posting it on the community website behind no password. Including a tenant's name because the owner said it was fine. Mixing directory consent with consent for electronic notices, then using the directory email column to send a meeting notice. Letting a volunteer keep the master file on a personal laptop with no backup. Printing a booklet once and never updating it, so new owners are missing and the people who moved away three years ago are still there. Our guide on collecting owner emails and consent for electronic notices covers the separate consent official notices need, and our guide on setting up an HOA emergency text and email alert list covers the urgent-news list that should sit beside the directory, not inside 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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