How do you get more homeowners to run for the HOA board?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 3, 2026

How to recruit HOA board candidates: start months early, offer committee roles first, follow TX, FL and CO candidate rules, and keep the election fair.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

Why the same few people end up serving

In small associations, the board is often the three or five people who said yes once and never found a way to leave. Owners assume the board has it handled. The board assumes nobody else is interested. Both are usually wrong. Most owners who do not volunteer were never asked directly, do not know what the job involves, or think it will eat every evening. Recruiting works when the board answers those three things months before the election, and when it knows which candidate rules its state already sets. If you are already facing an election with no candidates, our guide on what happens if no one runs for the HOA board covers that. This guide is about preventing it.

Start six months before the election

Recruiting cannot start when the nomination notice goes out. By then the only people who respond are the ones who were going to anyway. Put a recruiting item on the board agenda about six months before the annual meeting. List the seats that open, which directors plan to leave, and which skills the board is missing. A board with nobody comfortable reading a balance sheet, or nobody from the newer section of the neighborhood, knows who to look for. Then give each director two or three owners to talk to in person. A newsletter call for volunteers is fine, but it rarely produces a candidate on its own. A workable calendar for a fall annual meeting: in April, name the open seats and the skills gap. From May through August, directors make personal asks and invite prospects to a meeting. In September, the nomination notice goes out. In October, candidates submit their names and the board checks eligibility. Ballots go out after that, on whatever schedule your bylaws and state law require.

Know the candidate rules in Texas, Florida and Colorado

Check eligibility before you ask someone to run, so you do not recruit a person the law bars from the seat. Rules vary by state and by your governing documents, and this is general education, not legal advice. Texas. Under Tex. Prop. Code 209.00591(a), a dedicatory instrument provision that restricts an owner's right to run for the board is void unless the section allows it. Bylaws may require some directors, but not all, to live in the subdivision. In an association with 10 or more residences, two people who share a primary residence cannot both serve. A board presented with law enforcement records showing a director was convicted of a felony or a crime of moral turpitude within the past 20 years must treat that director as removed. Associations with more than 100 lots must also send a candidate notice under 209.00593(a-1): at least 10 days before ballots go out, tell owners how to get on the ballot and give a deadline at least 10 days after the notice. Mail it, or post it on common property or the association website and email every owner who registered an address. Every eligible candidate who asked gets listed on the ballot. Smaller associations are not bound by that notice rule, but following it costs nothing and heads off complaints. Florida. Fla. Stat. 720.306(9)(a) lets a member nominate themselves from the floor at the election meeting unless the bylaws allow advance nominations. If the qualified candidates do not outnumber the open seats, no election is held and they take office. Under 720.306(9)(b), an owner who is delinquent on any amount owed to the association on the last day to be nominated cannot run, and a person with a felony conviction cannot run unless their civil rights were restored at least 5 years earlier. A sitting director more than 90 days delinquent is deemed to have abandoned the seat. New directors must file a certificate of completing the state-approved education within 90 days of election or appointment under 720.3033(1), or they are suspended until they do. Associations under 2,500 parcels also owe 4 hours of continuing education per director each year. Tell recruits this up front. Colorado. C.R.S. 38-33.3-303(3)(a) says the board cannot set the qualifications or terms of directors; those come from the declaration and bylaws. Contested seats must be decided by secret ballot under 38-33.3-310(1)(b), counted by a neutral third party or by volunteer owners picked at an open meeting who are not directors or candidates.

Describe the real job

Write a one-page description of what a director does in your association: meetings per year, how long they run, how much reading comes before each one, and the usual email load. Say what each officer role adds. Be honest. If the treasurer spends five hours a month on reconciliations, say so, and say what help exists. In Florida, include the education course and the yearly hours. Address liability directly, because fear of being sued keeps many people away. Say whether the association carries directors and officers insurance and what the bylaws say about indemnification. In Colorado, C.R.S. 38-33.3-303(2)(b) says directors and officers not appointed by the declarant are not liable for their actions or omissions except wanton and willful ones. Our guide on HOA director liability insurance and indemnification explains the coverage itself. Invite each prospect to sit in on an ordinary board meeting before the nomination deadline. A budget review and two architectural requests do more to demystify the job than any flyer. Afterward, have a director spend ten minutes on their questions. The usual worries are time, conflict with neighbors and not knowing finance. Each has a practical answer, and hearing it from a current director lands better than reading it.

Offer smaller commitments first

Most future directors start smaller. A committee seat or a single project lets an owner see how the association works without signing up for a two-year term. Good starter roles are the architectural review committee, a landscaping or pool committee, the social committee, a budget review group, or leading one project such as a fence replacement or new signs. Keep a list of who shows up and does good work. Those are next year's candidates. When you ask, be specific. Something like this works: "You did a careful job on the budget committee this spring. The treasurer seat opens in November. It runs about four hours a month, and Pat will train you through January. Would you think about running?" A named seat, a time estimate and a named mentor get more yeses than a general plea.

Lower the practical barriers

Look at what makes serving hard in your community. If meetings are at 2 p.m. on weekdays, working owners cannot serve. If the board keeps no written procedures, every new director learns by guessing. Most fixes are cheap. Hold meetings in the evening, or allow remote attendance where your bylaws and state law permit it. Keep a shared folder with the governing documents, the annual calendar and how-to notes for each officer role. Pay for any required director education, which Florida boards need for every new director. Pair each new director with a current one for the first few months. Spread the work so no single person is the only one who knows how to pay bills or send notices.

Plan for succession, not just the next election

Succession in an HOA means no role depends on one person. Ask each officer to write down what they do each month and where the files and logins live. Have a second director or a committee member shadow the treasurer for a few months before the treasurer's term ends. If your bylaws stagger terms, use that to keep experience on the board. If they do not, consider asking owners to amend them so the whole board cannot turn over at once. Directors who want to step down can often stay on as committee chairs, which gives new directors someone to call. Our guide on term limits for HOA board members covers the structural option.

Keep recruiting fair

Asking people to run is fine. Using association resources to favor them is where boards get into trouble. Directors can recruit personally. The newsletter, website and email list should invite every owner to run, publish the same deadline to everyone and treat every candidate alike. Never call anyone the board's candidate in an official notice. California makes this a rule: Civil Code section 5105 requires election rules that give all candidates equal access to association media if any candidate gets access, and equal access to common area meeting space. The same section says a nomination procedure is not reasonable if it keeps a member from nominating themselves. Keep candidates away from the count. Texas bars a candidate, and anyone related to a candidate within the third degree, from tabulating or seeing the ballots in that election under Tex. Prop. Code 209.00594(a). Colorado's secret ballot rule keeps directors and candidates off the counting committee. A candidate forum gives every name the same stage; our guide on hosting an HOA candidate forum walks through one.

Mistakes that cost boards candidates

Waiting for the nomination notice to start asking. Recruiting someone who is behind on dues, which in Florida makes them ineligible on nomination day. Leaving a Florida recruit to find out about the 90-day education deadline after the election. Writing bylaw-style eligibility rules into a board resolution, which Colorado's 303(3)(a) does not allow and Texas voids unless the statute allows it. Letting a candidate's spouse count ballots. Making the job sound bigger than it is. Fix those, and use the free annual owner education Colorado requires under C.R.S. 38-33.3-209.7 to close with a short pitch for open committee and board seats. Even outside Colorado, a yearly session on the budget and reserves builds a pool of informed owners who are ready to serve.

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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