How do we run the age verification survey in our 55-plus HOA?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 10, 2026

How a 55-plus HOA board runs the HUD age verification survey every two years, accepts proof of age, handles owners who refuse, and documents the 80 percent count.

Part of the HOA board handbook: residents and communication.

The short answer

Survey every home at least once every two years, collect a reliable proof of age for each one, count the result against the 80 percent standard, and keep the paperwork where you can produce it the week a complaint arrives. That is what HUD's rule at 24 CFR 100.307 requires of a community claiming the 55-and-older exemption from the Fair Housing Act's familial status rules. The survey has to identify, for each unit, whether at least one occupant is 55 or older, and the updates must happen at least every two years. The three states most of our readers live in point to the same federal standard. Texas Property Code 301.043(3) exempts housing operated for at least one person 55 or older per unit as set by commission rules, and section 301.062 requires those rules to match federal fair housing regulations. Florida Statutes 760.29(4)(b)3.c. and Colorado C.R.S. 24-34-502(7)(b)(III) both require compliance with occupancy verification by reliable surveys and affidavits. Your declaration may add stricter rules, such as a minimum age for every resident. Rules vary by state and by governing documents, and this guide is general education, not legal advice. A community that has never run a survey, or has fallen below 80 percent, should talk to a fair housing attorney before it turns anyone away.

What the count has to prove

Under 24 CFR 100.305, at least 80 percent of occupied units must have at least one occupant who is 55 or older. Three details trip up small boards. - Occupied means someone lives there on the date you claim the exemption. A home empty for the summer still counts as occupied if its usual resident lived there in the past year and plans to come back, so a snowbird household is counted by who lived there before they left. - Unoccupied homes, such as an estate sale sitting empty, drop out of the count entirely. Under-55 employees doing substantial management or maintenance work, and under-55 live-in caregivers a disabled resident needs as a reasonable accommodation, do not count against you. - A fraction rounds up. Eighty percent of 87 occupied homes is 69.6, so you need 70. A worked example: the association has 92 homes. Five are vacant with no returning resident, leaving 87 occupied. The survey verifies 74 homes with a resident 55 or older. Seventy-four divided by 87 is 85.1 percent, which clears the line with four homes of margin. Put that arithmetic in the minutes, not just the percentage.

Build the form and decide what proof to accept

Use one page per home. Ask for the address, whether the owner lives there or rents it out, the name of each person who lives there full time, and whether at least one of them is 55 or older. Add an optional line for a resident employee or live-in caregiver, which 100.307(c) allows you to ask about. Section 100.307(d) lists acceptable proof: a driver's license, birth certificate, passport, immigration card, military ID, another official document showing a birth date, or a certification signed by a household member 18 or older stating that at least one occupant is 55 or older. Under paragraph (e), any one of these is enough. The signed certification is the easiest for owners and creates the fewest sensitive records. If the board wants ID copies, ask only for the qualifying resident's, and store them as restricted records. Do not collect ID for every adult in the house. Certification wording the board can copy: "I certify that I am at least 18 years old, that I live at the address above, and that at least one person who lives in this home full time is 55 years of age or older. That person's name is ________ and their date of birth is ________. I understand the association relies on this statement to verify its status as housing for older persons." Signature, printed name, date. For rented homes, send the form to the owner and ask the owner to have the tenant sign it. The owner is the member and answers for the home under most declarations.

A sample survey timeline

Pick a fixed month and run the survey in it every other year, so no board has to remember when the last one happened. An eight-week cycle works for 26 to 150 homes. - Week 1: the board approves the form and the cover letter at a meeting. - Week 2: mail or email the form to every owner with a return date 30 days out. Post a notice in the clubhouse and on the community website. - Week 5: send a reminder to everyone who has not answered. - Week 6: a volunteer knocks on the doors of the remaining homes with blank forms. - Week 7: send the refusal letter described below to anyone still missing. - Week 8: the secretary tallies the results and the board receives the summary at its next meeting. Between surveys, capture new households as they arrive. Section 100.307(b) lets these procedures be part of normal purchase and lease arrangements, so add the certification to the resale packet and the lease approval form. A new buyer who signs at closing never becomes a blank on the next survey.

When an owner will not fill it out

Section 100.307(f) requires the community to adopt policies requiring occupants to comply with the verification procedures. If your written rules do not already say that, adopt one before the next survey. A one-sentence rule is enough: every household must complete the association's age verification form within 30 days of moving in and within 30 days of each biennial survey request. For holdouts, paragraph (g) lets the association count a home as having a 55-plus occupant only if it has other sufficient evidence. The rule names government records such as a local household census, earlier forms or applications from the same household, and a statement from someone with personal knowledge of the occupants' ages that explains how they know and is signed under penalty of perjury. A neighbor who has known the residents for twenty years can sign that statement. A director's guess cannot. If none of those exist, record the home as unverified and leave it out of the qualifying column. Then follow the violation process in your governing documents and state law, with the same notice and hearing steps you would use for any other rule violation.

Records, the posted notice and the sworn statement

Paragraph (i) requires a summary of the occupancy surveys to be available for inspection by any person on reasonable notice. That means a one-page summary: survey dates, total homes, occupied homes, verified 55-plus homes, the percentage and the board meeting where it was accepted. Keep names and birth dates off it. Keep the signed forms in the association's records, limited to the directors and the person running the survey. Paragraph (h) makes compliant surveys admissible in court and administrative proceedings, which is the reason to keep them. Surveys prove the 80 percent. HUD's rule at 24 CFR 100.306 also asks whether the community shows intent to operate as 55-plus housing, looking at how it is described to buyers, its advertising, its rules, consistent enforcement, actual practice and statements posted in common areas. Post a short notice in the clubhouse or at the mailboxes saying the community operates as housing for persons 55 and older. Avoid describing it only as an adult community, since 100.306(b) says that phrase does not show the required intent. Finally, protect your volunteers. Under 24 CFR 100.308, an individual is shielded from personal money damages only if the community certified in writing, under oath or affirmation, that it meets the 55-plus requirements. Florida 760.29(4)(d) and Colorado 24-34-502(7)(d) have similar good-faith rules. After each survey, have the president sign a notarized statement of compliance and give copies to the directors and to anyone who handles resale or lease approvals. Sample motion: "I move that the board accept the age verification survey summary dated ________, showing ___ of ___ occupied homes, or ___ percent, with at least one resident 55 or older, and authorize the president to sign a sworn statement of compliance."

Mistakes that cost communities the exemption

- Surveying only new buyers. The two-year update covers every home, including the owners who have lived there since the first phase sold. - Skipping a cycle because nothing seems to have changed. A complaint asks what you can prove, not what everyone knows. - Counting an unverified home as qualifying because the owner looks old enough. - Approving an under-55 household without checking the current percentage first. If you are at 81 percent, one approval can drop you under. - Enforcing the age rule for one family and waiving it for a director's relative. Inconsistent practice is one of the intent factors. - Leaving old declaration language in place. In Florida, 760.29(4)(b)3.b. says governing documents that can be amended at a future date must be amended and recorded within one year after that date to keep 55-plus status, and a ban on residents 16 or younger is read as 18 or younger. The exemption only covers familial status. Disability rules apply fully, so read our guide on handling a reasonable accommodation request before denying a caregiver or an assistance animal. For how the age rules look from an owner's side, see our guide on whether an HOA can have a 55 and older age restriction.

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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