An owner keeps harassing and threatening our HOA board members. What can the board do?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised November 11, 2026

What an HOA board can do when an owner harasses or threatens directors: an incident log, one contact channel, meeting rules and protective orders.

Part of the HOA board handbook: running the board.

What the board should do this week

There are two problems here, and they belong to different people. The association controls how owners reach the board, how meetings run and what conduct the governing documents allow on common property. The director who is being targeted controls the personal remedies, a police report or a protective order, because it is their safety and their name on the petition. This week, start a written incident log, move every contact with the owner into one board email address handled by one director, tell every director to stop answering the owner's calls and texts on personal phones, and call the police about any threat of violence. Do not cut the owner off from meetings, records or the vote. Those rights stay intact no matter how unpleasant the owner is. Rules vary by state and by your declaration and bylaws, so read this as education, not legal advice, and get the association's attorney involved once threats appear.

Criticism, harassment and crime are different things

An owner can call the board incompetent at a meeting, ask for records every month and file a complaint with a state agency. That is irritating, and most of it is protected. Florida's stalking statute, section 784.048(1)(b), says a course of conduct does not include constitutionally protected activity such as picketing or other organized protests. Harassment is aimed at a person rather than a decision: texts to a director at 2 a.m., showing up at a director's front door, following a director's car, posting a director's home address next to a threat. The criminal statutes draw the line in similar places. Texas Penal Code section 42.07(a) makes it an offense to act with intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment or embarrass someone by threatening bodily injury in a way reasonably likely to alarm them, or by sending repeated electronic communications likely to do so. It is usually a Class B misdemeanor. Colorado's section 18-9-111(1) covers following a person in a public place and repeated communications at inconvenient hours that invade the privacy of someone's home. Florida section 784.048(1)(a) defines harass as a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional distress and serves no legitimate purpose. A board that calls every critic a harasser loses the rest of the community, and it gives the critic a better story than the one they had.

Start an incident log today

One director keeps the log. The secretary is the usual choice, unless the secretary is the one being targeted. Every other director forwards screenshots, voicemails and notes the same day something happens. Each entry gets the date and time, the place or channel (email, text, front porch, open meeting), which director was involved, the owner's exact words or a screenshot, any witnesses, and a police report number if one exists. Save originals and keep comments in a separate column. Discuss the log and any response in a closed session where your state allows one. Texas Property Code section 209.0051(c) lets the board adjourn into executive session to consider enforcement actions and pending or threatened litigation, then requires a general oral summary of any decision in the minutes. Other states have their own lists, so check yours before relying on it. Later, the log backs up an enforcement notice, and a targeted director can hand a copy to a judge.

Put one door between the owner and the board

Adopt a written communication policy at an open meeting, and make it apply to every owner rather than naming the one causing trouble. A policy aimed at one person looks like retaliation. Put these points in it: owner questions about association business go to the board email address or mailing address; the board names one director as the contact for each matter; written questions get an answer within 10 business days; directors do not handle association business by personal phone, text or visits to their homes; and anything urgent about safety goes to 911 first. Then send the owner a short letter by email and first-class mail. Wording you can adapt: "The board has adopted a communication policy for all owners, enclosed. Please send questions or concerns about association business to [email protected] or to the association's mailing address. [Director name] is the board's contact for your account and will answer written questions within 10 business days. Directors will not respond to association matters by personal phone, text or in person at their homes." Leave out adjectives and any description of the owner's conduct.

Keep meetings open but run them on rules

The owner keeps the right to attend. In Florida, section 720.303(2)(b) gives members the right to attend board meetings and speak on all designated items, and lets the association adopt written reasonable rules governing the frequency, duration and manner of member statements, including a sign-up sheet. In Colorado, section 38-33.3-308(2.5)(b) requires the board to let owners speak on an issue before it votes, allows reasonable time limits, and requires a reasonable number of speakers on each side when views differ. Texas section 209.0051 requires open board meetings but does not spell out a speaking right, so your bylaws and the board's adopted rules control. Rules that hold up are short and apply to everyone: a sign-up sheet, three minutes per speaker, remarks addressed to the chair, and no comments about directors' families or homes. When a meeting is held online in Texas, section 209.0051(c-2) requires that owners be able to hear the board members, so the host can mute a speaker whose time is up but cannot drop owners from the audio. If a meeting breaks down, recess. Our guide on how to handle a disruptive homeowner at an HOA meeting covers recessing, adjourning and when to call the police.

What the targeted director can do personally

A threatened director should file a police report the same day and add the report number to the log. Protective orders belong to the director, not the association. Texas: Code of Criminal Procedure article 7B.001(a)(1) lets a victim of stalking under Penal Code section 42.072 apply for a protective order regardless of the relationship with the offender. Harassment under section 42.07 is not on that list, so a single nasty email will not qualify. Florida: section 784.0485 allows a petition for an injunction against stalking in circuit court with no filing fee and no attorney required, and the court can grant a temporary injunction without notice to the other side for up to 15 days until a full hearing. Colorado: section 13-14-104.5(1) lets county and district courts issue civil protection orders to prevent threatened bodily harm or stalking, and the petitioner does not have to report to the police first. The board's part is to give the director copies of the log and the owner's emails when asked. Do not spend association money on a director's personal case without the attorney's advice, and ask the insurance agent in writing whether the directors and officers policy pays anything toward it. Those policies are written to defend claims against directors, so do not assume it does.

When the association enforces

If the conduct breaks the declaration, such as a nuisance clause or a common-area conduct rule, enforce it the same way you would any other violation. In Texas, section 209.006(a) requires written notice by certified mail before a fine or a suspension of common-area use. In Florida, section 720.305(2) requires at least 14 days' written notice and a hearing before a committee of at least three members who are not officers, directors or employees, or their close relatives. In Colorado, section 38-33.3-209.5 sets cure periods and fine limits that the association must follow. The targeted director should step out of every vote on fines or suits against this owner and say so in the minutes. Our guide on what to do when an owner harasses HOA vendors walks through the notice letters in more detail.

A sample first month

- Day 0: An owner leaves a threatening voicemail for the treasurer. The treasurer saves it and calls the police non-emergency line. - Day 1: The secretary opens the log and collects earlier emails. - Day 3: The board meets in executive session, with the notice your bylaws and state law require, to review the log and call the attorney. - Day 10: At an open meeting, the board adopts the communication policy. Motion: "Motion to adopt the Owner Communication Policy dated [date], directing owner communications about association business to the board email and mailing address, naming one director as the board's contact for each matter, and setting a 10-business-day response time for written questions." - Day 11: The letter and policy go to all owners, with a copy by email and first-class mail to this owner. - Day 30: The board reviews the log. If the conduct continues, the attorney sends a cease letter or the board starts the enforcement notice.

Mistakes that make it worse

Answering the owner in the neighborhood Facebook group. Every reply becomes a screenshot. Letting the targeted director run the response. They are the witness. Someone else drafts the letters and chairs the hearing. Withholding records, ballots or meeting notices from the owner as punishment. That converts a conduct problem into a claim against the association. Waiting for the third incident to write anything down. The first two are the ones nobody can reconstruct later. Telling the community what the owner did. Report decisions in general terms and leave the owner's name out of newsletters and minutes.

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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