What Does an HOA Board Member Do?

Short answer: An HOA board member is usually a volunteer, elected by the owners, who works with the other directors to make decisions for the association under its governing documents and state law. In many associations that means the budget, the rules, upkeep, records and meetings. Where the law sets a standard, it generally asks directors to act in good faith and with reasonable care. The details depend on your state and your community’s documents.

Last checked: September 23, 2026. Covers: general information, plus the director-conduct rules we read in Florida, Texas, California, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado and Washington. Other states were not reviewed.

What is an HOA board, and who is on it?

The board is the small group of directors that makes decisions for the association between owner meetings. Its powers come from the governing documents and from state law. The governing documents are the declaration (often called the CC&Rs, short for covenants, conditions and restrictions), the bylaws, the articles of incorporation and the rules.

In many associations the directors choose officers, such as a president, secretary and treasurer, from among themselves. Your bylaws say how it works in your community. See what each officer usually does.

What does the board actually do?

In many associations, board work falls into a few groups:

Adopting a yearly budget and deciding how to pay for upkeep.
Keeping common areas maintained, and choosing and overseeing vendors.
Adopting and enforcing the rules the documents allow.
Keeping records and answering owners’ requests.
Holding meetings and keeping accurate minutes.
Watching the association’s money with help from a treasurer, an accountant or a manager.

Some of these jobs carry legal clocks. Under Florida law, an HOA covered by chapter 720 must make records available within 10 business days of an owner’s written request, unless the law or the governing documents provide otherwise (Fla. Stat. § 720.303(5)). Board meetings in those Florida HOAs must be open to all members, with limited exceptions such as meetings with the association’s attorney about litigation and personnel discussions (§ 720.303(2)(a), (b)). In California, the board must review the association’s financial statements and account records each month, and that review may be done by all directors or by a subcommittee of the treasurer and at least one other director, with the review ratified at the board meeting after the review and noted in its minutes (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 5500, 5501).

What does the board not do?

It does not act as one person. In many associations, the power to act belongs to the board as a group, at a meeting, and not to any single director. Florida gives one example. Directors of a Florida HOA may email each other but may not cast a vote by email, and may not vote by proxy or secret ballot at board meetings, with an exception for electing officers (§ 720.303(2)(a), (c)).

It does not decide everything. Some decisions belong to the owners. In Washington, for example, the newer act (WUCIOA) says the board may not, without an owner vote, amend the declaration (with exceptions) or terminate the community (RCW 64.90.410(4)). The older HOA Act also limits what a board may do without an owner vote (RCW 64.38.025(2)).

It does not have to know everything. Directors are volunteers, not lawyers or engineers. That is why boards use professionals.

Where does the time go in the first year?

Board work is often less about big decisions and more about steady, small tasks. New directors commonly spend early months on:

Reading the governing documents and the last few years of minutes.
Learning the budget, the reserves and what the insurance covers.
Preparing for meetings and following up afterward.
Answering owner emails and complaints.
Getting bids, checking vendor work and paying bills.
Learning the deadlines your state sets.

Florida gives one example of a deadline. Each director of a Florida HOA must file a training certificate within 90 days of being elected or appointed. A director who does not file “is suspended from the board until he or she complies” (§ 720.3033(1)).

What can you hand off?

Many boards use a management company, an accountant, an attorney and volunteer committees for architectural review or landscaping. The board still makes the decisions, but it does not have to do every task.

The director-conduct statutes we read in Florida, California, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado and Washington allow directors to rely on reports and information from people such as officers, lawyers and accountants, under conditions the statutes set. Florida’s, for example, requires that the director “does not have knowledge that makes reliance unwarranted” (§ 617.0830(4)). It is still worth reading what you sign.

Where does the law set the standard?

In each of the seven states we reviewed we found a standard of conduct for directors, mostly through the state’s nonprofit corporation law, which applies if the association is organized as a nonprofit corporation. The wording differs, but most of it points to good faith and the care an ordinarily prudent person would use. The table shows what we read as of September 23, 2026.

State	Where	Standard in short
Florida	Fla. Stat. § 720.303(1); § 617.0830	Directors and officers “have a fiduciary relationship to the members.” Under § 617.0830 as rewritten in 2026, directors act in good faith, in a manner they reasonably believe is in the corporation’s best interests, with the care an ordinary prudent person in a like position would reasonably believe appropriate.
Texas	Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 22.221	For nonprofit corporations: “in good faith, with ordinary care, and in a manner the director reasonably believes to be in the best interest of the corporation.”
California	Cal. Corp. Code § 7231	Good faith, a belief the action is in the corporation’s best interests, and the care, including reasonable inquiry, of an ordinarily prudent person in a like position. This is a Corporations Code section, and we did not analyze how it applies to unincorporated associations.
Georgia	O.C.G.A. § 14-3-830	For a nonprofit corporation: good faith and the degree of care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use, as worded in the 2023 act we read (the current Code text was not readable).
Arizona	A.R.S. § 10-3830	Good faith, ordinarily prudent care and a reasonable belief in the corporation’s best interests, for an HOA organized as an Arizona nonprofit corporation.
Colorado	C.R.S. § 7-128-401	Good faith, ordinarily prudent care and a reasonable belief in the corporation’s best interests, if the association is a nonprofit corporation.
Washington	RCW 64.38.025(1); RCW 24.03A.495; RCW 64.90.410(1)(b)	The HOA Act points to the degree of care and loyalty required of a director of a chapter 24.03A corporation. That standard is good faith, the care an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use, and a reasonable belief in the corporation’s best interests (RCW 24.03A.495). The newer act (WUCIOA) also sets a care-and-loyalty standard tied to corporate directors, but it refers to chapter 24.06 RCW, which we did not read.

Florida also rewrote its nonprofit corporation chapter effective July 1, 2026, and we did not analyze how that affects HOA boards. A standard of conduct is not the same as a promise you cannot be sued. See liability and D&O insurance.

What to do next

Collect your governing documents, and see which one controls.
Ask for the current budget, the latest financial report, the insurance summary and the last 12 months of minutes.
Ask your attorney or manager which state deadlines apply to your association, and write them down.
List who does what: officers, manager, committees and vendors.
Use a handover checklist if you are taking over from a previous board.

Common questions

What are the duties of an HOA board member? They come from your governing documents and your state’s law. In many associations they include budgets, rules, upkeep, records and meetings. State law also sets a standard of conduct, shown in the table above.

Do HOA board members have a fiduciary duty? Florida’s HOA statute says directors and officers “have a fiduciary relationship to the members” (§ 720.303(1)). The California and Georgia sections we read set a care standard without using the word “fiduciary” (Corp. Code § 7231; O.C.G.A. § 14-3-830). In Colorado, directors appointed by the developer (the “declarant”) must “exercise the care required of fiduciaries of the unit owners,” while the statute does not use that word for other directors (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-303(2)(a), (b)). Section 303(2) is not among the sections the Act lists for communities created before July 1, 1992 (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-117).

Can the president decide things alone? In many associations, not on the board’s behalf. Authority usually sits with the board acting together, but your bylaws control. Some documents give officers specific powers.

Do board members need training? Florida HOA directors must file a training certificate, as described above. In California, Arizona, Colorado and Washington we did not find a mandatory director training requirement in the sections we read. In Texas and Georgia we also did not find one in the sections we read, but those two findings are unverified, so treat them as open questions. Documents or local rules could add requirements.

Sources

Checked September 23, 2026.

Florida: Fla. Stat. §§ 720.303, 720.3033 (https://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2026/720.303) and chapter 617 (https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0600-0699/0617/0617.html)
Texas: Business Organizations Code ch. 22 (https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BO/htm/BO.22.htm)
California: Civil Code §§ 5500, 5501 and Corporations Code § 7231 (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CORP&sectionNum=7231)
Georgia: O.C.G.A. § 14-3-830, as enacted by SB 148 (2023) (https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20232024/219037)
Arizona: A.R.S. § 10-3830 (https://www.azleg.gov/ars/10/03830.htm)
Colorado: C.R.S. § 7-128-401 (https://olls.info/crs/crs2026-title-07.pdf) and § 38-33.3-303 (https://olls.info/crs/crs2026-title-38.pdf)
Washington: RCW 64.38 and 64.90 (https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.38&full=true), (https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=64.90&full=true) and RCW 24.03A (https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=24.03A&full=true)

Important notice

Fycus is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Association law varies by state and by each community’s governing documents. Consult a licensed attorney for guidance specific to your association.

This page is general information, was written from official statute text as of September 23, 2026, and has not been reviewed by an attorney. Laws change; check the current text before you rely on it.

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