Maryland HOA Board Elections

Maryland HOA Board Elections

Section 1 — Overview: How board elections are governed in Maryland

Maryland runs community-association board elections through three separate statutes, and a practitioner has to match the right one to each kind of community. Condominiums answer to the Maryland Condominium Act, Md. Code, Real Property § 11-101 et seq., which concentrates the council-of-unit-owners, board, and meeting rules in § 11-109.1 Homeowners associations — planned communities — fall under the Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-101 et seq., which puts the meeting and owner-rights provisions in § 11B-111 and the sections around it; cooperatives answer to the Cooperative Housing Corporation Act, Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-01 et seq.2,3 These statutes do not cross over. A Condominium Act provision does not reach an HOA, and an HOA Act provision does not reach a condominium. On December 14, 2022, after voters approved a constitutional amendment 1,340,952 to 447,252, Maryland renamed its appellate courts: the former Court of Appeals became the Supreme Court of Maryland, and the former Court of Special Appeals became the 15-judge Appellate Court of Maryland.4 Several election mechanics — board size, director terms, term limits, and removal thresholds — sit outside the statutes, and each community sets them in its declaration and bylaws. Maryland has not adopted the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, so UCIOA's declarant-control and deemed-ratification features do not apply here. The better way to read Maryland is as a comprehensive non-UCIOA state that layers separate condominium, HOA, and cooperative statutes over nonstock-corporation defaults. The sections that follow lay out the framework, the working mechanics, and the recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2 — The election framework

2A. The Maryland Condominium Act and condominium board elections

The Maryland Condominium Act, Real Property § 11-101 et seq., controls condominium board elections. Section 11-109 puts the affairs of the condominium in the hands of a council of unit owners — every unit owner belongs — and lets the bylaws delegate the council's powers to a board of directors.5 The Act fixes a number of mechanics. The council may hold a regular or special meeting on no less than 10 and no more than 90 days' written or electronic notice.6 Unless the bylaws say otherwise, a quorum is 25 percent of the total votes appurtenant to all units.7 A proxy lasts a maximum of 180 days unless it runs to a lessee or mortgagee, and only a unit owner voting in person or by electronic transmission — or a proxy the owner directs — may vote for directors.8 Unless the bylaws provide otherwise, a unit owner may nominate anyone, a call for nominations has to go out at least 45 days before the election notice, and any nomination made at least 15 days before that notice goes on the ballot.9 When the council funds the election materials, they must list candidates alphabetically and show no preference.10 Declarant control ends at the transitional election, which has to happen within 60 days after units representing 50 percent of the votes have been conveyed to the public for residential purposes — or a lower percentage, if the declaration or bylaws set one — and the developer-appointed members' terms end 10 days after that meeting.11 Section 11-139.2 authorizes electronic voting and proxies, and it keeps a secret ballot available through an anonymous printed-ballot option where the bylaws require one.12 What the Act does not fix — board size, director term length, term limits, and removal thresholds — it leaves to the bylaws. Unlike a UCIOA framework, the Condominium Act carries no uniform declarant-control schedule and no deemed-ratification machinery; its transition rule is the tailored 50-percent conveyance test in § 11-109.13

2B. The Homeowners Association Act and the Cooperative Housing Corporation Act

The Maryland Homeowners Association Act, Real Property § 11B-101 et seq., controls HOA board elections, but it regulates fewer of the mechanics than the Condominium Act does. Section 11B-111 requires that meetings of the association and its governing body stay open to members, that members get reasonable notice of regularly scheduled open meetings, and that the governing body hold at least one open-agenda meeting a year.14 The first owner election of the governing body has to happen within 60 days after 75 percent of the total lots are sold to the public for residential purposes — or a lower percentage, if the governing documents set one — under § 11B-106.1.15 The Act fixes the meeting, notice, and owner-rights requirements but leaves the core election mechanics — board size, director terms, eligibility, nomination method, quorum, vote threshold, removal, and vacancies — to the governing documents. It lets the board authorize electronic vote and proxy submission (§ 11B-113.2) and electronic meetings without specific owner authorization (§ 11B-113.6).16,17 A lot owner who believes the governing body ignored the documents' election procedures — notice, the call for nominations, and the like — may take the dispute to the Division of Consumer Protection of the Office of the Attorney General under § 11B-115.1.18 The Cooperative Housing Corporation Act, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-01 et seq., governs cooperatives; § 5-6B-19 imposes open-meeting and reasonable-notice requirements, while general corporate law and the governing documents supply the election mechanics.19 The key difference from the Condominium Act is structural: the HOA Act and the Cooperative Act are separate, parallel regimes that leave more of the election machinery to the documents than to the statute.

2C. Corporate law, the bylaws, and order of precedence

Most Maryland associations incorporate as nonstock corporations, so the Maryland Corporations and Associations Article supplies the director-election, term, removal, and vacancy defaults wherever the condominium or HOA statute and the bylaws stay silent. The charter or bylaws set the number of directors (§ 2-402); directors are elected at the annual meeting and hold office until the next annual meeting and until their successors qualify, with classified terms allowed up to five years and at least one class expiring each year (§ 2-404, § 5-202).20,21 Unless the charter or bylaws say otherwise, a plurality of the votes cast elects a director (§ 2-404(d)).22 Members may remove a director with or without cause by a majority of all the votes entitled to be cast, except that they may remove a classified director only for cause (§ 2-406), and a majority of the remaining directors may fill a vacancy, with the appointee serving until the next annual meeting (§ 2-407).23,24 These provisions are corporate scaffolding, not an HOA election statute. Within each statutory framework the order of precedence runs the same way: the controlling statute first; then the declaration and bylaws, within statutory limits; then the nonstock-corporation gap-fillers; then board-adopted rules. The practical takeaway is that the controlling election rule depends first on whether the community is a condominium, an HOA, or a cooperative, and only then on the documents and the corporate defaults.

Section 3 — Election mechanics

# Mechanic Rule (by community type) Governing source
1 Source of board-election rules Condo: Real Property § 11-109 plus declaration/bylaws plus nonstock-corporation defaults. HOA: Real Property §§ 11B-106.1, 11B-111, 11B-118 plus declaration/bylaws plus nonstock defaults. Coop: Corporations & Associations Title 5, Subtitle 6B plus general corporate law plus governing documents. § 11-10925; § 11B-11126; § 5-6B-1927
2 Board size (range or default) Condo: not fixed by Title 11; set by bylaws (nonstock default: number set by charter/bylaws). HOA: not addressed by statute; set by the declaration and bylaws. Coop: set by governing documents and corporate law. § 2-40228
3 Director term length Condo: not fixed by Title 11; set by bylaws (nonstock default: until next annual meeting; classified terms up to 5 years). HOA: not addressed by statute; set by declaration and bylaws. Coop: set by governing documents. § 2-40429; § 5-20230
4 Term limits Condo, HOA, and Coop: not addressed by statute; set by the declaration and bylaws. Bylaw-set31
5 Staggered or classified terms Condo and HOA: not fixed by Title 11/11B; permitted and set by bylaws (nonstock law allows classes, at least one class expiring each year, max 5-year term). Coop: same via corporate law. § 2-404(b); § 5-20232
6 Director eligibility (membership, good standing, residency) Condo: Title 11 does not impose eligibility; nominations open to any unit owner unless bylaws provide otherwise; good standing/residency bylaw-set. HOA: not addressed by statute; set by declaration and bylaws. Coop: set by governing documents. § 11-109(c)(13)33
7 Declarant-control termination Condo: owners elect the board within 60 days after 50% of votes are conveyed to the public for residential purposes (or lesser % in declaration/bylaws); developer appointees' terms end 10 days after the meeting. HOA: owners elect the governing body within 60 days after 75% of total lots are sold to the public for residential purposes (or lesser %). Coop: not addressed in comparable detail; set by governing documents. § 11-109(c)(16)34; § 11B-106.135
8 Annual meeting and election timing Condo: at least one open-agenda meeting each year; election timing per declaration/bylaws. HOA: at least one annual open-agenda meeting; election timing per governing documents. Coop: reasonable notice; annual meeting via general corporate law. § 11-10936; § 11B-11137; § 5-6B-1938
9 Notice period for the election meeting Condo: not less than 10 nor more than 90 days' written or electronic notice. HOA: "reasonable notice"; specific period set by bylaws. Coop: "reasonable notice." § 11-109(c)(4)39; § 11B-111(2)40; § 5-6B-19(c)41
10 Candidate nomination method Condo: unit owner may nominate self or another unless bylaws provide otherwise; call for nominations at least 45 days before election notice; nominations at least 15 days before notice listed on ballot. HOA: not addressed by statute; set by declaration/bylaws (procedural disputes reviewable by the Attorney General). Coop: set by governing documents. § 11-109(c)(13)42; § 11B-115.143
11 Permitted voting methods Condo: in person, proxy (max 180 days), or electronic transmission; only an owner in person/electronic or a directed proxy may vote for directors. HOA: in person, proxy, or electronic vote/proxy if the board authorizes; cumulative voting only if bylaws provide. Coop: proxy/electronic per governing documents and corporate law. § 11-109(c)(9),(12)44; § 11-139.245; § 11B-113.246
12 Quorum required to hold the election Condo: 25% of total votes appurtenant to all units unless bylaws provide otherwise. HOA: not fixed by statute; set by bylaws (statutory reconvened-meeting fallback if no quorum). Coop: set by bylaws and corporate law. § 11-109(c)(8)47; § 11B-111(6)48
13 Vote threshold to elect Condo: majority of votes present and voting unless bylaws require a different majority. HOA: not addressed by statute; set by declaration/bylaws (nonstock default: plurality of votes cast). Coop: governing documents, with a plurality default under corporate law. § 11-109(c)(15)49; § 2-404(d)50
14 Removal or recall of directors Condo and HOA: not fixed by Title 11/11B; set by declaration/bylaws (nonstock default: members may remove with or without cause by majority of all votes entitled to be cast, except classified directors only for cause). Coop: § 2-406 default or governing documents. § 2-40651
15 Filling mid-term board vacancies Condo and HOA: not fixed by Title 11/11B; set by declaration/bylaws (nonstock default: majority of remaining directors may fill, serving until next annual meeting); if HOA vacancies drop the board below quorum, owners may petition the circuit court for a receiver. Coop: § 2-407 default or governing documents. § 2-40752; § 11B-111.553

A. Eligibility and nominations

For condominiums, § 11-109(c)(13) sets a statutory default: any unit owner may nominate himself or someone else, the call for nominations goes out at least 45 days ahead, and any nomination made at least 15 days before the notice goes on the ballot — and the bylaws may vary all of it.54 When the council funds the election materials, § 11-109(c)(14) requires it to list candidates alphabetically with no preference.55 For HOAs, the statute does not address the nomination method, so the bylaws set it, though the Attorney General may review the call-for-nominations procedure under § 11B-115.1.56 Member good standing and residency requirements are bylaw-set in all three regimes. A 2025 reform now requires that condominium and HOA elections run through independent parties, which Section 4 takes up.

B. Notice, annual meeting, and quorum

The condominium 10-to-90-day notice floor (§ 11-109(c)(4)) is mandatory, and no one can shorten it.57 The condominium 25-percent quorum (§ 11-109(c)(8)) is a statutory default the bylaws may change.58 The HOA Act asks only for reasonable notice of regularly scheduled open meetings and one annual open-agenda meeting (§ 11B-111); the bylaws set the specific notice period and quorum, and a statutory reconvened-meeting fallback kicks in when a quorum fails (§ 11B-111(6)).59,60 The Cooperative Act likewise calls for reasonable notice (§ 5-6B-19).61

C. Voting methods, proxies, and ballots

For condominiums, a proxy lasts a maximum of 180 days, and a director election needs an owner voting in person, by electronic transmission, or by a directed proxy (§ 11-109(c)(9),(11),(12)); § 11-139.2 authorizes electronic voting and preserves a secret ballot through an anonymous printed-ballot option.62,63 For HOAs, the board may authorize electronic vote and proxy submission (§ 11B-113.2) and electronic meetings (§ 11B-113.6), the latter without specific owner authorization.64,65 Maryland imposes no mandatory secret ballot, no independent-inspector regime, and no fixed ballot-distribution timeline of the California Davis-Stirling type; cumulative voting exists only if the bylaws provide for it.

D. Terms, vacancies, removal, and recall

The Condominium Act and the HOA Act fix neither director term length, board size, removal, nor vacancy-filling, so these default to the nonstock-corporation provisions wherever the bylaws stay silent: § 2-404 (tenure), § 2-405 (holdover directors), § 2-406 (removal), and § 2-407 (vacancies).66,67,68,69 For an HOA, when vacancies leave the board without a quorum, three or more lot owners may petition the circuit court to appoint a receiver under § 11B-111.5.70

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

Status Signed
⌾ Last verified June 23, 2026
Docket

SB 758 / HB 1534 · Chapter 512 · 2025 Regular Session

Effective
Oct 1, 2025
Sunset
N/A
Condominiums and Homeowners Associations — Elections, Financial Statements, and Enforcement
Synopsis

Governor Wes Moore signed this bill on May 13, 2025 as Chapter 512, after it cleared the Senate 46-0 and the House 137-0, and it amends both the Condominium Act (Title 11) and the HOA Act (Title 11B). The bill treats an election as including the collection and counting of ballots and the certifying of results for officers or members of the governing body, and it requires that independent parties — people who are not candidates and carry no conflict of interest — run those elections; management does not count as an independent party unless the association owns the management company. It adds § 11B-118 for HOAs and parallel language to § 11-109 for condominiums, and it voids and renders unenforceable any provision of the governing documents that conflicts with the requirement.[71][72]

Operational impact
What this means, by role
Property managers Your staff can no longer count ballots unless the association owns the management company, so line up an independent administrator before the next election.
HOA board members Review and update your election rules and bylaws so that candidates and conflicted parties do not run the vote.
Community association attorneys Flag and strike the void election provisions, and advise on who qualifies as an independent party or third-party vendor.
Homeowners You get a more impartial election and a clearer path to challenge irregular ballot handling.

B. Recent appellate rulings

A search of the Appellate Court of Maryland and Supreme Court of Maryland reported-opinion indexes for the past 36 months turned up no reported opinion that squarely decides a contested HOA or condominium board election, a declarant-control transition, a director removal, or a proxy or voting dispute. The 2025 independent-election reforms (Chapter 512) took effect only on October 1, 2025, and no appellate court has yet construed them. The controlling appellate authority on association-board decision-making remains the business-judgment rule from Reiner v. Ehrlich, 212 Md. App. 142, 66 A.3d 1132, cert. denied, 433 Md. 514, 72 A.3d 173 (2013), which presumes that directors acted in good faith and in the best interest of the corporation and lets a challenger rebut that presumption only by showing fraud or bad faith; because that case predates the renaming, it properly appears under the former Court of Special Appeals.73 Present-day citations to Maryland's appellate courts should use the current names — the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland.

C. Active legislative debates

The Maryland General Assembly kept introducing condominium and HOA governance and enforcement bills in the 2026 regular session, and you should check each one against today's status on mgaleg.maryland.gov, because none has been confirmed to further amend the board-election provisions that Chapter 512 added.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Maryland is a comprehensive non-UCIOA state that regulates community associations through three separate statutes — the Condominium Act, the Homeowners Association Act, and the Cooperative Housing Corporation Act. That puts it alongside California (Davis-Stirling Act), Florida (Chapters 718 and 720), and Illinois (the Condominium Property Act and the Common Interest Community Association Act) as a state with bespoke, type-specific community-association law rather than one uniform code. What makes Maryland distinctive for board elections is the three-statute split, the December 2022 appellate-court renaming, the statutory open-meeting and electronic-voting and electronic-meeting provisions, and the 2025 independent-election-administrator requirement. For a multi-state operator, the practical rule is that the controlling election rule turns first on the community type, and present-day citations must use the renamed Supreme Court of Maryland and Appellate Court of Maryland.

Federal frameworks also reach Maryland associations regardless of the state framework — the Fair Housing Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the FCC's OTARD rule.

  1. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109 ↩
  2. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111 ↩
  3. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-19 ↩
  4. Maryland Judiciary, "Voter-approved constitutional change renames high courts to Supreme and Appellate Court of Maryland," Dec. 14, 2022 ↩
  5. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(a), (b) ↩
  6. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(4) ↩
  7. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(8) ↩
  8. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(9), (11), (12) ↩
  9. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(13) ↩
  10. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(14) ↩
  11. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(16) ↩
  12. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-139.2 ↩
  13. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(16) ↩
  14. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(1), (2), (3)(iv) ↩
  15. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-106.1 ↩
  16. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-113.2 ↩
  17. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-113.6 ↩
  18. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-115.1 ↩
  19. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-19 ↩
  20. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-402 ↩
  21. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404 ↩
  22. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404(d) ↩
  23. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-406 ↩
  24. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-407 ↩
  25. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109 ↩
  26. Md. Code, Real Property §§ 11B-106.1, 11B-111, 11B-118 ↩
  27. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations Title 5, Subtitle 6B ↩
  28. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-402 ↩
  29. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404 ↩
  30. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-202 ↩
  31. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109 (no statutory term limit; bylaw-set) ↩
  32. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404(b); § 5-202 ↩
  33. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(13) ↩
  34. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(16) ↩
  35. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-106.1 ↩
  36. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(7)(iv) ↩
  37. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(3)(iv) ↩
  38. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-19 ↩
  39. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(4) ↩
  40. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(2) ↩
  41. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-19(c) ↩
  42. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(13) ↩
  43. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-115.1 ↩
  44. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(9), (12) ↩
  45. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-139.2 ↩
  46. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-113.2 ↩
  47. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(8) ↩
  48. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(6) ↩
  49. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(15) ↩
  50. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404(d) ↩
  51. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-406 ↩
  52. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-407 ↩
  53. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111.5 ↩
  54. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(13) ↩
  55. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(14) ↩
  56. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-115.1 ↩
  57. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(4) ↩
  58. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(8) ↩
  59. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(2), (3)(iv) ↩
  60. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111(6) ↩
  61. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 5-6B-19 ↩
  62. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109(c)(9), (11), (12) ↩
  63. Md. Code, Real Property § 11-139.2 ↩
  64. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-113.2 ↩
  65. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-113.6 ↩
  66. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-404 ↩
  67. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-405 ↩
  68. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-406 ↩
  69. Md. Code, Corporations and Associations § 2-407 ↩
  70. Md. Code, Real Property § 11B-111.5 ↩
  71. Maryland General Assembly, SB 758 (2025 Regular Session), Chapter 512 — approved by the Governor May 13, 2025 ↩
  72. Chapter 512 (SB 758), enrolled text, adding § 11B-118 and amending § 11-109; effective October 1, 2025 ↩
  73. Reiner v. Ehrlich, 212 Md. App. 142, 66 A.3d 1132, cert. denied, 433 Md. 514 (2013) ↩
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