2026-09-10 · Massachusetts · Legislation · Did not pass

What happened. The most prescriptive condominium governance bill filed in the 194th General Court would have rewritten how every Massachusetts condominium runs a trustee election. It was sent to study on 13 April 2026 as part of order H.5352 and is finished.¹

H.1539, An Act relative to condominium elections, was filed by Representative Hannah Kane and heard by the Joint Committee on Housing on 4 June 2025.

Two rules that would have changed everything

The bill added a new c. 183A §24 running from subsection (a) to (v). Two provisions carried the weight.

Proxies, banned outright. The text is unqualified: “No proxy ballots are to be allowed and no unit owners are permitted to designate their vote to another unit owner.” Absent owners would have voted by absentee ballot instead.²

No quorum at all. “There shall be no quorum requirement for any such election.” Elections would have been decided by plurality of the ballots actually cast on the day.

Why those two go together

They are the same reform seen from two directions. The proxy exists in Massachusetts condominium practice largely because quorums are hard to meet — boards collect proxies in order to hold a valid meeting at all. Remove the quorum requirement and the proxy loses its main justification; ban the proxy without removing the quorum and many associations could not seat a board.

The bill did both, which is what made it the session's most consequential governance filing and, plausibly, what made it unpassable.

1. H.1539, An Act relative to condominium elections — bill page ↩
2. H.1539 bill text, Massachusetts General Court ↩
3. Order H.5352, Joint Committee on Housing study order, 13 April 2026 ↩