For volunteer board members
Vermont HOA Rules for Board Members (2026)
Most Vermont board members are volunteers who just want to get it right. Below is a plain-English summary of the Vermont rules that come up when a board enforces its documents, each paired with its statute section and the official text.
Vermont condominiums and homeowners associations. The Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act covers condominiums created after January 1, 1999 and other communities with 12 or more homes created after that date; older communities get listed sections, and small planned communities (24 or fewer homes with no development rights) are mostly outside it unless their declaration opts in. Where your community is outside the Act, follow your documents. Where a step comes from your documents, Kindly Board says so.
- Send notice of the board meeting (time, date, place, agenda) by: notice of each board meeting goes to board members and owners at least 10 days before, with its time, date, place and agenda. Counted back from the meeting where the Board will hear or decide this case. Small planned communities outside the Act: follow your bylaws.
Updated October 2026. Not legal advice.
Key Vermont deadlines at a glance
| Deadline | What the law says |
|---|---|
| Send notice of the board meeting (time, date, place, agenda) by | Notice of each board meeting goes to board members and owners at least 10 days before, with its time, date, place and agenda. Counted back from the meeting where the Board will hear or decide this case. Small planned communities outside the Act: follow your bylaws. 27A V.S.A. §3-108(b)(5) |
Which Vermont law applies
The Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act covers all residential condominiums created after January 1, 1999, and other common interest communities (HOAs, cooperatives) with 12 or more residential units created after that date. Planned communities with 24 or fewer units and no development rights, or with a very low capped average assessment, are subject only to three minor sections (§§1-105 to 1-107) unless the declaration adopts the whole Act. Non-condominium communities with fewer than 12 homes created after 1999 are outside the Act.
Communities created before January 1, 1999 (unless exempt as small planned communities) are subject to listed sections of the Act, including fines after notice and a hearing, the lien, records and resale certificates (for events after December 31, 1998), and board duties, meetings and voting (§§3-103, 3-108, for events after December 31, 2011). Their documents stay in force. Older condominiums also remain under the Condominium Ownership Act (27 V.S.A. chapter 15) for matters the listed sections don't cover.
Unclear: the Act says its later amendments apply to communities with 12 or more units created after January 1, 2011, or that opted in. So the 2012 rules on adopting rules, flags and signs (§3-120) and notice delivery (§3-121) may not reach a non-condominium community created 1999 to 2010. Kindly Board follows the current text as the safe course; ask a Vermont attorney.
The association may charge late fees on assessments and, after notice and a hearing, may impose reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws and rules. The Act sets no cure period, hearing-notice period, hearing format or fine cap; your documents control those.
How Vermont counts days
Vermont's general rule: when time is reckoned from a day, date or act, that day isn't counted. The statute says nothing about weekends or holidays, so Kindly Board counts calendar days and makes no weekend or holiday rollover.
Notice of each board meeting goes to each board member and to the owners at least 10 days before the meeting, stating its time, date, place and agenda, unless the meeting is in a schedule given to owners or is an emergency.
Violation notices and the chance to fix in Vermont
Before adopting, amending or repealing a rule, the board gives all owners notice of its intent with the text and the date it will act after considering comments; after adoption it notifies owners with a copy. Every rule must be reasonable.
Vermont law sets no cure period in days and requires no courtesy notice; your documents control. 10 to 30 days is common practice, not a legal rule.
Notices go to any mailing or email address the owner designates. Otherwise the association may deliver by hand, by U.S. mail or a commercially reasonable delivery service to the unit's mailing address, by electronic means if the owner gave an electronic address, or by any other method reasonably calculated to give notice. A good-faith delivery that fails doesn't invalidate the action taken.
Hearings in Vermont
Vermont law doesn't sort violations into types. Your documents decide whether an ongoing violation gets a period to fix it, and how long; a fine still needs notice and a hearing first.
Vermont law sets no separate path for a one-time violation: a fine still needs notice and a hearing first.
Tenants: the association may levy reasonable fines against a tenant after notice to the tenant and the owner and an opportunity to be heard. Lease-type remedies are available only if the violation isn't cured within 10 days after notice to the tenant and the owner.
Assessments, late fees and liens in Vermont
The association has a lien for assessments and fines; unless the declaration says otherwise, fees, late charges, fines and interest are enforceable like assessments. The lien is extinguished unless proceedings to enforce it start within 3 years after the full amount becomes due. No foreclosure unless the owner owes at least 3 months of budget-based assessments, failed to accept or keep an offered payment plan, and the board votes to foreclose on that unit; if the amount owed includes no unpaid assessment (fines only), foreclosure needs a judgment and a perfected judgment lien first.
Interest on past-due assessments is at the rate the association sets, not above the legal rate, which is 12 percent a year. A common expense caused by an owner's (or guest's) willful misconduct or gross negligence may be assessed to that unit after notice and a hearing.
On a request in a record, the association provides a statement of unpaid assessments within 10 business days after receiving the request.
The association may suspend rights and privileges of an owner who fails to pay an assessment, but may not deny access to the unit, suspend the owner's vote, keep the owner from running for the board or an office, or withhold services in a way that endangers health, safety or property.
Meetings and votes in Vermont
Board and committee meetings are open to owners except executive sessions, which may be held only during a regular or special meeting and only to consult the association's attorney, discuss litigation, personnel, contracts being negotiated, or matters whose public knowledge would violate privacy. No final vote or action may be taken in executive session. Owners get a reasonable opportunity to comment at each board meeting.
After the declarant control period, the board may act by unanimous consent without a meeting only for ministerial actions or to carry out actions taken at a meeting, and the secretary gives owners notice of such actions.
Board members (other than declarant appointees) owe the care and loyalty of corporate directors and are subject to the Title 11B conflict-of-interest rules.
Owners meet at least once a year. Notice of an owners' meeting goes 10 to 60 days before it and states the time, date, place and agenda, including proposed amendments, budget changes and removal proposals, delivered as §3-121 allows.
Records in Vermont
The association keeps the listed records, including records of architectural approvals and denials. Owners may examine and copy them during reasonable business hours or at a mutually convenient time and place, on 5 days' notice in a record reasonably identifying the records. Some records may be withheld (personnel, contracts being negotiated, litigation and others listed), and a reasonable copy fee may be charged.
Other rules boards should know
The board may decide not to enforce in the circumstances the Act lists, but may not be arbitrary or capricious in taking enforcement action.
If the declaration provides for design or aesthetic rules, the association must adopt procedures including a reasonable time to act on applications and the consequences of failing to act. The Act sets no general deadline in days and no deemed approval for architectural requests (except EV chargers).
If the association so provides, it may require nonbinding alternative dispute resolution before litigation between the board and owners.
Within 10 days after an owner's request, the association furnishes the resale certificate the owner needs to give a buyer.
Step by step: a Vermont violation case
The order Kindly Board walks a Vermont board through, from the first look to the last letter.
- Check before you start Every case
Find the rule, and the steps your own documents require. - Courtesy reminder Optional
A friendly first note before any formal notice. - Formal notice of violation Before any fine (per your documents)
The rule, the facts, the fix-by date and how to be heard, in the form your documents require. - Hearing (if the owner asks, or your documents require one) Per your documents
A fair chance to be heard before the Board decides. - Board vote on the fine Before a fine
Only if your documents allow fines, at a proper board meeting. - Notice of fine After the vote
Amount, due date, how to pay, and the rule behind it. - Close the case Every case
Record how it ended and keep the file.
Vermont HOA rules: FAQ
What HOA law applies in Vermont?
Vermont condominiums and homeowners associations. The Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act covers condominiums created after January 1, 1999 and other communities with 12 or more homes created after that date; older communities get listed sections, and small planned communities (24 or fewer homes with no development rights) are mostly outside it unless their declaration opts in. Where your community is outside the Act, follow your documents. Where a step comes from your documents, Kindly Board says so. The main sources: 27A V.S.A. (Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act), 27 V.S.A. §544, and your documents.
How are days counted for Vermont HOA deadlines?
Vermont law sets no periods for the notice, fix-by and hearing steps, so Kindly Board uses the dates from your notice (your documents set them). The board-meeting notice is counted in calendar days back from the meeting; if a date falls on a weekend or holiday, ask a Vermont attorney.
What are the key deadlines in a Vermont HOA violation case?
Send notice of the board meeting (time, date, place, agenda) by: notice of each board meeting goes to board members and owners at least 10 days before, with its time, date, place and agenda. Counted back from the meeting where the Board will hear or decide this case. Small planned communities outside the Act: follow your bylaws. (27A V.S.A. §3-108(b)(5))
What does Vermont law say about violation hearings?
Vermont law doesn't sort violations into types. Your documents decide whether an ongoing violation gets a period to fix it, and how long; a fine still needs notice and a hearing first. (27A V.S.A. §3-102(a)(11))
Can Vermont owners see the association's records?
The association keeps the listed records, including records of architectural approvals and denials. Owners may examine and copy them during reasonable business hours or at a mutually convenient time and place, on 5 days' notice in a record reasonably identifying the records. Some records may be withheld (personnel, contracts being negotiated, litigation and others listed), and a reasonable copy fee may be charged. (27A V.S.A. §3-118(a)(10), (b), (c), (d))
Official text
- Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243
- 27A V.S.A. chapter 1 (Vermont Common Interest Ownership Act, general provisions) (Vermont Statutes Online)
- 27A V.S.A. chapter 3 (management of the common interest community) (Vermont Statutes Online)
- 9 V.S.A. §41a (legal rate of interest) (Vermont Statutes Online)
- 27A V.S.A. chapter 4 (protection of purchasers) (Vermont Statutes Online)
- 27 V.S.A. §544 (solar collectors, clotheslines) (Vermont Statutes Online)
- 1 V.S.A. §138 (computation of time) (Vermont Statutes Online)