Attending Open Board Meetings in Kentucky

The decisions that affect your home — budgets, rules, assessments — often get made at board meetings. Kentucky's 2023 Planned Community Act changed the meeting framework for planned communities statewide, but older HOAs keep meeting terms already in their recorded documents, and condominiums follow different statutes. For your specific situation, a licensed Kentucky attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

Are HOA board meetings open to owners in Kentucky?

Generally, yes, for planned communities under the 2023 Act. Under KRS 381.793, unless the bylaws specify otherwise, board meetings are open to owners except during executive sessions. The statute does not list executive-session subjects, and older HOAs keep meeting provisions already in documents adopted or recorded before June 29, 2023.

The Kentucky Planned Community Act took effect June 29, 2023. Its reach is broad:

"Notwithstanding subsection (3) of this section, all planned communities in this Commonwealth are subject to the provisions of KRS 381.785 to 381.801." — KRS 381.786(1)

Two limits matter. Older documents are protected: "nothing in KRS 381.785 to 381.801 shall invalidate any provision of a document that governs a planned community if that provision was in the document at the time the document was recorded and the document was adopted or recorded prior to June 29, 2023" (KRS 381.786(1)). And a planned community under the Act excludes a neighborhood that "does not currently have a homeowners' association established by declaration, subdivision plat, or deed," as well as one whose only shared expense is a common roadway (KRS 381.785(13)(b)); condominiums are excluded from the definition too.

For board meetings, the controlling sentence is short:

"Unless otherwise specified in the bylaws, board meetings shall be open to the owners except during executive sessions." — KRS 381.793(2)

The same section sets the board quorum — "Unless the bylaws specify a larger percentage, a quorum of a board is established if fifty-one percent (51%) of the directors are present at the beginning of the meeting" (KRS 381.793(1)) — and ties the duties of directors of an unincorporated association to the nonprofit-corporation standards in KRS 273.215 and 273.229 (KRS 381.793(3)). It does not list the subjects an executive session may cover.

KRS 381.792 then lists provisions an association "shall include" in its declaration or bylaws:

• Annual meeting. "An annual meeting of the association shall be held at least once per year," with a quorum of ten percent of the lot owners (KRS 381.792(1)).
• Special meetings. They may be called by the president, a majority of the board, or "by written request of twenty percent (20%) of the owners or any lower percentage specified in the declaration or bylaws," and the secretary "shall convene the special meeting within thirty (30) days of receipt of a written request" (KRS 381.792(2)).
• Notice. Notice goes to owners "no less than ten (10) days nor more than thirty (30) days in advance of any meeting," by mail, hand delivery, or electronic delivery, and "The notice of any meeting shall state the time and place of the meeting and the items on the agenda" (KRS 381.792(3)).
• Voting. Each lot has one vote, a proxy lasts one year unless it states a shorter term, and actions approved by a majority of votes cast are the owners' actions unless the documents require more (KRS 381.792(4)).

What meeting rules apply to pre-2023 Kentucky HOAs?

Mostly their recorded documents. For planned communities with documents adopted or recorded before June 29, 2023, meeting and notice terms in those documents stay in force alongside the Act (KRS 381.786). If the HOA is incorporated, KRS Chapter 273 supplies defaults when the articles and bylaws are silent, such as member-meeting notice 10 to 35 days ahead (KRS 273.197).

If your planned community adopted or recorded its documents before June 29, 2023, the Act still applies under KRS 381.786, but meeting and notice provisions already in those recorded documents stay in force. Those grandfathered terms in the declaration and bylaws control alongside the Act and, if the HOA is incorporated, the Kentucky Nonprofit Corporation Act (KRS Chapter 273), which supplies member-meeting defaults when the articles and bylaws are silent:

• Annual and special meetings. "An annual meeting of the members shall be held at such time as may be provided in the bylaws" (KRS 273.193(2)); absent a provision on who may call one, a special meeting "may be called by members having one-twentieth (1/20) of the votes entitled to be cast at such meeting" (KRS 273.193(3)).
• Member notice. Unless the articles or bylaws provide otherwise, notice of the place, day, and hour — and, for a special meeting, its purpose — goes out "not less than ten (10) nor more than thirty-five (35) days before the date of the meeting" (KRS 273.197).
• Quorum. Without a bylaw provision, "members holding one-tenth (1/10) of the votes entitled to be cast on the matter to be voted upon represented in person or by proxy shall constitute a quorum" (KRS 273.203).
• Board notice. If the bylaws are silent, board meetings "shall be preceded by at least two (2) days notice of the time, date, and place of the meeting" (KRS 273.223(1)).

How much meeting notice must a Kentucky condo association give?

At least 10 and no more than 60 days, for condominiums created after January 1, 2011. Under KRS 381.9177, notice of any association meeting must state the time, place, and agenda items, including the general nature of any proposed declaration or bylaw amendment, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove a director or officer.

The Kentucky Condominium Act (KRS 381.9101–.9207) "applies to all condominiums created within the Commonwealth after January 1, 2011" (KRS 381.9103(1)). Its meeting section requires that "A meeting of the association shall be held at least once each year," lets owners with 20 percent of the votes (or a lower bylaw percentage) call a special meeting, and requires notice "Not less than ten (10) days nor more than sixty (60) days in advance of any meeting." That notice must state "the time and place of the meeting and the items on the agenda, including the general nature of any proposed amendment to the declaration or bylaws, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove a director or officer" (KRS 381.9177).

KRS 381.9177 is not among the sections KRS 381.9103(2) extends to condominiums created before January 1, 2011. Those older condominiums remain under the Horizontal Property Law (KRS 381.805–.910) and their own instruments, unless owners holding all the votes — or the lower percentage the declaration requires to terminate the condominium — elect to bring it under the newer Act (KRS 381.9103(3)).

Why notice is the leverage point

Notice exists so owners can attend and participate before a decision is locked in. That is why each of these statutes ties notice to a window of days and, for association meetings, to an agenda. When a board adopts a rule, approves a budget, or raises assessments at a meeting owners were never properly noticed of, a licensed Kentucky attorney can explain whether the decision is open to challenge under the rules that apply to your community.

Can I get HOA meeting minutes in Kentucky?

Generally, yes, if the HOA is incorporated. Under KRS 273.233, an incorporated HOA must keep minutes of proceedings of its members, board, and committees having board authority, and members may inspect and copy the books and records for any proper purpose at any reasonable time. The articles of incorporation or bylaws may abolish or limit that right.

If you couldn't attend, the minutes show what happened. An incorporated HOA "shall keep minutes of the proceedings of its members, board of directors and committees having any of the authority of the board of directors," and members may inspect and copy the books and records "for any proper purpose at any reasonable time" (KRS 273.233). That right has a limit: "The member's right of inspection may be abolished or limited by the corporation's articles of incorporation or bylaws." See Getting Your HOA's Records in Kentucky.

If meetings are closed or unnoticed

When an owner believes the board is meeting without the notice the documents or statute require, the options include raising it with the board in writing, requesting minutes that would show what happened, and consulting a licensed Kentucky attorney about whether the applicable rules — KRS 381.792 and 381.793, the recorded declaration and bylaws, KRS 381.9177 for newer condominiums, and KRS Chapter 273 for incorporated HOAs — were followed.

Sources

• KRS 381.785 — Definitions (Planned Community Act)
• KRS 381.786 — Planned communities subject to the Act
• KRS 381.792 — Required provisions: meetings, notice, quorum
• KRS 381.793 — Quorum; open board meetings; director standards
• KRS 381.9103 — Application of the Kentucky Condominium Act
• KRS 381.9177 — Meetings of the condominium association
• KRS 273.193 — Meetings of members
• KRS 273.197 — Notice of members' meetings
• KRS 273.203 — Quorum
• KRS 273.223 — Place and notice of directors' meetings
• KRS 273.233 — Books and records
• Kentucky 2023 SB 120 — Planned Community Act enactment