Attending HOA Meetings in Maine

The decisions that affect your home — budgets, rules, assessments — often get made at meetings. In Maine, the rules about those meetings depend on whether your community is a condominium or a non-condominium HOA. For your specific situation, a licensed Maine attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

Condominiums: meetings under §1603-108

For condominiums, the Maine Condominium Act addresses meetings of the association and the executive board, including notice to unit owners (§1603-108). Notice exists so owners can attend and participate before a decision is locked in. The bylaws fill in the detail — frequency, format, and how owners can speak.

Non-condominium HOAs: the bylaws and nonprofit law

If your community is not a condominium, the meeting framework comes from two places:

• The recorded declaration and bylaws — usually the first place to look for when the board meets, how members are noticed, and whether owners can attend.
• The Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act (13-B M.R.S.), for incorporated HOAs — which supplies rules for annual and special meetings, notice to members, voting, and minutes as corporate records.

Why notice is the leverage point

Notice exists so owners can participate before a decision is final. When a board adopts a rule, approves a budget, or raises assessments at a meeting members were never properly noticed of — under the statute, the documents, or the corporate law — the lack of notice is often the first thing a homeowner or attorney examines. A decision reached without the required notice may be vulnerable.

Minutes are records you can get

If you couldn't attend, the minutes show what happened. For condominiums, the records provisions of the Condominium Act reach the minutes; for incorporated HOAs, the Nonprofit Corporation Act does. See Getting Your HOA's Records in Maine. Requesting minutes is a common move when a board action seems to have appeared from nowhere.

If meetings are closed or unnoticed

When an owner believes the board is meeting without the notice the documents or the law require, the options include raising it with the board in writing, requesting the records that would show what happened, and consulting a licensed Maine attorney about whether the applicable rules were followed. See also Which Maine Laws Govern Your HOA or Condo?.

Sources

• 33 M.R.S. §1603-108 — Meetings
• 33 M.R.S. §1603-118 — Association records
• 13-B M.R.S. — Maine Nonprofit Corporation Act