Attending HOA Meetings in New Jersey

New Jersey treats board transparency as the rule, with closed sessions limited to a specific set of topics. The 2017 Radburn Law added universal-membership and basic election protections that have changed how community associations handle elections and voting. For your specific situation, a licensed New Jersey attorney is the right resource. This is general information, not legal advice.

The open-meeting rule under PREDFDA

PREDFDA provides that "all meetings of the executive board, except conference or working sessions at which no binding votes are to be taken, shall be open to attendance by all" association members. That reaches the board's working meetings — where budgets, rules, and enforcement decisions are actually made — not just the annual membership meeting.

"Adequate notice" of open meetings must be given to all unit owners "in such manner as the bylaws shall prescribe." That makes the bylaws the document to read for the specific notice mechanics in your community.

When the board may close part of a meeting

PREDFDA allows the board to "exclude or restrict attendance at those meetings, or portions of meetings, dealing with" enumerated topics, generally including:

• Pending or anticipated litigation and arbitration
• Matters covered by attorney-client privilege
• Personnel and employment matters
• Certain contracts and business negotiations
• Matters where disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy

Routine business — budgets, rules, enforcement decisions, and elections — belongs in the open meeting.

Public-comment participation: at the board's discretion

PREDFDA leaves member participation in open meetings to the executive board's discretion: at "each meeting required to be open to all unit owners, the participation of unit owners in the proceedings or the provision of a public comment session shall be at the discretion of the executive board." Many associations do provide a comment period under their bylaws; PREDFDA itself does not require one.

The Radburn Law: universal membership and election protections

The 2017 Radburn Law amendments to PREDFDA (N.J.S.A. 45:22A-45.1 et seq.) made important governance changes:

• Universal membership — every unit owner is an association member
• Baseline election protections — eligibility, notice, ballot procedures
• Bylaw discipline — certain governance changes must run through the bylaws rather than rules

The DCA's implementing regulations at N.J.A.C. 5:26 (sometimes called the "Radburn Regulations") fill in the procedural detail — but parts of them did not survive court review.

The 2024 ruling that pared back the Radburn Regulations

On February 23, 2024, the New Jersey Appellate Division held that several of the DCA's Radburn Regulations exceeded what PREDFDA authorizes and struck them down. Among the provisions reversed:

• The regulation requiring that all binding board votes be taken in open session (N.J.A.C. 5:26-8.12(e)(2)) — the court rejected the DCA's position that every association-board vote must occur in open session
• A regulation requiring both a proxy ballot and an absentee ballot when seeking a vote to amend the bylaws (N.J.A.C. 5:26-8.13(f)(4))
• A regulation on the public tallying of election ballots (N.J.A.C. 5:26-8.9(h)), which the court narrowed so that only the actual vote count, not every reconciliation step, must be done publicly

The headline for owners: the statutory open-meeting rule below still stands, but the broader regulatory gloss the DCA had layered on top of it is no longer fully in force, and as of 2026 the DCA had not issued replacement regulations. Because this area is unsettled, a licensed New Jersey attorney is the right resource for what currently applies in your community.

What people generally do

For owners who want a real voice in their New Jersey association, a few things commonly matter:

• The bylaws set the specific notice mechanics PREDFDA defers to.
• Whether meetings of the executive board are noticed and held open, with closed portions limited to the enumerated topics.
• Routine business — budgets, rules, enforcement, elections — moved into closed session is a red flag, since PREDFDA's open-meeting rule does not allow it (note that, after the 2024 ruling, PREDFDA is not read to forbid every binding vote in closed session — the question is whether the matter fits an enumerated closed-session topic).
• The Radburn Law's election protections, which govern board elections.
• Meeting minutes and notices show how decisions were made.
• A licensed New Jersey attorney is the resource if the open-meeting or election rules appear to be ignored.

Sources

• N.J.S.A. 45:22A-21 et seq. — Planned Real Estate Development Full Disclosure Act
• N.J.S.A. 45:22A-45.1 — Radburn Law universal-membership/election provisions
• N.J.A.C. 5:26 — DCA implementing regulations
• Appellate Division opinion, Feb. 23, 2024 (Docket No. A-2241-21) — partial invalidation of the Radburn Regulations