Kentucky HOA Meetings Need 10 to 30 Days' Notice and a 10% Quorum

Kentucky had no general homeowners association governance statute until 2023 Ky. Acts ch. 23 created the Planned Community Act at KRS 381.785 to 381.801, effective June 29, 2023. KRS 381.792 is drafted as a mandate on the governing documents: an association "shall include" its four numbered items in the declaration or bylaws, so a Kentucky association formed after that date cannot write a longer notice window or a higher meeting quorum out of existence.

Meetings. An annual association meeting must be held at least once per year. A special meeting may be called by the president, a majority of the board, or written request of 20% of the owners, or any lower percentage the declaration or bylaws specify; on receiving such a request the secretary must convene the meeting within 30 days. Notice goes to owners no less than 10 days and no more than 30 days in advance, by United States mail to the owner's mailing address of record, hand delivery, or electronic delivery, and it must state the time, the place and the items on the agenda. Condominium owners get a wider window: KRS 381.9177 uses 10 to 60 days, and requires the notice to describe the general nature of any proposed declaration or bylaw amendment, any budget changes, and any proposal to remove a director or officer.

Quorum and voting. KRS 381.792(1) and (4) both set the association meeting quorum at 10% of lot owners, and subsection (4) deems that quorum present throughout the meeting once persons entitled to cast 10% of the total lots are present in person or by proxy at the start. Each lot gets one vote, cumulative voting is prohibited, and a proxy expires one year after the date it was signed unless it names a shorter term. Electronic voting and voting by mail are options the declaration or bylaws may adopt. A majority of the votes actually cast carries, unless the governing documents demand more. Amending the declaration takes 80% of all owners under KRS 381.791(1) unless the declaration says otherwise; amending the bylaws takes a majority of all owners.

Board meetings. KRS 381.793(1) fixes a board quorum at 51% of the directors present at the beginning of the meeting unless the bylaws specify a larger percentage. Subsection (2) opens board meetings to the owners "unless otherwise specified in the bylaws," except during executive sessions, which is a weaker open-meetings guarantee than it first looks: a Kentucky association may close its board meetings by bylaw. Directors of an unincorporated association owe the duties set out in KRS 273.215 and 273.229. The board must have at least three directors elected from among the owners under KRS 381.787(2), and owners may remove a director with or without cause by majority vote at a meeting with a quorum, except a director the declarant appointed.

Records. Under KRS 381.795(1) an owner may examine and copy the association's books, records and minutes subject to reasonable board standards on document types, timing, location and a reasonable copying fee. Subsection (2) is the limit: without board approval an owner may not see personnel matters, attorney communications or work product on potential, threatened or pending litigation, contracts under negotiation or subject to confidentiality terms, collection information or past-due owner lists, or anything state or federal law makes confidential. KRS 381.790(3) tells the association what it must keep in the first place, including meeting minutes for both the association and the board and the names and mailing addresses of owners.

Financial reporting. KRS 381.794(2) gives the association 180 days after fiscal year end to have a financial report prepared, and 30 days after the board receives it to make it available electronically at no charge or on paper for a reasonable fee. The required standard scales with revenue: a statement of cash receipts and disbursements under $125,000, a compilation from $125,000 to under $300,000, a review by a CPA from $300,000 to under $1,000,000, and a full audit at $1,000,000 or more. Condominium associations run on the older and stricter clock in KRS 381.9197: 150 days, with audit thresholds starting at $500,000.

Kentucky created no regulator for homeowners associations, so there is no complaint line, licensing board or administrative appeal. 795 happens in Circuit Court, usually by an owner suing for declaratory or injunctive relief, and the Act sets no penalty, statutory damages or fee-shifting for a board that ignores a notice deadline or refuses records. 791(3). 795(2) before suit, because a board that withholds collection files or litigation counsel's advice is doing exactly what the statute permits. 786: provisions already in a governing document recorded before June 29, 2023 survive, and a neighborhood with no homeowners association, or one whose only shared expense is a common roadway, falls outside the Act altogether.