Policies explained
A board can adopt a policy without asking the members. That power has limits, and knowing them keeps a policy from being challenged.
A policy is a board-adopted statement of an ongoing position or standard, such as how the board handles pool guest passes or maintenance requests. It sits below the declaration and bylaws in the document hierarchy: a policy can fill a gap those documents leave open, but it cannot contradict either one and still be enforceable.
What a policy actually is
Boards use several similar-sounding tools, and it helps to keep them separate. A rule regulates ongoing conduct or use of property (quiet hours, parking). A policy states an ongoing board position or standard that fills a gap the declaration and bylaws leave open, without contradicting either. A resolution documents a single, one-time board decision, like approving a specific contract.
These labels, and the vote or notice each one requires before it takes effect, are not standardized from state to state or association to association. Check your own bylaws for how your board is supposed to define and adopt each one.
Where a policy ranks
Governing documents sit in a hierarchy, and rank, not recency, decides which one controls when two of them disagree. Federal and state law come first, then the declaration (CC&Rs), then the articles of incorporation, then the bylaws, and rules, resolutions, and policies last, because a board writes those itself.
"It's important to note that conflicts or inconsistencies between these documents are resolved by giving precedence to the higher-ranking document." "For example, if a rule contradicts a provision in the CC&Rs, the CC&Rs will take precedence."
Source: Understanding the Hierarchy of Governing Documents in a Community Association, Community Association Management (CAMS)
A policy is not exempt from that ranking just because it uses a softer word than "rule."
What a policy can't do
A policy that conflicts with the declaration is unenforceable to the extent of that conflict, no matter how recently the board adopted it or how sensible it sounds. If the CC&Rs already say something about a topic, a policy can clarify how the board will apply it; it cannot say the opposite. A policy also cannot do the work of an amendment: changing what the declaration itself requires generally needs an owner vote at whatever threshold the declaration or state statute sets, not a board policy.
When a topic is genuinely open (the declaration is silent), a policy is exactly the right tool. When the declaration already speaks to it, the policy has to agree with what the declaration says.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Your board adopts a policy capping pet weight at 25 pounds. The CC&Rs say nothing at all about pets. What happens?
Your board adopts a policy allowing satellite dishes anywhere on the lot. The CC&Rs limit satellite dishes to the rear yard. Which one controls?
A homeowner asks whether the noise curfew is a "rule" or a "policy." Your bylaws don't define either term. What should the board do?
Sources
- Understanding the Hierarchy of Governing Documents in a Community Association, Community Association Management (CAMS)
- HOA Rules vs. Policy: What's the Difference?, Boardline Academy
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Governing Documents
Next, see how a board policy compares to a formal rule and when to use each one: Rules and regulations explained.
Whether your bylaws even use the word "policy" as its own category, and what vote or notice a policy needs before it takes effect, vary by association and by state.