Remote participation

Your bylaws decide if remote meetings happen at all

A director owning a laptop does not make a Zoom board meeting legal. Robert's Rules of Order, the parliamentary authority most HOA bylaws point to, treats remote meetings as something the bylaws must switch on, not a default option available to any board that wants it.

"You may hold board meetings by videoconference or teleconference (including over the Internet) only if your bylaws specifically authorize you to do so."

Source: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th ed., Frequently Asked Questions, Robert's Rules Association

If your bylaws never mention videoconferencing, treat in-person as the rule until the membership amends the bylaws. If they do authorize it, the same guidance expects the board to have already adopted rules for how directors get recognized, submit motions, and get counted toward quorum, worked out before the call starts, not improvised during it.

States do not agree on the safeguards

Even where a state statute clearly allows remote board meetings, what it demands in exchange is not the same everywhere. California requires a teleconference board meeting to name at least one physical location for member attendance, staffed by a director or board designee. Check whether your state imposes the same anchor requirement before assuming a fully virtual meeting is safe.

"Any meeting may be held by telephonic, video, or other conferencing process."

Source: Revised Code of Washington §64.90.445, Washington State Legislature

Washington's statute sets no physical-room requirement at all, it relies instead on roll-call voting and a guaranteed phone option for owners. Florida's condominium statute takes a similar no-anchor approach, letting a member's participation by phone or video count toward quorum. This is a genuine three-way split, not a rounding error, so confirm your own state's rule rather than copying a neighboring association's practice.

Remote does not mean private

Moving a meeting online does not shrink an owner's right to attend and listen. California requires a teleconference meeting to be audible to members at whatever location the notice named, not just to the directors on the call. Confirm whether your state's statute carries the same requirement.

Washington goes further for owners without a camera: the board must let them join a videoconference meeting by phone rather than requiring video. The practical translation for whoever writes the notice: tell owners how to actually listen in or dial in, not just send directors a meeting link.