Contract renewal calendars

What belongs on the calendar

Every vendor contract has two dates that matter, and they are usually not the same date. The term end date is when the current contract period finishes. The notice deadline is the last day the board can act, in writing, to stop the contract from continuing into another term. A landscaping contract that renews each March 1 but requires sixty days written notice to cancel has a real deadline of January 1, two months before anyone thinks to look at it.

Put both dates on the calendar for every vendor contract, along with the certificate of insurance expiration date. A vendor's insurance renews on its own schedule and needs to be confirmed current on its own timeline, separately from the contract itself, per vendor compliance guidance. See Insurance requirements for what to collect and how often.

The notice deadline matters more than the renewal date

Many vendor contracts include language that continues the agreement automatically unless the board cancels by a set date. Whether a state law regulates how that automatic renewal term must be disclosed, and what counts as adequate notice, depends on the state and the type of contract. California's Automatic Renewal Law is one example of how far that kind of regulation can go for consumer and business contracts:

"a plan, arrangement, or provision of a contract that contains a free-to-pay conversion or in which a paid subscription or purchasing agreement is automatically renewed at the end of a definite term for a subsequent term"

Source: California Business and Professions Code, sections 17600 through 17604, California Legislature

Whatever your own state requires, the practical lesson carries over: the calendar entry that matters is the notice deadline, not the renewal date. A board that only checks the calendar on the renewal date itself has already missed the window to do anything about it.

Tie the calendar to the annual review, not the scramble

Guidance aimed at HOA boards recommends reviewing vendor performance annually and deciding whether to keep a vendor before the contract renews, not scrambling to react after it already has. Schedule that review far enough ahead of the notice deadline that there is time to bid the work out if the review turns up problems, not just enough time to send a form letter. See Vendor performance reviews for what that review should cover.

When the board decides to renew, renegotiate, or replace a vendor, write down why. The same documented reasoning that supports a sound bid decision supports a sound renewal decision, and it is what the board has to point to later if anyone questions why a contract continued.