If you haven’t reviewed how your community association board meetings are run in a while, now’s the time. As of January 1, 2026, certain Washington Common Interest Ownership Act (WUCIOA) requirements, including meeting provisions, apply to many Washington common interest communities created before July 1, 2018.
The meeting provisions are where boards and managers will feel the most immediate impact. Here’s what you need to know.
Meetings Must Be Open with Limited Exceptions
Board meetings and committee meetings authorized to act for the board must be open to owners, with limited exceptions for executive sessions. Unless a meeting has already been included in a schedule that was previously provided to owners, notice must, generally, be given at least 14 days in advance. For an event or condition that could not reasonably have been foreseen and for which regular notice is impracticable, at least 7 days’ notice is required.
Additionally, the board must provide at least 15 minutes at the beginning of each board meeting for owner comments on agenda items. Any written materials provided to board members in advance must also be made available to owners.
For boards that have been operating informally or sharing materials only with directors, both of those practices need to change.
Voting by Email is Much More Limited
This one may impact boards the most. After the transition meeting, board action without a meeting is limited to ministerial actions, actions subject to ratification by unit owners, and implementation of actions previously taken at a board meeting.
Informal email decision-making is much more limited under this updated framework and cannot be used for most substantive board action after the transition meeting. More decisions need to be made at noticed, open meetings, which means more meetings and more documentation.
Remote Meetings are Even More Limited
Boards can still meet virtually, but the law sets clear conditions. The meeting notice must explain the process and how to participate; all participants must be able to hear and comment, board votes must be conducted by roll call or other verbal means, and anyone entitled to participate must have the option to join by phone.
Minutes are Part of the Compliance Picture
For certain matters, including board elections and other specified votes, the statute requires secret ballots. Results must be reviewed, announced, and recorded in the minutes, and incumbent board members and board candidates may not possess, access, or participate in opening or counting those ballots.
More broadly, the framework encourages tighter recordkeeping across the board. Meeting notices, materials shared with owners, verbal roll call votes, comment periods, ballot results — all of it needs to be reflected in the record.
For boards that already struggle with timely, accurate minutes, these requirements are raising the stakes.
The Bigger Picture
There is no express statutory grace period. Routine board actions could be subject to challenge if procedural requirements were not followed, though the statute imposes a 90-day deadline for such claims. The risk is real, and it is reason enough to get your best practices right now rather than later.
And this is just phase one. By January 1, 2028, WUCIOA is scheduled to apply to all common interest communities in Washington, and communities should review their governing documents for inconsistencies with the statute before that deadline arrives.
A Note on Minute Taking
With more meetings, stricter notice requirements, mandatory comment periods, and roll call votes, the job of documenting board meetings has gotten meaningfully more complicated. Many of the communities we work with have found this to be a good time to bring in outside help, allowing managers and board members to focus on the governance work itself rather than the record.
If that’s a conversation you’d like to have, we would love to connect. You can reach us at info@minutessolutions.com or click here to contact us: