Electronic notices in a condo association: what the board should check

Email notices are no longer the exception. But consents and addresses must be in order, or the whole meeting is exposed.

For years condo associations ran on paper recorded delivery: meeting notices, calls for funds, formal notices, minutes. High cost, long delays, and a fair share of letters never collected. Electronic notification has gradually become the reference channel, with paper reserved for owners who expressly ask for it.

For the board this is not one more technical detail: the validity of a notice conditions the validity of the meeting. One stale address or one consent never collected, and an important vote becomes challengeable.

The principle: a consent and an address

• Electronic notification rests on the owner’s consent, recorded in a traceable way — at a meeting, in writing, or through the manager’s portal.
• That consent can be withdrawn: an owner who wants paper again must be able to switch back.
• The address given must be valid and current; the owner must report any change.
• The channel must prove the date of receipt or availability, as recorded delivery proved delivery.
• If sending clearly fails, the manager must notify another way, otherwise the owner counts as not summoned.

The details are precise and keep evolving: ask the manager to walk you through the procedure actually applied rather than assuming it complies.

What the board should check every year

• How many owners have consented to electronic notification, and how that number moves.
• The list of failing addresses — repeated bounces mean owners who receive nothing at all.
• The fallback procedure when an electronic send fails.
• How sold units are handled: does the new owner’s address really replace the old one?
• What happens to paper mail for the owners who asked for it, especially older residents.

This check pays directly: postage weighs on the charges. Above all it protects the association legally, like checking the accounts before the meeting.

Why a badly served notice costs money

An owner who was not properly summoned has a window to act against the decisions taken. When such a challenge succeeds, it is sometimes an entire works programme that has to be voted again a year later, with expired quotes.

The deadlines are strict and worth knowing in advance: see challenging a general meeting decision.

The board itself communicates freely

Do not mix things up. Notification rules govern the manager’s formal acts: notices, minutes, formal demands. The board’s own communication to owners — an information note, a site update, an explanation before a vote — is not bound by the same formalities.

So the board can write whenever it is useful, and it should: that is what turns a dry notice into an understood decision. See how to structure that communication and how to mobilise before the meeting.

Use the switch to clean up your data

Going electronic exposes an older problem: nobody really knows who lives where, who rents, who sold, and which address to write to. An up-to-date directory of owners, residents and contractors solves half of a building’s communication incidents.

A properly served notice is not administrative trivia: it is what makes decisions unchallengeable.

Centralise your exchanges with CoproHarmony

CoproHarmony lets the board keep members and residents up to date, send its own information, receive requests from occupants and archive building documents in one place. Create your free space.