Alabama Condo Board Roles & Responsibilities
What each board position actually does, how many people you need, and how to keep a volunteer board functioning as members rotate out year after year — including where board composition is actually set by state law versus your own bylaws.
Alabama at a Glance
Most HOA boards have three to five members, elected by the membership for terms set in the bylaws — often one to two years, frequently staggered so the entire board doesn't turn over at once. Your specific bylaws define much of the exact structure, but in some states, part of that structure — minimum board size, owner-eligibility, or officer requirements — is actually set by statute, not left to the association to decide.
⚠ Common mistake: Assuming your bylaws alone decide how big the board is. In Alabama, the minimum board size is set by a law written specifically for condominium associations.
Dillo ExplainsPsst… here's what this actually means…
If your condo was created after January 1, 1991, Alabama's Uniform Condominium Act sets your board rules. Older condos mostly follow their own bylaws, and very small condos (four units or fewer) pick which law applies in their declaration.
President
Runs board meetings, is usually the primary point of contact with homeowners and outside parties (attorneys, vendors, the county), and typically has authority to sign on the association's behalf for routine matters. The president does not unilaterally make board decisions — actions still require a board vote — but does set the agenda and keep meetings moving.
Secretary
Keeps official records: meeting minutes, the membership roll, and official correspondence. In a self-managed HOA, the secretary is often the person who ends up being the institutional memory of the association — the one who can answer "wait, when did we actually vote on that?" This role matters more than it sounds like it should, because undocumented decisions are one of the most common sources of later disputes.
Treasurer
Handles dues collection, financial reporting, and the annual budget process. Many associations require some form of annual budget, and increasingly a reserve study projecting future major expenses. The treasurer role is also the one most commonly outsourced even in an otherwise self-managed association — hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for the mechanics while the treasurer sets policy and reviews the numbers is common and often worth the cost.
Alabama — Officer RequirementsHOA/condo statute
The bylaws must set the officers' titles and provide for the board to elect a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers the bylaws specify.
Minimum board size and who can serve
Whether your association has a statutory floor on board size, and whether some or all of the directors must be owners, depends on your state. Where a rule exists, it usually comes from one of two places: a law written specifically for homeowners or condominium associations, or general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only because the association is incorporated as a nonprofit. The badge on each rule below shows which one applies in Alabama.
Alabama — Minimum Board SizeHOA/condo statute
Once the developer's control ends, the owners must elect a board of at least 3 members. The bylaws set the exact number.
Alabama — Owner/Member RequirementBylaws/documents
The Uniform Condominium Act does not require board members to be unit owners. The bylaws set board members' qualifications.
Alabama — Other Eligibility Rules
The bylaws must set the qualifications of board members and officers, and the board may not set its own members' qualifications or terms of office.
In Plain DilloOkay, minus the legalese…
Your bylaws decide who can serve on the board, and the board can't rewrite those qualifications or terms on its own.
Term limits
Some states cap how long a single director term can run. A cap on one term is different from a limit on how many terms in a row someone can serve: a term cap alone doesn't stop a director from being re-elected. That takes a separate consecutive-term limit. Check both rows in the reference below for Alabama.
Alabama — Term LimitsBylaws/documents
No statutory maximum. The bylaws must set terms of office for board members and officers.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
If a board member stands to personally benefit from a contract or decision the board is voting on, several states require a specific disclosure process before that vote can happen — not just a general "act in good faith" expectation. Some states wrote this rule directly into their HOA or condominium statute; others expressly import the state's general nonprofit corporation conflict-of-interest rules instead of creating a separate one.
Alabama — Conflict-of-Interest RuleHOA/condo statute
Board members and officers appointed by the developer must exercise the care required of fiduciaries of the unit owners; those elected by the owners must exercise ordinary and reasonable care. The Uniform Condominium Act has no director conflict rule. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, it may not lend money to its directors or officers, and any director or officer who approves such a loan is personally liable for it until it is repaid.
In Plain DilloOkay, minus the legalese…
Board members the owners elect must use ordinary, reasonable care. If your association is incorporated as a nonprofit, it can't lend money to its own directors or officers.
⚠ Common mistake: Treating a conflict of interest casually because "everyone already knows" a board member has a stake in a vendor contract. In states with a statutory disclosure requirement, informal awareness isn't the same as a documented disclosure — skipping the formal step can make the contract itself challengeable later, regardless of whether the board's decision was actually reasonable.
Additional roles on larger boards
Associations with five or more board members sometimes add a vice president (covers for the president, sometimes chairs a specific committee like ARC) and an at-large member with no fixed portfolio, available to take on whatever the board needs — chairing a violations committee, leading a specific project, or simply providing another vote and perspective.
Can one person hold two roles?
It depends mostly on your bylaws, and in some states on the statute itself. Very small associations sometimes explicitly allow combining roles out of necessity. Others prohibit certain combinations — most commonly, keeping treasurer separate from any role with check-signing authority, as a basic financial control. Check your specific bylaws, and the state reference below, before assuming either way.
The real challenge: surviving turnover
The hardest part of running a self-managed board usually isn't any single role — it's what happens when the person who understood how everything worked rotates off the board and nobody wrote it down. A self-managed HOA has no institutional memory beyond what the current board happens to remember or document. The associations that handle this well share one habit: they write things down as they happen, not from memory afterward — meeting minutes the same day, a violation logged when it's observed, a decision recorded the moment it's made.
State-by-State Quick Reference
Select your state below for its actual board-composition rules. Every field is tagged with where the rule comes from — a statute written for HOAs or condominiums, general nonprofit corporate law that happens to apply, or your own governing documents — because those aren't the same thing, even when the resulting number looks identical.
| Scope / governing statute | Alabama's Uniform Condominium Act (Ala. Code 35-8A) applies to condominiums created after January 1, 1991; its board and bylaw rules do not reach older condominiums. Older condominiums remain under the Condominium Ownership Act (Ala. Code 35-8-1 to 35-8-22), which lets the association be incorporated or unincorporated and requires the bylaws to set the form of administration and the titles, selection, and removal of any officers and board, but sets no board size, eligibility, term, or conflict rules. A condominium of four or fewer units with no development rights may choose either law in its declaration. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, Alabama's nonprofit corporation law also applies. |
| Minimum board size HOA/condo statute | Once the developer's control ends, the owners must elect a board of at least 3 members. The bylaws set the exact number. |
| Owner/member requirement Bylaws/documents | The Uniform Condominium Act does not require board members to be unit owners. The bylaws set board members' qualifications. |
| Other eligibility rules | The bylaws must set the qualifications of board members and officers, and the board may not set its own members' qualifications or terms of office. |
| Officer requirements HOA/condo statute | The bylaws must set the officers' titles and provide for the board to elect a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers the bylaws specify. |
| Max individual term Bylaws/documents | No statutory maximum. The bylaws must set terms of office for board members and officers. |
| Consecutive-term limit | Neither the Uniform Condominium Act nor the nonprofit act limits consecutive terms. |
| Conflict-of-interest disclosure HOA/condo statute | Board members and officers appointed by the developer must exercise the care required of fiduciaries of the unit owners; those elected by the owners must exercise ordinary and reasonable care. The Uniform Condominium Act has no director conflict rule. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, it may not lend money to its directors or officers, and any director or officer who approves such a loan is personally liable for it until it is repaid. |
| Citation | Ala. Code §§ 35-8A-102; 35-8A-303; 35-8A-306 |
Read the law
What Alabama's law actually says about board composition, in its own words, with links to the full text where available:
-
Ala. Code § 35-8A-102(a)
- Governing Statute / Scope: “This chapter applies to all condominiums created within this state after January 1, 1991.”
- Governing Statute / Scope: “If a condominium contains no more than four units and is not subject to any development rights, the condominium may be created pursuant to this chapter or pursuant to Sections 35-8-1 to 35-8-22”
-
Ala. Code § 35-8-9
- Governing Statute / Scope: “The association may be incorporated or unincorporated.”
-
Ala. Code § 35-8-10(1)
- Governing Statute / Scope: “The form of administration, indicating the titles of the officers and governing board of the association, if any”
-
Ala. Code § 35-8A-306(a)(1)
- Minimum Board Size: “The number of members of the board and the titles of the officers of the association”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “The qualifications, powers and duties, terms of office, and manner of electing and removing board members and officers and filling vacancies”
- Required Officer Positions: “Election by the board of a president, treasurer, secretary, and any other officers of the association the bylaws specify”
-
Ala. Code § 35-8A-303(f)
- Minimum Board Size: “not later than the termination of any period of declarant control, the unit owners shall elect a board of at least three members.”
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “the unit owners shall elect a board of at least three members.”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “or to elect members of the board or to determine the qualifications, powers and duties, or terms of office of board members”
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “if appointed by the declarant; the care required of fiduciaries of the unit owners other than the declarant and (ii) if elected by the unit owners other than declarant, ordinary and reasonable care.”
-
Ala. Code § 10A-3-2.42
secondary source
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “No loans shall be made by a nonprofit corporation to its directors or officers.”
Making the transition easier
Formtabulous keeps your association's records — elections, violations, ARC requests, homeowner communication — in one place that survives board turnover, instead of scattered across whoever's personal inbox happened to handle it.
See how it works →Alabama — Common Questions
This article is general information about how HOA boards typically operate and is not legal advice. The specific roles, terms, and requirements for your association are set by your bylaws and, in some states, statute — consult the governing documents and, where needed, a qualified attorney for your specific situation.