HOA Meeting Software for Self-Managed Boards
Formtabulous runs your board and owner meetings from the notice to the approved minutes: notices on time, quorum on the record, motions and votes written down as they happen, and minutes the board approves and shares with owners.
Included on every plan, including the free one. No credit card, no per-unit fee.
Meeting disputes are about the record, not the vote
When an owner challenges a board decision, the question is rarely how anyone voted. It is whether owners got notice in time, whether there was a quorum, who moved and seconded, and whether the minutes say what actually happened.
In a self-managed HOA that record usually lives with the secretary: a notice sent from a personal Gmail, a sign-in sheet in a folder, minutes typed up two weeks later and approved whenever someone remembers.
Formtabulous builds the record as the meeting happens, so the minutes are drafted from what was recorded instead of from memory, and the whole history stays with the association when the secretary changes.
Where meetings usually go wrong
- Late noticeThe annual meeting notice goes out a week short of what the bylaws require.
- No quorum on recordEveryone thought there was a quorum; nobody wrote down who was there.
- Minutes that were never approvedDrafts in someone's documents folder, three meetings behind.
- Action items that vanish"We agreed to get three bids" and nobody remembers who.
How a meeting runs in Formtabulous
Board meetings, the annual meeting, special meetings and executive sessions, each with its own agenda template and notice rules. Full documentation: meetings & minutes.
1. Schedule
Pick the type, date, place and an optional video link. The page shows the notice deadline for this meeting from your state rules where we have them and the notice periods in your bylaws, and the agenda starts from a template for that meeting type.
2. Notice owners
The notice is drafted for you as a group email with the agenda and a calendar invite, and sent to owners from the same place. The meeting shows when it went out, and warns you when the deadline is close or passed.
3. Remind the board
Board members get reminder emails a week, three days, the day before or the morning of the meeting, whichever the board chooses, with the agenda and the video link.
4. Meeting day
Call to order, mark board members present, check units in for owner meetings, in person or by proxy, and watch quorum update live. Record each motion with who moved and seconded, and the vote as counts or a roll call.
5. Minutes
After adjournment the minutes are drafted from the record: attendance, quorum, motions and results, with highlighted placeholders for anything left to fill in. Edit, save versions, and compare any two versions word by word.
6. Board review
Send the draft to the board. Members read it in the member portal, see what changed since the last version, and leave comments the secretary can answer and mark handled.
7. Approve
Record the approval at a later meeting or outside one, with the date and how it was given. Approved minutes are locked; a correction is an amendment with a reason, and every version is kept.
8. Share
Share approved minutes with owners in the Documents section of the member portal, with a PDF, and email owners a link. Executive session minutes are never shared.
Action items that come back
Add an action item during the meeting: what, who on the board, and when. It goes into the Planner with a reminder email before it's due, shows on the board member's page in the portal, and the next meeting's minutes report it as done, dropped or still open.
Repeating meetings
Board meeting every third Tuesday? Set it to repeat monthly, quarterly or yearly on the same weekday or date. When you schedule one, the next is created as a draft with a fresh agenda, ready to send.
The annual meeting, on the calendar
The compliance calendar places the annual meeting, the budget adoption and the next board election from your settings and your state's rules, and links each one straight to scheduling the meeting.
Minutes that hold up
Minutes are the official record of what the association decided. They are what an owner, a buyer's attorney or a judge reads first. Formtabulous keeps them consistent and complete without making the secretary write more.
- Drafted from the record, so attendance, quorum and every motion's result are already there.
- Roll call votes required on board meetings where your state requires each director's vote to be recorded.
- Every version kept, with who changed what; approved text locked; amendments need a reason.
- A PDF with the association's name, the approval line and a DRAFT watermark until approved.
Executive sessions stay private
Legal matters, delinquencies and personnel issues belong in executive session. Executive session meetings use their own type: their minutes can be reviewed and approved by the board like any other, but they are never shared with owners or shown in the portal Documents section.
Approved minutes are listed in the document vault next to your governing documents, so the board's whole record is in one place.
What it does not do
- No video calls. Add your Zoom, Google Meet or Teams link; it goes out with the notice and the reminders.
- No remote owner voting during the meeting. Record the result of votes taken in the room. For a binding owner vote by ballot, use Elections.
- No legal advice. Notice periods and quorum come from your bylaws and from state rules we have confirmed; your governing documents and your attorney have the final word.
Before your next meeting
New to running HOA meetings? The HOA meeting guide covers notice, quorum and open-meeting rules by state, and the meeting checklist walks through before, during and after.
Meetings are included, not an add-on
Meetings & minutes are on every plan, including free, with no per-unit or per-meeting fee. Notices to owners are emails, so they draw on your monthly message allowance: 100 on Free, 1,000 on the $5/month Starter plan.
Want governing documents, insurance and financials next to the minutes? The document vault starts on Starter with 2 GB (how it works). See HOA pricing →
Frequently Asked Questions
Related HOA tools and guides
Set up your board before the next meeting
Tell us your state, your board and the notice periods in your bylaws once. Every meeting after that starts with the right deadline, the right agenda and a notice ready to send.
Also running the annual election? That is Board Elections, same account, same plan, no extra cost.
