For condominiums, § 18-13-108 sets a floor that's easy to state and easy to test. The bylaws must be recorded with the master deed — so governance rules that never made it into the recorded package don't bind anyone. They must specify the form of administration, including the powers and the manner of removal of whoever administers. They must fix the method of calling the co-owners to assemble, require that decisions be adopted by 'a majority of at least fifty-one percent,' name who presides, and establish a minute book where resolutions are recorded. That last item is the quiet enforcement tool: any decision the board claims the owners made should have a minute book entry behind it, and § 18-13-110's examination logic applies to checking. When the administration itself has failed, § 18-13-109 supplies the heavy lever — co-owners representing at least two-thirds of the property's value may modify the system of administration.
Subdivision HOAs have no Arkansas meeting or election statute of any kind. If your association is incorporated under the Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 — check the Secretary of State's records — that act supplies the corporate baseline: member meetings, notice, quorum, voting, and director election and removal run per the articles and bylaws within the act's framework, and corporate formalities are enforceable in court. If it's unincorporated, the bill of assurance and any association agreement are the entire constitution. Either way the practical method is identical: obtain the operative documents, count the votes they actually require, and paper every departure in writing.
One more date that matters for newer condos
For regimes organized on or after September 1, 2025 (or older ones that opted in), the 2025 act adds governance details the old law never had: the master deed must state each unit's allocation of votes in the association and the formula behind it, and — unless the master deed itself provides otherwise — amending the master deed requires the consent of all apartment or unit owners (§ 18-13-104). That unanimous-consent default is a genuine owner shield in new communities: a declarant or board that wants amendment flexibility has to write it into the deed up front, in text every buyer can read before closing.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
Ark. Code § 18-13-108
Recorded bylaws must fix the form of administration (including removal), how co-owner meetings are called, a 51% majority to adopt decisions, who presides, and a minute book recording resolutions.
Ark. Code § 18-13-109
Co-owners representing at least two-thirds of the property's value may modify the system of administration — the statutory lever for replacing a failed management structure.
Ark. Code §§ 4-33-101 et seq.
The Nonprofit Corporation Act of 1993 — the meetings, quorum, voting, and director-removal framework for incorporated HOAs where no property statute exists.
Ark. Code § 18-13-104
For post-September-2025 regimes: the master deed must allocate votes and state the formula, and amendments default to requiring every owner's consent unless the deed provides otherwise.
Step by step
How to challenge a defective vote or replace a failed board in Arkansas
Steps to test an Arkansas association decision against the recorded documents, or to organize a change that holds up.
- 01
Get the operative, recorded documents
Pull the master deed or bill of assurance, recorded bylaws, and amendments from the county, and the articles of incorporation from the Secretary of State. Governance rules that aren't in the recorded or filed set don't bind you.
- 02
Count the threshold the documents require
For condos, decisions need at least a 51% majority under § 18-13-108 — plus whatever higher bar the bylaws set for the specific act. For HOAs, the bylaws and the Nonprofit Corporation Act's defaults control. Compare the claimed vote against the requirement, on paper.
- 03
Demand the minute book entry
Every resolution should appear in the minute book § 18-13-108 requires. A 'decision' with no entry, or an entry that doesn't show the required majority, is challengeable at its root.
- 04
Use the removal machinery the documents name
The bylaws must specify the manner of removing the administration; follow it exactly — notice, meeting call, threshold. For a structural change in a condo, organize co-owners representing two-thirds of value and invoke § 18-13-109.
- 05
Run your own process cleanly
Whatever you organize — removal, bylaw amendment, board slate — mirror the formalities you're demanding of the board: proper call, documented notice, quorum on paper, and a written record. In a documents-only state, the side with the cleaner paper wins.
Straight answers
Common questions
What majority does an Arkansas condo decision need?
The bylaws floor in § 18-13-108 is a majority of at least fifty-one percent to adopt decisions, with the bylaws free to set higher bars for specific acts. The vote should be recorded in the minute book the same section requires — ask for the entry.
How do we remove a board or manager?
For condos, the recorded bylaws must specify the manner of removal — follow it precisely — and co-owners representing two-thirds of the property's value can modify the system of administration entirely under § 18-13-109. For incorporated HOAs, the bylaws and the Nonprofit Corporation Act's director-removal framework govern.
Does Arkansas require open board meetings or meeting notice?
No statute does, for condos or HOAs. Notice and openness are whatever your recorded bylaws and (for corporations) the nonprofit act's meeting rules provide — read them, and hold the board to exactly what they say.
Can the developer amend the master deed out from under us?
In regimes organized on or after September 1, 2025, amendments default to requiring the consent of all owners unless the master deed itself reserves something different — so read the deed's amendment and development-rights clauses before buying. Older regimes are governed by their own recorded amendment provisions.