Under 25 Del. C. § 81-308, your association has to meet at least once a year, and a special meeting can be called by the president, a majority of the executive board, or owners holding at least 20% of the votes in the association (or a lower percentage if your bylaws set one). Notice must go out 10 to 60 days ahead of any regular or special meeting, except a true emergency, and it has to state the actual agenda, or point to a website address where the agenda lives, and specifically flag any proposed amendment to the declaration or bylaws, budget changes, and any proposal to remove an officer or executive-board member. Only the items on that agenda can be acted on at a special meeting, and if the board sits on a legitimate owner-triggered request for more than 30 days, the requesting owners can simply notice the meeting themselves.
The executive board has its own meeting statute, § 81-308A, and it's unusually detailed. The board must meet at least quarterly, with its own 10-to-60-day notice and stated agenda. After the developer's period of declarant control ends, board meetings must be open to owners, with only four narrow exceptions: consulting legal counsel or discussing litigation, personnel matters, live contract negotiations, and an individual owner's privacy in a complaint or violation. The statute explicitly forbids the board from using "informal or social gatherings" to dodge that open-meeting requirement. And unanimous written consent, skipping an actual meeting, can never be used to adopt a rule, budget, or special assessment, impose a fine, buy or sell real estate, borrow money, or sign a contract worth more than 1% of the association's annual budget; those decisions have to happen in a real, noticed meeting.
If your condo is older, the statute goes quiet
Be clear-eyed about what the Unit Property Act actually gives you here: § 2217, and nothing more. It sets one rule, that each unit owner votes in proportion to the percentage of ownership in the common elements assigned to their unit in the declaration. There's no statutory meeting-notice rule, no quorum floor, no open-meeting mandate, and no recall procedure anywhere in the Unit Property Act. If your condominium is still governed by that statute, your actual meeting and voting rights, beyond the bare proportional vote, live entirely in your own bylaws. Read them, because the state floor underneath you is close to nonexistent.
The authority
The statutes behind this
Cited by name as authority, for your own reading. Informational only, not legal advice.
25 Del. C. § 81-308
Requires an annual owners' meeting, real notice before special meetings, an agenda that flags amendments, budget changes, and board-removal proposals, and lets owners self-notice a special meeting the board stalls on for 30 days.
25 Del. C. § 81-308A
Requires quarterly board meetings, real notice, open meetings once the developer's control ends (with four narrow exceptions), and bars the board from using informal gatherings or unanimous consent to adopt rules, fines, or big contracts without a real meeting.
25 Del. C. § 2217
Under the older Unit Property Act, the only voting rule on the books is a vote proportional to your unit's share of the common elements; no statutory meeting-notice or quorum floor exists for these owners.
Step by step
How to assert your meeting and voting rights in Delaware
Steps to hold a Delaware HOA or condo board accountable at meetings and votes using DUCIOA's notice, agenda, and open-meeting rules.
- 01
Confirm your meeting rights source
Figure out whether your community is under DUCIOA (§§ 81-308, 81-308A) or the older Unit Property Act, where meeting rights, if any, come entirely from your bylaws.
- 02
Check the notice was proper
Confirm notice went out 10 to 60 days ahead and stated the actual agenda, including any proposed amendment, budget change, or board-removal item required by § 81-308.
- 03
Use the 20%-owner trigger if the board won't schedule a vote
Owners holding at least 20% of the votes (or a lower bylaw threshold) can call a special meeting. If the board doesn't notice it within 30 days, notice it yourselves under § 81-308.
- 04
Insist on open board meetings
Once the developer's period of control has ended, object in writing if the board is deciding business through 'informal gatherings' rather than the open meetings § 81-308A requires.
- 05
Watch for unanimous-consent overreach
A rule, fine, budget, or contract over 1% of the annual budget adopted by board consent instead of a real meeting is invalid under § 81-308A(f). Raise it directly if you see it happen.
Straight answers
Common questions
Does my Delaware HOA have to hold an annual meeting?
Yes, if you're under DUCIOA. Section 81-308 requires the association to meet at least once a year, with real notice and a stated agenda before both regular and special meetings.
Can owners force a special meeting the board doesn't want to hold?
Yes. Owners holding at least 20% of the votes (or a lower percentage set in the bylaws) can call one under § 81-308. If the board doesn't notice it within 30 days, the requesting owners can notice it themselves.
Are board meetings open to owners in Delaware?
Generally yes, once the developer's period of declarant control has ended. Section 81-308A requires open board meetings with only four narrow exceptions, and bars the board from using informal gatherings to evade that rule.
What if my condo is under the older Unit Property Act?
Your statutory rights are thin. Section 2217 only sets a proportional voting rule; there's no state meeting-notice or quorum requirement. Check your bylaws directly for anything beyond that bare vote.