Your Voting Power Comes From Your Undivided Interest

An association of unit owners shall, according to each unit owner's respective percentage or fractional undivided interest in the common areas and facilities, make voting rights available to the unit owners.

That sentence answers a question many owners cannot otherwise resolve. Your vote is not one-unit-one-vote unless your interests are equal. It is weighted by your undivided interest in the common areas, and that figure is in the recorded declaration. Section 57-8-10(2)(d)(i) requires the declaration to state it.

The same subsection allocates common profits and common expenses on the same basis, Subsections (2)(a) and (b), so the number that sets your assessment generally also sets your vote.

Unbuilt Units Vote, and Usually the Declarant Votes Them

A unit is created by recording the declaration and a condominium plat that describes it. 

After the declaration is recorded, an unconstructed unit is a unit for purposes of the declaration and the chapter, including allocation of undivided interests under Section 57-8-7(2) and voting rights under Section 57-8-24. This applies regardless of when the initial declaration was recorded. 

This is the provision that explains a lopsided early vote. During build-out, units that exist only on paper still carry voting power, and that power generally sits with the declarant. Owners in a partly built project sometimes assume a vote was miscounted when it was counted exactly as the statute requires.

Quorum: The Default Is Whoever Shows Up

The Condominium Ownership Act does not set a quorum for owner meetings. Because most Utah associations are nonprofit corporations, the gap is filled by the Utah Revised Nonprofit Corporation Act, Title 16, Chapter 6a.

Under Section 16-6a-714(1)(b), unless that chapter or Section 16-6a-716 provides otherwise, the members represented at the meeting constitute a quorum. There is no statutory percentage floor.

So a quorum problem in your association comes from the bylaws, not the statute. That matters because a bylaw quorum set too high is self-locking: lowering it requires an amendment, and the amendment requires the quorum that the association cannot reach.

On matters other than electing directors, Section 16-6a-714(3) approves an action if the votes cast in favor exceed the votes cast against. That is a different test from a majority of all owners, and confusing the two is the most common source of a miscounted vote.

Proxies Expire

A proxy appointment is valid for 11 months unless the appointment form expressly provides a different period.

If your association relies on proxies collected long ago, check the date on the form and check whether it states a longer period. An expired proxy is not a vote.

Two Traps in Voting by Written Consent

Associations often try to avoid meetings by circulating written consents. Two provisions limit that, and both are categorical.

Directors cannot be elected by written consent unless the consent is unanimous. In any association, unanimity is unrealistic, so board elections should be held at a meeting.

Older associations may not use less-than-unanimous written consent at all until the members adopt a resolution enabling it. The cutoff is April 30, 2001, and many Utah associations predate it and have never adopted the resolution.

Where written consent is available, all consents must be received within a 60-day window.

If Your Association Sends a Written Ballot

A written ballot solicitation must make four disclosures. It must state the number of responses needed to meet quorum, state the percentage of approvals needed to approve each matter, specify the time by which the ballot must be received, and be accompanied by written information sufficient to permit a reasonably informed decision.

A ballot that does not tell you what it takes to pass is not a compliant ballot. That is a checkable defect.

Once cast, a ballot may not be revoked unless the bylaws provide otherwise. Do not send a ballot expecting to change it later.

Votes That Run on Their Own Clocks

Three owner votes in the condominium act do not follow the general rules above. Each requires 51% of all allocated voting interests, not a majority of votes cast, and each has its own deadline.

• Disapproving of the budget. Within 45 days of the meeting at which the management committee presents the adopted budget, at a special meeting called by unit owners.
• Vetoing the reserve fund line item. Within 45 days after the association adopts its annual budget, at a special meeting called by unit owners for that purpose.
• Amending the governing documents. After the period of administrative control, the documents may require no more than 67% of the voting interests, and an amendment may be adopted by a majority vote at a meeting where at least 51% of the voting interests are present.

Note the difference in the last one. The budget and reserve vetoes need 51% of all interests to vote a particular way. The amendment rule requires 51% of the members present, followed by a majority of the vote. Read the applicable section before counting.

The Special Vote to Sue the Declarant

After the period of declarant control, an association may not bring a legal action against the declarant, the management committee, or their agents relating to that period unless a demanding set of conditions is met.

The vote is two-layered. The action must be approved in advance at a meeting where owners of at least 51% in aggregate interest are present or represented by a proxy specifically assigned for that purpose, and approved by the lesser of more than 75% of the interest represented at the meeting or more than 51% of all interests.

Before that vote, the association must give every owner written notice that it is contemplating legal action, plus an attorney-informed written assessment of the likelihood of success, the likely amount in controversy, the likely cost, and the likely effect on owners' and buyers' ability to obtain financing while the action is pending.

The association must also place 10% of the estimated cost of resolving the action, excluding attorney fees, into a dedicated trust, and must first notify the person to be sued and give a reasonable opportunity to resolve the dispute.

Two limits worth knowing. None of this applies where the amount in controversy is less than $75,000. And in an action brought by owners against the declarant before declarant control ends, the declarant may not use association funds paid by owners to pay for the declarant's own legal defense.

If You Think a Vote Was Counted Wrong

Work through it in order. What was the matter being voted on, and does it have its own section with its own threshold? If not, the Title 16 default applies, and the test is votes cast in favor against votes cast against, not a majority of all owners.

Then check the arithmetic base. Your voting power is your undivided interest under Section 57-8-24(2)(c), not one vote per unit, and unbuilt units count.

Then check the mechanics. Were proxies within 11 months? If it were a written ballot, did it disclose the quorum number and the approval percentage? If directors were elected by written consent, was it unanimous?

Ask for the governing documents and the vote record in writing. Read records and record requests for how. For meeting notice and your right to attend, read management committees.

Reviewed against Utah Code, current as of September 9, 2026.