Free HOA Board Decision Log Template

Boards turn over, memories fade, and neighbors disagree about what was decided. A decision log fixes that. It is one short entry per decision: what, when, why, and who is responsible for the next step.

Copy the entry below into a spreadsheet, a shared document or a notebook. Fill one in for every decision that affects an owner or the association, from an approved fence to a vendor choice.

The entry

Decision #: [number]
Date decided: [date]
Meeting or vote: [regular meeting, email vote, committee]

What was decided:
[One or two plain sentences.]

Why (the reason):
[The rule, the facts and anything the board weighed. Write it so someone reading in three years understands.]

Vote: [for] for, [against] against, [abstain] abstaining
Who voted: [names]

Related request, owner or address: [reference]
Conditions: [any conditions attached, or none]

Next step: [what happens]
Owner of the next step: [director]
Due: [date]
Told the affected person on: [date and how]

Habits that keep it useful

• Write the entry the same week, while everyone remembers.
• Always write the reason. A decision with no reason looks arbitrary later.
• Treat similar requests the same way, and say why when you don't.
• Keep the log with your other records so the next board can find it.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your governing documents and state law decide how the board must vote and what records you must keep.

Where HOAResidentPortal fits

In HOAResidentPortal, an approved or denied request cannot be saved without a written decision note, and it is stamped with the date and the director who made the change. The request page then is the log entry, with the photos and the full history attached.