E‑voting in a housing community — how to do it lawfully.

Turnout is the biggest enemy of resolutions. A meeting at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday excludes anyone at work, seniors won’t make it across town, and without a majority of ownership shares the resolution simply doesn’t pass. The good news: Polish law has long allowed votes to be collected outside the meeting — you just have to do it properly. This guide shows how to move community voting online without risking the resolution being overturned.

01Three lawful ways to adopt a resolution

Art. 23(1) of the UWL provides that owners’ resolutions are adopted:

1. at a meeting — the classic route: discussion, vote, minutes;
2. by individual collection of votes by the board — i.e. “by circulation”, without a meeting;
3. in mixed mode — partly at the meeting, partly by individual vote collection (the most common real-world scenario: the meeting fell short of a majority, so the board “tops up” the missing votes afterwards).

Individual vote collection is the natural legal basis for e‑voting: the statute does not prescribe the form in which an owner casts a vote collected by the board. What matters is that you can unambiguously establish who voted, on what exact text, and how — and that the votes are collected by the board (or the professional manager entrusted with management).

02There is no quorum. There is a majority of shares.

The most common myth: “the meeting was invalid because there was no quorum”. In a Polish housing community quorum does not exist — a resolution passes when it is supported by a majority of the ownership shares of all owners (more than 50% counted against the total, not against those present). Practical consequences:

• low turnout doesn’t kill a resolution — you simply keep collecting votes individually;
• a “no” vote and no vote at all have the same arithmetic effect (neither adds to the majority) — so reaching passive owners matters more than persuading opponents;
• the result is counted in shares, not in people: the owner of a large apartment “weighs” more than the owner of a studio.

One exception: owners holding jointly at least 1/5 of the shares may demand that, in situations defined by the statute, the vote be taken on a “one owner — one vote” basis (art. 23(2) and (2a) UWL). A voting system must be able to count both variants.

03What an e‑vote must get right

For an electronically collected resolution to survive a dispute, take care of four things:

• Voter identity. The vote is cast by the owner (or a proxy) — an app account must be tied to a specific unit and a person from the owners’ register, not to an “anonymous resident”.
• An immutable resolution text. Everyone votes on an identical, date-stamped text — no “small tweaks” while votes are being collected. A changed text means voting starts over.
• A trail for every vote. Who voted, when, how, and with what share weight — recorded durably and printable.
• Notification of the result. Every owner should be notified in writing of a resolution adopted with individually collected votes (art. 23(3) UWL). An e-mail with the resolution attached is the practical standard; a printout in the mailbox for owners without internet access.

04Minutes, the challenge window, and what’s next

After the vote closes, prepare the minutes: the resolution text, the voting mode (meeting / individual / mixed), a share-weighted tally, and the date from which the resolution applies. Remember that an owner may challenge a resolution in court within 6 weeks — from its adoption at the meeting, or from being notified of a resolution adopted by individual vote collection (art. 25 UWL). That makes the notification date and the proof it was sent just as important as the result itself.

05Pre-vote checklist

1. An up-to-date register of owners and shares (the shares must sum to 1.0000 — check!).
2. The final resolution text plus any annexes (offer, cost estimate).
3. The chosen mode: meeting, individual collection, or mixed.
4. Distribution channels: the app, e-mail, paper ballots for everyone else.
5. A person responsible for entering paper votes.
6. A plan for notifying owners of the result (and documenting that notification).