Running an owners’ meeting and vote: spreadsheet or software?
Short answer
Yes, you can run an owners’ meeting and vote with a spreadsheet and a meeting room, and for a small building where everyone attends it is enough. It stops working when owners cannot attend, when you need written ballots from people spread across several places, or when the count has to be checked by someone other than you.
You are calling a meeting of owners and need to know who was notified, who came or sent a proxy, and how each unit voted. A sheet does that for a small building.
The task: tell every owner, collect their answer, and be able to show the result.
A meeting and vote sheet you can copy
One row per unit. The sheet records the notice, the attendance or proxy and the vote on each item, and the totals sit under the table.
| Unit | Owner | Share | Notice sent | Present or proxy | Item 1 vote | Item 2 vote | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12A | A. Owner | 1.8 | 2026-10-01 | Present | For | For | |
| 12B | B. Owner | 1.5 | 2026-10-01 | Proxy | For | Against | Proxy held by A. Owner |
| 14C | C. Owner | 2.1 | 2026-10-02 | Absent | Notice by post |
Paste into cell A1 of a new sheet (tab-separated):
Unit Owner Share Notice sent Present or proxy Item 1 vote Item 2 vote Note 12A A. Owner 1.8 2026-10-01 Present For For 12B B. Owner 1.5 2026-10-01 Proxy For Against Proxy held by A. Owner 14C C. Owner 2.1 2026-10-02 Absent Notice by post
Add totals for the share present and for each answer. Compare them with what your governing documents and local law require to hold the meeting and pass a decision; the sheet only counts, it does not know those rules.
Signs you have outgrown the sheet
A meeting room works until the people you need are not in it.
- 1
Owners cannot come in person
Owners who live elsewhere or abroad, or who rent their unit out, are the usual reason a meeting falls short of the numbers it needs.
- 2
You chase proxies and paper ballots
Collecting signed papers one by one and retyping them into the sheet is slow, and a typo changes a result.
- 3
Notices and answers live in different places
The notice goes out by post or message, answers come back by phone and chat, and the sheet is where you try to join them up.
- 4
More than one decision at a time
With several items, each needing its own count, the sheet grows columns and the chance of a wrong total grows with it.
- 5
Someone must verify the count
If a board member or a dissenting owner asks to check the result, you need to show every unit’s answer. A private file you control is a weak record.
- 6
Votes are a recurring task
Once you hold a vote on the budget, the works and the rules every year, rebuilding the sheet each time is work the building should not need.
The same task in Unitify
Start on the Free plan ($0 / apartment / month). A plan, not a trial. No card, no expiry. The pricing page lists what each plan includes.
- 1
Create the vote
Choose Meeting for a formal owners’ vote (a Yes / No / Abstain ballot, an optional quorum, counted per unit or by floor area) or Survey for a general poll. Set the building, the voting period and the questions.
- 2
Publish it
Move it from Draft to Published, then tell residents with a news post in the app.
- 3
Residents vote from the phone
Owners open the vote in the resident app, answer and submit: one ballot per unit, which can be changed until the deadline. You enter paper ballots yourself, with a photo of the sheet; the last vote counts.
- 4
Watch the count
The panel shows participation (units, or square metres when the meeting counts by area), the quorum you set as met or not met, and each vote’s status: Draft, Published or Finished. At the end it prepares a results protocol to print, copy or email.
Voting needs the management company or the board to set it up for each building. Residents do not set up votes themselves. Prices follow the live pricing page, which shows euro excluding VAT in Europe.
What Unitify does not do here
- The tool records votes. It does not make a meeting or a decision legally valid. Notice periods, quorum and what counts as a valid vote come from your governing documents and local law.
- Votes are weighted per unit or by floor area, not by any other share. If your rules count another share, keep that calculation in your sheet. There is no electronic signature on ballots today.
- It prepares a results protocol, not the minutes. Drafting, signing and keeping the minutes stay with you.
- Residents need the app to vote online. Owners who will not use it still have to be reached the way your rules allow.
Owners’ meeting and vote: questions
Can I run an HOA or condo vote with a spreadsheet?
Yes. A row per unit with notice, attendance or proxy and each answer, plus totals, is enough for a small building where everyone attends. It breaks down when owners cannot come in person or the count must be checked by someone else.
What should a meeting and vote sheet contain?
Unit, owner, share, date the notice was sent, present or proxy, the answer to each item and a note. Add totals for the share present and for each answer.
Is an online vote legally valid?
That depends on your governing documents and local law. Unitify records the vote; it does not by itself make a meeting or a decision valid, so check your rules before you rely on it.
What is the difference between a Meeting and a Survey in Unitify?
A Meeting is a formal owners’ vote. A Survey is a general poll, for example a quick opinion on a renovation. Both are set for a building and a voting period.
Who sets up a vote?
The management company or the board does, for each building. Residents answer from the app.
Keep reading
Try it on one building
Sign up for the free plan, add one building and move one task over. Or book a demo if you want to see it on your own building first.