When you first raised your hand to join the board, “fiduciary duty” probably wasn’t on your mind. Maybe you were focused on the pothole in the parking lot, or the pool that seemed to close every other weekend, or simply wanted to lend a hand to your neighbors. You might have pictured a few evening meetings, some common-sense decisions, and a warm sense of contribution.
Then reality arrived. The binders. The budget spreadsheets. The late-night calls about leaks. Suddenly, the role looks less like a neighborhood committee and more like a volunteer CEO position of a multimillion-dollar corporation. The weight at the center of all this is that deceptively simple phrase: fiduciary duty.
It isn’t legal fluff. It’s the foundation of every choice you make as a board. It’s the silent agreement you’ve taken on with every owner in the building. And if you want to protect both your community and your sanity, you need to master it.
What Fiduciary Duty Really Means
As a board member, you’re not just a neighbor anymore. You’re a trustee. You’ve been given responsibility for everyone’s collective investment: their homes, their reserves, their shared spaces. That comes with a legal obligation to put the association’s interests above everything else.
Fiduciary duty is usually broken into three principles:
Duty of Care
Act with diligence. Read reports. Ask questions. Understand the implications of your decisions. Bring in experts when the issues go beyond your knowledge, engineers for structural concerns, attorneys for complex disputes. Skimming the agenda and guessing at outcomes isn’t care; it’s liability.
Duty of Loyalty
The association comes first, always. That means no personal perks, no backroom deals, and no favoritism. If your cousin owns a contracting company, you don’t vote on awarding the bid. If your own unit stands to benefit disproportionately from a decision, you step aside. Transparency isn’t just good manners; it’s protection.
Duty of Good Faith
Act honestly and with the genuine belief that your decisions serve the community. Avoid arbitrary enforcement, personal vendettas, or decisions that can’t be defended in the daylight. Consistency and fairness are your compass.
How It Plays Out
These duties aren’t academic. They show up in daily decisions.
- Budgets: You’re shaping the financial stability of the building. Are reserves strong enough for the roof everyone knows is looming? Are assessments realistic? Are funds spent wisely? Shortcuts here lead to special assessments and unhappy owners.
- Maintenance: Every repair, from landscaping to boilers, requires due diligence. Vetting contractors, securing competitive bids, and insisting on quality is part of the job. Choosing the cheapest option without oversight can snowball into major costs or safety risks.
- Rules and Disputes: Consistency matters. Selective enforcement erodes trust and invites legal trouble. Your responsibility is to apply the same standards to everyone, even if you’d rather not referee the noise complaint between floors four and five.
- Compliance: Local laws, fair housing requirements, insurance obligations, building codes—they don’t vanish because the board is made up of volunteers. Staying informed or working with professionals who are is part of your duty of care.
The Volunteer’s Dilemma
Here’s the truth: most board members step up out of generosity, not because they secretly wanted a crash course in accounting, construction management, and municipal law. Yet that’s what the role often demands. Expecting volunteers to master all of it is unrealistic.
Without help, boards risk slow decision-making, expensive mistakes, and member burnout. Even the most dedicated volunteer can’t be everywhere at once.
The Case for Professional Management
This is why many boards bring in professional property management. Not to hand over control, but to fulfill your condo board fiduciary duty more effectively. A good management team takes care of the daily operational load while the board maintains oversight and authority.
They handle collections, pay bills, coordinate vendors, and keep detailed records. They prepare accurate financials, assist with reserve planning, and bring in trusted contractors. They know the regulatory landscape and can guide compliance. They use technology that makes information accessible and communication seamless.
For a board, this partnership means shifting from paperwork and crisis response to higher-level leadership: long-term planning, informed decision-making, and setting the vision for the community.
Why It Matters
When you honor fiduciary duty, you protect property values, build resident trust, and reduce your own liability. You also make the experience of serving on the board more sustainable. Instead of feeling like an overwhelmed volunteer, you act as a confident steward of the community.
At your next board meeting, remember that “fiduciary duty” isn’t just a term tucked in the bylaws. It’s the trust your neighbors have placed in you. And the smartest way to honor that trust is to equip yourself—with knowledge, with expert support, and with a commitment to fairness and foresight. That’s how thriving communities are built.