HOA

HOA minutes and annual accounts: retention period and destruction

21 January 2026 · 6 min read · DeSnipperaar

A Homeowners Association (HOA) is a legal entity that comes into existence by operation of law as soon as a building is divided into apartment rights. Book 5 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW) regulates the basics; the deed of division and the model regulations fill in the rest. Over the years the archive grows: minutes, annual accounts, maintenance reports, insurance policies, correspondence with owners and suppliers. This article sets out what must stay and what may go, and how the HOA or the manager practically organises destruction.

Three layers of HOA documents

The archive roughly breaks into three layers, each with its own retention logic.

Layer 1: permanent

• Deed of division and drawings.
• Articles of association and regulations (house rules, model regulations).
• Minutes of general meetings of members.
• Decision list and decision register.

These documents form the legal backbone of the HOA and are in practice kept permanently. They are needed when apartments are sold, in disputes, in renovation decisions and when changing manager. Notaries and banks regularly ask for them. Destruction rarely arises here.

Layer 2: seven years or longer

• Annual accounts, balance sheet and profit-and-loss statement.
• Budgets and service-charge settlements.
• Invoices and proofs of payment.
• Bank statements and cash books.
• Contracts with suppliers and contractors (including the liability period).

For this category the 7-year tax retention duty applies. Real-estate documents sometimes have a ten-year period (VAT adjustment period, hidden defects). With major maintenance, invoices and working drawings are easily kept for twenty years, because that aligns with the limitation period for hidden defects in construction.

Layer 3: shorter than seven years

• Operational correspondence with owners.
• Complaint letters and emails about noise nuisance, leaks, parking.
• Job lists and small quotes that did not lead to a contract.
• Drafts of minutes and meeting documents.

This category may be phased out. For ordinary correspondence without a legal tail, two to five years of retention is sufficient depending on the subject. Personal data that is no longer relevant is destroyed as soon as the purpose lapses (GDPR art. 5(1)(e)).

An HOA archive that never gets cleared out becomes a liability problem: in a data breach you lose more data than you should ever have kept.

Board meetings and committees

Minutes of the general meeting are formal and stay. Minutes of board meetings and committee meetings (audit committee, technical committee) are not formally required to be kept, but it is practical to do so as long as the decisions still have effect. Generous retention is fine, provided you do clear out as people leave their roles and their correspondence loses relevance.

Personal data in the HOA archive

By definition the HOA processes personal data of owners: name, address, bank account, often email and phone. With arrears this expands to financial information. The HOA is the controller; the manager is usually the processor. That calls for a processor agreement between HOA and manager. See our processor agreement checklist.

Digital or paper?

Many smaller HOAs still work partly on paper: the chair's folder, the treasurer's binder, the box of old quotes. Managers are putting more and more into their own portals. The two archives often exist alongside each other. When clearing out:

1. Inventory what is there (paper and digital).
2. Split per category into the three layers above.
3. Destroy what is past its retention period, on both media.
4. Document in a short destruction report that goes with the general meeting papers.

Mobile destruction at the manager

A HOA manager that serves several HOAs often has a shared archive in an office space. An annual mobile destruction round at the manager is sufficient for most situations. The destruction truck arrives, paper goes through the cutting heads on site according to DIN 66399 P-5, every HOA receives a certificate for its own administration. For large HOAs or on a change of manager an extra round can be useful.

In summary

• Keep the deed of division, regulations and general meeting minutes permanently.
• Annual accounts and invoices for seven years, maintenance contracts longer.
• Destroy correspondence and drafts after two to five years.
• The HOA is the controller, the manager is the processor.
• An annual mobile destruction round at the manager covers it in most cases.

More sector-specific information is on our page for HOAs and HOA managers. Read also about member lists and personal data during a board change.