Silence Means Yes.

In a Washington association of 120 homes, a new budget passes unless 61 owners vote no. Sixty is not enough. Owners who stay home have voted yes.

That rule is RCW 64.90.525, and since 1 January 2026 it applies to older homeowners associations and condominiums as well as newer ones. So does the power of a board to levy an emergency special assessment by a two-thirds board vote with no owner ratification at all. Most owners have never heard of either.

Silence Means Yes. is the money-and-power book of The Washington HOA & Condo Handbook. It explains, in plain English, how budgets, assessments and special assessments are actually adopted, and every tool the law gives owners to take part: meetings, voting, proxies, ballots, records and the brand new certified-mail inquiry right.

It never loses sight of the question that trips up almost everything written about Washington community associations: which law governs your association? An association created on or after 1 July 2018 runs on WUCIOA. An older one runs on RCW 64.38, 64.34 or 64.32, plus a specific list of WUCIOA sections, until 1 January 2028. Every rule in this book is matched to the regime it applies to.

Inside you will find:

• The budget calendar step by step: 30 days to send the budget, a ratification meeting 14 to 50 days later, and a worked example you can check against your own notice
• How owners organize a rejection vote realistically, and why most fall a few votes short
• Special assessments, installments and early payment discounts, and the emergency version that skips owners entirely
• The free payment method every association must now offer
• Open board meetings, the limits on executive session, remote meetings and the 15-minute owner comment period
• Quorum, proxies and ballots, with a full side-by-side table for older HOAs and post-2018 associations
• The older-HOA voting gap: no secret ballot requirement and nothing stopping incumbents counting their own ballots until 2028
• Records requests, the 10-day and 21-day clock for newer associations, and the older chapters that have no clock at all
• The certified-mail inquiry right in force from 11 June 2026: a substantive answer within 30 days, and attorneys' fees to whoever wins
• Eight short letters you can adapt and send, each citing its section

Every statement of law carries its RCW citation. Every figure that could change carries a boxed note naming who to ask. Worked examples use invented associations with round numbers so the math is easy to follow. The book is honest about where owner rights are strong and where they have almost no teeth.

This is Book Three of the series. The other books cover the 2028 deadline, reserve studies, fines, liens and foreclosure, and resale certificates.

About the author. JP O'Connor has chaired a body corporate committee since 2019 and sits on the committee of a second building. He has sat on both sides of the table, as the chair who signs the budget and as the owner who receives it. He is not an attorney, and this book does not pretend otherwise. It explains what the statute says, shows how it works, and names who to ask.

General information only. Not legal advice.