Getting Started
How residents sign in, understand their portal, and find the right place for each common task.
Overview
The resident portal gives each homeowner a secure self-service view of their own HOA account. Residents can review balances, pay online when the HOA has enabled Stripe Connect, respond to violations, submit maintenance requests, read announcements, access shared documents, participate in community tools, and manage notification preferences.
Residents only see records connected to their linked homeowner profile and community. They do not see other homeowners' dues, violations, requests, documents marked board-only, or internal board meetings.
Signing In
Residents access the portal from /portal after signing in. An account must be linked to a homeowner record before portal data can load.
Most residents are linked by a board invitation:
- A board member adds the homeowner on the Homeowners page.
- The board sends an invite to the homeowner's email address.
- The resident opens the invite link and signs in.
- SyncHOA links the account to that homeowner profile.
- Future sign-ins route the resident to
/portal.
Invite links expire after 7 days. If a link expires, the board can send a new invite from the homeowner record.
Main Navigation
The resident portal includes these primary areas:
| Area | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Home | Account snapshot, alerts, recent updates, events, and documents |
| Payments | Current dues balance, payment history, receipts, and online payment |
| Violations | Notices, status, fines, evidence, and resident responses |
| Requests | Submit and track maintenance or community issue requests |
| Documents | Public documents shared by the board |
| Updates | Published announcements from the board |
| Notifications | Full notification history |
| Settings | Resident details, contact preference, notification preferences, and tutorials |
| Community tools | Calendar, meetings, polls, forum, board messaging, and support |
On smaller screens, the bottom navigation prioritizes Home, Payments, Requests, and Documents. Additional tools are available through menus and links in the portal.
What Residents Can Change
Residents can directly update:
- Contact preference: portal, email, mail, or phone
- Resident notification preferences
- Tutorial preferences
- Forum posts/comments they created
- Maintenance request notes and photos on their own requests
- Violation responses on their own violation notices
- Messages to the board
- Support feedback and support messages
Residents cannot directly edit:
- Name
- Unit or address
- Board role
- Account status
- Dues amounts or due dates
- Violation status
- Maintenance status
- Public document visibility
Residents should message the board when profile or account records need correction.
Common First Steps
- Open Home and review the account snapshot.
- Open Payments to confirm whether any balance is pending or late.
- Open Documents to find governing documents, forms, rules, and shared files.
- Open Settings to confirm contact preference and notification preferences.
- Use Messages if anything looks incorrect.
Notifications
Notifications appear in the bell icon and on the Notifications page. Resident notification types include:
- Dues reminders
- Dues late notices
- Payment received
- Violation notices
- Violation resolved or dismissed
- Maintenance updates
- Meeting reminders
- Replies to forum posts
- Replies in followed forum threads
Notification preferences default on unless the resident turns a type off in Settings.
Privacy Boundaries
Resident views are intentionally scoped:
- Dues pages show only the resident's own payment records.
- Violation pages show only violations assigned to the resident's homeowner profile.
- Maintenance pages show only requests submitted by that resident profile.
- Documents show only files marked public by the board.
- Announcements show only published, unexpired portal announcements.
- Calendar shows public events and resident-visible meeting types.
- Poll votes are one-time and anonymous to residents.
Board members who are also residents may see a link back to the board portal.
When to Contact the Board
Use resident-board messaging when:
- A payment appears wrong
- A receipt is missing
- A violation needs clarification
- A maintenance request needs follow-up
- Your name, address, unit, email, phone, or mailing address is wrong
- You need payment instructions and online payment is not enabled
Use Help & Support when the portal itself is not working or when you want to submit product feedback to SyncHOA support.