> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nyumbazetu.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Notices and polls

> Publish notices to residents and run polls to collect their views.

**Operations → Communications → Notice Board → `/lookups/notice-board`** ·
**Polls → `/polls`**

Notices push information to residents. Polls pull opinion back. Both are community-facing surfaces
rather than transactional messaging.

## Notice board

A notice is an announcement published to residents — a water interruption, a lift service, an AGM
date, a change to gate hours.

| Feature                       | Purpose                                                                       |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Visibility toggle**         | Publish or hide a notice without deleting it.                                 |
| **Active / inactive display** | Inactive notices remain visible in the admin list so they can be republished. |
| **Scope**                     | Which residents see it.                                                       |

<Steps>
  <Step title="Write the notice">
    Lead with what changes and when. Residents scan notices; the detail belongs below the first
    line.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scope it">
    A block-specific notice sent estate-wide trains people to ignore notices.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish">
    The notice becomes visible on the [tenant portal](/guides/tenant-portal).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Retire it when it expires">
    Toggle visibility off. A board full of last quarter's notices is not read.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  For anything time-critical, publish the notice **and** send it. A notice board is a reference
  surface; a [broadcast](/guides/message-templates) is what actually reaches people. Use both, with
  the same wording.
</Tip>

## Polls

A poll asks residents a question and records their answers — a preferred date for maintenance,
support for a proposed change, a committee vote.

| Element                  | Purpose                       |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| **Question and options** | What is being asked.          |
| **Audience**             | Who may vote.                 |
| **Period**               | When voting opens and closes. |
| **Results**              | The tally.                    |

Residents vote from the tenant portal.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Write one clear question">
    Multi-part questions produce results nobody can act on.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the audience">
    Match it to who is actually affected and entitled to a view.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set an explicit closing date">
    An open-ended poll never concludes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish the result">
    As a notice. A poll whose result is never communicated reduces participation in the next one.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  A poll is an opinion-gathering tool, not a governance instrument. Where a decision has legal or
  constitutional weight — a formal resolution, a levy change — follow your governing documents.
  Record the poll result as input, not as the decision itself.
</Warning>

## Permissions

Notice board and polls each carry their own permission set, so publishing rights can be granted to
a community manager without granting broader communications access. See
[Roles and permissions](/getting-started/roles-and-permissions).

## Common problems

| Symptom                               | Cause                                                                      |
| ------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Residents say they never saw a notice | It was published but never sent. Pair it with a broadcast.                 |
| Very low poll participation           | Audience too broad, question unclear, or no closing date creating urgency. |
| Old notices still showing             | Visibility not toggled off after expiry.                                   |