Kill the ARC email chain.
Every "can I paint my fence?" in a self-managed HOA becomes a reply-all thread with photos buried four messages deep and no record of who approved what. Lantern gives your committee one link for homeowners and one queue for decisions, set up by a single board member in five minutes.
Reply-all was never a review process
The homeowner emails one board member. That member forwards it to two others. Someone answers from their phone, someone else never sees the photos, and six months later nobody can prove whether the shed was approved, denied, or just forgotten. The only record is a search through three people’s inboxes.
Architectural review is the most paperwork-shaped job a volunteer board has, and the least served by email. It needs exactly three things: a way in, a queue, and a written decision. None of them require a board vote to set up.
How it works
Three steps, and you are running. No procurement, no implementation project.
Create your workspace
Name your community and get a submission link. One board member, five minutes, no community onboarding.
Share one link
Newsletter, Facebook group, or a QR code at the mailboxes. Homeowners submit with photos from their phone — no account, no app.
Decide in a queue
Approve, deny, or request changes with a comment. The homeowner is notified, the timeline is the record, and the decision letter prints itself.
What you get
Everything below is included from the start.
One link for homeowners
Name, address, project type, description, photos. Submitting takes two minutes on a phone and never requires an account.
A real queue, not an inbox
Every request in one list with a status: needs review, waiting on homeowner, decided. Nothing lives in someone’s personal email.
A timeline the homeowner can see
Each request gets a private tracking link — submitted, in review, decided — so "any update on my fence?" answers itself.
Request changes, get resubmissions
Ask for a different color or a site plan; the homeowner responds and resubmits on the same thread instead of starting a new one.
Decision letters included
Every approval or denial generates a printable letter with the summary, conditions, reviewer, and date. The paper trail writes itself.
Add co-reviewers
Bring the rest of the committee in by email so decisions stop bottlenecking on whoever got the original message.
One board member can start this today
Receiving and tracking requests is committee workflow, not governance — your CC&Rs already define what gets approved; this just replaces the inbox it happens in. There is no data to migrate and nothing for the rest of the board to adopt: share the link, and the next request simply arrives in a queue instead of your email.
When the community is ready for more, the association can bring announcements, amenity booking, and visitor passes onto Lantern too — and your ARC history comes along.
Common questions
Do I need a board vote to use this?
No. How the committee receives and tracks requests is process, not policy. Your governing documents still control what gets approved; this replaces the email chain, not the CC&Rs. Any single ARC member can set it up and share the link.
Do homeowners need an account or an app?
No. They open the link, fill in the form, and attach photos from their phone. They get a private tracking link, and email updates if they choose to leave an address.
Is it really free?
Yes. Creating a workspace, receiving requests, and issuing decisions costs nothing. If the association later wants the whole community on Lantern, that is a separate conversation.
What does the homeowner see?
A status timeline for their own request: submitted, in review, and the decision with the committee’s comments. If the committee requests changes, they respond and resubmit from the same page.
How do decision letters work?
When you approve or deny, Lantern generates a printable letter with the community name, request summary, decision, any conditions, the reviewer’s name, and the date. Print it, or let the homeowner open it from their tracking link.
Can more than one person review?
Yes. The workspace owner adds co-reviewers by email; everyone sees the same queue and any of them can record the decision, which is logged with their name.
What about violations and fines?
Deliberately not this. This is the cooperative half of architectural review — homeowners asking permission. Enforcement workflows are a board-level decision and belong to an officially adopted community.
Get requests out of your inbox
Create your workspace now, or tell us about your community and we will set it up with you. Free either way.
- A submission link and QR code for homeowners
- A decision queue for the committee
- Printable decision letters on every decision
- No cost, no board vote, no data migration
Ready in about a minute. Prefer we set it up with you? Leave your details instead:
Other ways neighbors start
Same platform, different starting point. Pick whichever problem your community feels most.