June 2011

I don’t watch NASCAR, in spite of my vaguely southern roots.  I prefer sports with more action and bloodshed – like homeowners association meetings.  Todd Bodine is a NASCAR driver, an HOA member, and apparently a fan of tiki huts and pool houses.  Bodine constructed a tiki hut and pool house on his property, and after four years of dispute and litigation, the North Carolina Supreme Court sided with his Association.  The Association claimed the hut and house were not approved, and had to be removed.

Continue Reading Even NASCAR Drivers Don’t Get to Cut Corners for HOA Approval

Late last week, Aaron Acker and I co-presented a legislative update session at the Colorado Bar Association course Advanced HOA Issues: Communities in Distress. Aaron, the HOA Information Officer with the Colorado Division of Real Estate (“Division”), focused on the role of the Division relating to homeowners’ associations (“HOAs”) and provided a synopsis of the types of HOA-related complaints his office is receiving. Here’s an overview of what Aaron shared with the attendees:Continue Reading HOA Information Officer Gives Synopsis of Complaints at CBA Course

I know you are all enjoying summer and thinking about taking time off to spend with family and friends. As board members, I also know the last thing on your mind is thinking about the 2012 budget for your association. However, if your fiscal year begins on January 1, 2012, toward the end of the summer and through the fall you will be working with your manager on preparation of the budget for your association. If your association is self-managed, that task can be even more daunting.

Please do not misunderstand me; I’m not suggesting that you begin preparing your budgets now. Frankly, you don’t have all of the data you need to make good decisions and you shouldn’t be spending your summer crunching numbers. Instead, as the policy makers of your communities, I would like to suggest that you begin thinking about whether the current assessment levels are meeting your association’s fiscal needs.

 

Here are a couple of areas to contemplate and related questions to ask yourselves:Continue Reading Contemplating Budget Preparation Season . . .

If you ask folks why they ran for a position on the board of directors of their homeowners’ association (“HOA”), you would probably get a variety of answers. Many individuals will tell you they ran for the board because they are committed to ensuring their community is well-run, well-maintained and a great place to live. Some might tell you they are on the board because they couldn’t find anyone else to volunteer. Others ran for a seat because they are angry about how the association is being run or governed. Their anger might be focused on parking issues, covenant enforcement issues or concerns about raising assessments. Continue Reading What Hat Are You Wearing at HOA Board Meetings?

Associations often contract with individuals for bookkeeping, landscaping, or building maintenance services, among other things. The status of these service providers as either independent contractors or employees can have important tax and legal consequences for associations.

The IRS initiated a crackdown in 2010 concerning the classification of independent contractors and employees. The IRS will randomly audit 6,000 companies through 2013 and will generate about $7 billion for state and federal governments from employers that misclassified employees as independent contractors.Continue Reading Independent Contractors vs. Employees: What HOAs Need to Know

Serving on the board of directors of a homeowners’ association (“HOA”) takes a lot of work and dedication. These uncompensated volunteers are responsible for ensuring the smooth and effective governance and operations of their associations. With the possible exception of raising assessments, taking covenant enforcement action against members is one of the least favored duties these individuals are required to carry out. Continue Reading Directors Live In a Fishbowl

While owners of individual houses and townhomes in homeowners associations may install solar panels on their rooftops (subject to prior association approval), roofs of condominiums are a different story.

 

We often receive questions from condominium associations regarding owners’ rights to install solar panels on the roofs of the condominium buildings. Condominium roofs are common elements and, as such, individual owners do not have the right to place solar panels on them. Solar gardens offer condominium owners an option for receiving many of the same benefits of solar panels otherwise reserved for single family homeowners and townhome owners.

Continue Reading What are Solar Gardens and What Can They Do for Me?

Yesterday Mainstreet.com reported on a new book that Evan McKenzie has written about the future of HOAs in the United States. Professor McKenzie, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has been studying the political structures of HOAs for years and previously authored Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government. 

In his recently released follow-up entitled Beyond Privatopia: Rethinking Residential Private Government, Professor McKenzie “explores the latest issues and trends in common interest developments and opposing viewpoints as to how they should be managed.” Mainstreet.com reports that “McKenzie’s larger point is that once consumers gain some leverage against homeowner groups, these associations will begin to lose power, and eventually fade away.”Continue Reading HOAs Going the Way of the Dodo? Not Likely