I spent the last ten days in upstate New York, fishing, eating good food, drinking bad beer, and spending time with family and friends. I’m fortunate that I married into a family with a cottage on a good-sized lake near Canada. The walleye, crappie, pike, and bass were out in full force, and when they weren’t biting, I was tubing and swimming, trying to forget the teeth of the fish I’d caught earlier that day.
Continue Reading Atypical associations are subject to CCIOA too!
Ahhh, spring, when a young lawyer’s fancy turns to thoughts of…covenant enforcement.
I love covenant enforcement cases. In most situations, the owner who violated the documents has no defense and it’s up to the association to make sure the owner complies with the documents that govern his property. Sometimes it can be a headache, but it’s the Association’s legal duty to enforce these documents.
Not in your backyard? Enforce your covenants!
Some thoughts from your lawyer’s perspective to help ensure a successful covenant enforcement action:Continue Reading It’s Springtime! Let’s Paint the House Pink!
This morning the Denver Post published an article about House Bill 1237, the bill intended to clarify records disclosure requirements for homeowners associations. Suzanne Leff and Molly Foley-Healy have previously discussed the substance of House Bill 1237, and we are pleased to see legislation that will help associations with everyday governance.
Many of the problems
Nearly every time someone asks us a question regarding their association’s obligations, their individual duties, the proper method of taking action, or virtually anything related to association activity and governance, we begin our answer with, "Well, it all depends on your documents."
Of course, certain things are dictated by law, but more often than not, your documents spell out the detailed issues that aren’t specifically addressed by statute. Your documents – your Declaration, Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, Rules, and Policies – dictate how your association must respond to various situations. If you want to hold a special meeting – look to your Bylaws. If you want to know how many directors you need to have – look to your Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws. If you want to know whether you are responsible for maintenance – look to your Declaration.
Unfortunately, some documents can be awful.Continue Reading Are Your Documents Awful?
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from everyone at Winzenburg, Leff, Purvis & Payne!
On the first day of Christmas my HOA gave to me written approval for my pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas my HOA gave to me, two pooper scoopers and written approval for my pear tree.
On the third day of Christmas my HOA gave to me, three French drains, two pooper scoopers and written approval for my pear tree.Continue Reading The Twelve Days of Christmas – HOA Style
Bullying is a huge headline lately. Lady Gaga is starting a foundation to fight the problem, the government’s involved with www.stopbullying.gov, and there are hundreds of news articles every week on the subject. Bullying is pervasive and infects every area of life. As an association attorney, I see bullying every day.
Sometimes the bully is a board member, refusing to allow other board members or association members the right to speak and discuss a subject. Other times, the bully is a homeowner who has a personal issue with another homeowner, and brings the association into that conflict. The bully can also be a homeowner who disagrees with association policy, and disrupts meetings in an attempt to assert his position.
I know a lot of people probably figure I’m a bully – after all, I’m the attorney who tells you to take down your tree house and that you have to re-paint your purple trim white. Surprisingly, lawyers get bullied too. We’ve received simple death threats, insults about our practice, professionalism, intellect, and personal grooming, and even threats of biological weapons. A homeowner once chased one of our attorneys with a machete. A lawyer involved with the widespread association fraud in Nevada was found severely beaten yesterday. It is not clear whether the beating was related to his involvement in the fraud, or just his graduation from law school.Continue Reading Homeowners Associations and Bullying
A Parker couple recently made the news after an unknown person spray painted offensive language on the couple’s garage, and left a noose on their front porch. The couple, Aimee Whitchurch and Christel Conklin, rent a unit at a condominium development in Parker.
It is never good news when your association makes the news for a hate crime. Aimee and Christel have been on most local stations, and their story is being picked up by blogs everywhere (including this one). While the individual who vandalized the unit is the person ultimately responsible for the crime, the couple’s homeowners association is feeling heat as well.
When I saw video of the garage after someone covered the offensive language, I groaned to myself. This screen capture, taken from KWGN News, shows a sloppy attempt to hide the offending words. 
Unfortunately, the white primer does little more than to highlight the crime.Continue Reading So You’ve Got a PR Disaster…Now What?
The Community Association Institute has an annual Law Seminar that many of our attorneys like to attend. It allows us to get out of the office, meet with colleagues in a less formal environment, and earn our annual continuing legal education credits with courses specific to our field. This year, the Law Seminar was in Las Vegas, at the Venetian. One thing I noticed was the presence of cameras everywhere.
Apparently, in Las Vegas, everything is under surveillance. A Las Vegas-area homeowner recently received a violation notice for a car parked in front of her property. The only problem – it wasn’t her car. The management company alleged that they had her home “under surveillance” and had seen someone park the offending car and enter the property.
Continue Reading HOA or Big Brother? They’re Both Watching You!
We attend a lot of homeowners association board meetings. Sometimes, it’s to discuss things like collections, meeting procedures, policy adoption, and other similar, mundane matters. All too often, however, we attend board meetings for one simple reason: to make people play nice.
We understand that association governance is an intensely personal activity. While the politicians in Congress are fairly removed from the actual effects of the decisions they make, association board members have to see their neighbors, who may be impacted by association decisions, every day. Even a board member may disagree with a board decision that impacts that member’s home ownership. As such, it is very common for emotions and personalities to cloud what are fundamentally business decisions.
There is one simple way to help remove many of the personality conflicts that arise with association governance:Continue Reading A Rant on Civility
In March, Molly Foley-Healy blogged on the Nevada crime ring that conspired to steer homeowners associations to certain law firms and contractors in exchange for kickbacks. On Tuesday, one of the "hired" Board members pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Darryl Scott Nichols used funds from other conspirators to become a strawman purchaser, and eventually was elected to the Boards of Directors of two different condominium associations. As a Director, Nichols used his influence to send association business and money to other parties. These parties compensated Nichols for his assistance, a fatal conflict of interest.Continue Reading Nevada HOA Fraud – Could it Have Been Avoided?