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Suzanne M. Leff

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Suzanne Leff is the managing partner at WLPP Law, where she provides general counsel to community associations and focuses on general business representation, document drafting and interpretation, contract review, covenant enforcement, and governance practices.

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A manager recently told me about an association that lost some money. Specifically, one of the association’s long-term Certificates of Deposit was turned over to the State of Colorado. In this situation, the bank had apparently sent correspondence to the association’s former management company and then turned over the account to the State when no response was received within 30 days. The property manager was totally baffled and not sure how to get the money.

The Great Colorado Payback website shows that the State is holding funds for this particular association, and the manager will need to go through a claims process to get the money. Unfortunately, the association won’t get interest that accrued during the time the State has held the funds. I don’t have all the details – and haven’t heard yet if there’s a “happy ending” – but other associations may benefit from knowing that their accounts can get transferred to the State.Continue Reading Where, oh, where has my HOA’s CD gone?

Have you heard the story of the community association members who knew one of their board candidates was convicted of a felony related to fraud or embezzlement yet elected that person anyway? Did you hear the part about how that board member later ran off with a substantial amount of the association’s funds? Maybe it’s just an urban legend among community association professionals. Or maybe it’s true. Either way, how does your association help to ensure the election of board members who will represent the association’s best interests?

As community association lawyers, we often get questions about how to place limitations on who can serve on an association’s board of directors. Sometimes boards do not want to allow owners with delinquent accounts to serve on the board. Other times, board members know that a person with a criminal record intends to run for the board. In other situations, current board members want to prevent people with different viewpoints from getting elected to the board.Continue Reading Don’t Elect the Convicted Felon

September is National Preparedness Month. For the past few years, we have  devoted a September post to reminders of preventative steps that can help keep your community safe and prepared for emergencies. By implementing preventative measures now, your association may reduce injury and liability later. The following focus areas may assist your association in identifying how prepared it is for the next emergency:

Review governing documents and insurance policies. Ensure that insurance coverage and reserve funds meet the association’s needs as well as the requirements set forth in the declaration and state statutes. An insurance and maintenance chart and insurance guidelines prepared by the association’s attorney, in consultation with the insurance agent, can serve as one way of notifying owners of their responsibilities. We also recommend that associations check their fidelity coverage and purchase crime coverage to protect against fraud and embezzlement.Continue Reading Prevention and Preparedness: How does your community deal with emergencies?

Yesterday, Molly Foley-Healy wrote about community association rules and evaluating whether your association’s rules and restrictions fit your community. Making your rules and regulations fit your community is only one step in the process of reviewing and revising board-adopted rules and regulations. What if your rules are illegal?

One condominium association in Canada was recently ordered to pay a former owner $10,000 for prohibiting the owner’s young daughter from swimming in the association’s pool. The association’s rules prohibited any child under the age of 2 from using the pool. Even though the rule at issue may have fit the community, which apparently consists of many owners or residents over the age of 65, the rule violated the Canadian fair housing laws because it discriminated based on familial status. Similar fair housing laws apply to Colorado community associations.Continue Reading Ruling Out Diapers Could Really Stink for Your Association

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

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?

As the saying goes, spring showers bring May flowers. In Colorado, we could add another line to that verse: Dry summer conditions bring water restrictions. Okay, I’m not a poet. I also don’t have a green thumb, which is one reason I’m a fan of X-rated landscaping. And, no, I’m not talking about risqué roses. This “X” rating refers to a plant’s ability to tolerate xeric, or dry habitat, conditions.
 
Colorado homeowners who want their flowers and other landscaping to survive the high desert and alpine summers—without breaking the bank on water costs—may consider Xeriscape options as part of their overall landscape plans. Colorado law ensures that homeowners who live in community associations can use drought-tolerant plants, including buffalo and blue grama grasses, in their landscaping. This does not mean that owners in HOAs can turn their yards into rock gardens. Xeriscaping is not "zero-scaping." It does mean that Colorado community associations cannot require owners to install landscaping that consists primarily of turf grass on their lots.Continue Reading Are Your Landscape Guidelines X-Rated?

HOA Law Basics

Build Your Community Association Governance Toolkit

Live Program and Live Webcast: Thursday March 3, 2011

Live program will be held at the CBA-CLE Classroom, 1900 Grant Street, Suite 300, Denver, CO

 

Video Replays: March 24, 2011

Denver, Colorado Springs, and Grand Junction

 

This foundational program will give you …