Governance

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On Saturday, ABC 15 out of Scottsdale, Arizona reported on a dispute Steven Seagal is having with his homeowners’ association (“HOA”). The gated community which sports multi-million dollar homes is upset about the number of workers’ vehicles parked in front of the action star’s home. 

This issue seems to have been going on for quite awhile. Seagal’s attorney, Mark Goldman, commented, “They were very upset because there were numerous cars here, but there had to be cars here because the home hadn’t been lived in for two years.” Continue Reading Fred Flintstone v. Steven Seagal?

[Warning: Parliamentarians please disregard this blog posting. If you do read it and are appalled, feel free to openly and widely disparage my lack of respect and understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order!]

Have you ever been to an annual meeting for an HOA where a member makes a motion from the floor to follow Robert’s Rules of Order, the motion is seconded and passed? What happens next? What happens if the chair of the meeting doesn’t understand Robert’s Rules? What happens if there isn’t a parliamentarian available to walk everyone through the meeting? What happens if there is one person who has a strong grasp of Robert’s Rules and uses it to the disadvantage of everyone else? What is the affect on business conducted at the meeting if Robert’s Rules aren’t properly followed? How many people really know all that much about Robert’s Rules? Continue Reading Robert’s Rules for HOA Meetings – Not Necessarily the Bee’s Knees

Homeowners and condominium association Boards of Directors have extensive powers to act on behalf of the Association.  The actions a Board can take are broad and encompass all areas of Association governance.  However, with great power comes great responsibility.  Boards often take some or all of the following actions, but they need to do so with full consideration of the potential ramifications. Sure, you can do it…but should you?
Continue Reading Sure You Can Do It…But Should You?

Yesterday, theday.com in Connecticut reported on an unfortunate story of an owner who lost his condominium unit to a fire only to find out the insurance coverage the association was required to have in place had lapsed for lack of payment. While Mr. Jain carried a standard policy to cover the contents of his unit, the policy does not cover the actual structure.

This is a great example of the challenges which face small condominium associations. In some cases, these associations do not have the funds necessary to hire professional management to handle the finances of the association and to ensure that proper insurance coverage is in place. This is unfortunate because these small associations typically have the same responsibilities as their larger counterparts.Continue Reading Insurance Nightmare for Owner in Small Condominium Association

“Nasty Joe” is an extremely angry person. You know the type, he’s not happy unless he’s embroiled in an ugly battle. Joe will always point the finger at others, engage in loud, vicious and profane verbal attacks and will never ever back down. He is a master at drawing people into a battle, because he knows he will always win and it fuels his fire.     

Unfortunately, Nasty Joe sometimes lives in a homeowners’ association. If you have encountered a Nasty Joe – you know it’s a no-win situation. These people take great satisfaction in targeting professional staff and members of an association’s board of directors. For these angry people, there’s nothing better than violating covenants and making life a misery for everyone involved.

 

Here are some tips for dealing with a Nasty Joe:Continue Reading Dealing with Nasty Joe: Step Back and Take a Deep Breath

 Okay – so some stories are just really hard to resist. In Tucson’s Sunflower Community Association, a major controversy broke out over building pickleball courts. For some reason, the thought of playing pickleball cracks me up. My reaction makes no sense and is unfair since I don’t even know what pickleball is. For the life of me, I can’t imagine what a pickleball looks like or what you would do with it. . . Pickleball players – please forgive my ignorance and irreverence!

While I got a kick out of contemplating what uniform one would wear when playing pickleball, the events that occurred in the Association are no laughing matter. Best as I can tell from the Explorer Newspaper and other sources, here’s what happened: The Board of the Association determined that construction of pickleball courts was a good idea. In order to fund the courts, the Board planned to utilize funds collected through a transfer fee called the Community Improvement Fee (“CIF”).  To utilize CIF funds, the Board would first have to obtain approval from the members.  A vote was held and members of the Association voted against funding construction of the courts. The Board, still of the opinion that pickleball courts would benefit the community, followed provisions in the governing documents to levy a special assessment of $47.00 per unit to build the courts. Given the amount of the special assessment, the Board was not required to obtain member approval. Continue Reading HOA Board in a Pickle with Sour Homeowners

CTV News in Ontario, Canada – reported on a story entitled Faulty towers: The hidden dangers of low condo maintenance fees. This story could have been written anywhere in the United States and even Colorado. While the circumstances facing the condominium association in the article are extreme, the story outlines the inevitable results of artificially low assessments, deferring maintenance and failing to fund reserves.

In these tough economic times, no board or resident of a homeowners’ association (“HOA”) wants an assessment increase. Heck – even in good times nobody wants an increase! However, the responsibility of an association to maintain, repair and replace common elements does not magically go away. You need only look at the declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions for your HOA to determine the responsibilities of your association. For condominium associations – this is particularly important since your association likely has significant and potentially costly responsibilities. 

Continue Reading Is your HOA prepared to handle the maintenance, repair and replacement of common elements?

Imagine this – you are an avid environmentalist, you are lucky enough to be one of the first individuals in your state to purchase the Chevy Volt (an entirely electric car), you have your Volt customized to make it even more fuel-efficient than normal and you proudly drive your car home only to realize at the moment you pull into the parking lot of your condominium association that there’s no place to charge your Volt. Yikes! What do you do now? 

As reported by WAMU 88.5, that’s exactly what happened to Ron Ball of Fairfax County, Virginia. Not only did Mr. Ball live in a condominium association with no charging station for his Volt, he also has no garage or even a designated parking space. Luckily, Mr. Ball lives in an association where the board was willing to have a serious dialogue with him and to come up with a solution to deal with charging his new car. Continue Reading Electric Car Owner Avoids Condominium Association Shock!

If you read our posts, you know that we occasionally address fair housing issues in community associations. Both the federal and state fair housing acts prohibit discrimination in the provision of housing and services based on a number of protected classifications, including race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin. Unfortunately, discrimination in violation…

I think it’s safe to say that it’s impossible to truly appreciate the beautiful things in life until you have first experienced a nasty, mud-slinging fight at an HOA meeting. Come on now – you know what I’m talking about. Here’s how this goes:

 

Pre-Meeting Strategy Session

Prior to the meeting even beginning, we have to meet to plan our attack. Do we all sit together? Do we spread out all over the meeting room? Do we take over the meeting from the board? Who should attack first? Do we play “good cop/bad cop?” Should we send out a one-sided flyer to the homeowners prior to the meeting to get them all revved-up? Continue Reading Sit Down and Shut Up!