For anyone who has gone through the process of searching for a new home, you have probably experienced the exhilaration of finally finding the perfect home! If your perfect home is located in a homeowners’ association (“HOA”), do your homework, ask some important questions and be honest with yourself before signing on the dotted line. Here are some suggestions: Continue Reading Before Buying In An HOA: Educate Yourself and Ask Questions

As a result of increasing numbers of foreclosures, associations now have to deal with collecting delinquent balances against not only its individual homeowners but also against the foreclosing lenders/banks. With the sheer number of foreclosures that any given bank must deal with, a depressed economy and a saturated and slow moving real estate market, it is currently not uncommon for banks to retain ownership of a property following a foreclosure sale for up to a year or more. I am not aware of many associations that can carry that kind of debt for such an extended period of time.Continue Reading Place An End To Bank Owed Debt!

It’s important that associations follow their governing documents and understand the procedures they should follow when dealing with collection of assessments, fines and other fees. The easiest way to do this is to review the association’s governing documents and the relevant provisions having to do with collections of delinquent accounts. This is especially important should the file proceed to court as a judge will review the case to determine whether the association followed its own rules before finding against a homeowner who did not. Continue Reading Collections: Are you following the rules?

Stephane Dupont, the head of our collections department, is also an avid home brewer.  He recently brought several bottles of his India Pale Ale to share with the office, and so Friday evening found me with a frosty mug (per Stephane’s explicit instruction) and a Mad Men DVD.

The juxtaposition of beer with work, and the Mad Men DVD got me to thinking about how business is conducted today, versus the way it worked back in the 1960s.  According to Mad Men, men (because they were all men) would gather around a bottle of scotch and conduct business through the haze of cigarette smoke.  This wouldn’t fly today, but it seems some homeowners associations haven’t gotten the memo.

We’ve had association board meetings open with uncorking a bottle of wine.  Seriously.  While we believe that a congenial atmosphere and neighborliness are good things to encourage in the association context, boards must always remember that they are conducting business, not throwing a party. Continue Reading Take a Bottle Drink it Down…Pass it Around….

Associations are obligated by Colorado law, and often their governing documents, to retain certain documents and make them available to owners upon request.  A formal document retention policy can also assist an association that finds itself engaged in litigation.  With more and more associations conducting some business and discussions over e-mail, the requirements of electronic discovery can create additional document retention burdens.

Failure to properly retain documents may result in fines or other penalties if the matter goes to court. Courts expect retention policies to be reasonable; however, what is reasonable depends on the surrounding circumstances. Some factors to keep in mind include the type of document, statutory requirements, and the likelihood of litigation.

Many associations have placed certain association documents online.  These documents may be available to all members with a password, or they may even be available to anyone with the ability to Google.  While there are several advantages of online documents, including greater transparency for members, they also create a number of questions regarding what documents should be retained, where they should be stored, and for how long.Continue Reading Document Retention and Your Association: What You Need To Know

CNNMoney has just reported that Standard and Poor’s Rating Services (“S&P") has downgraded the credit rating of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from a triple A rating to AA+. As you know, Fannie and Freddie fuel home sales by purchasing mortgages from lenders. What impact, if any, will this have on the sale of units in homeowners’ associations…

From time to time, homeowners’ associations (“HOAs”) are faced with the problem of addressing a resident who hoards. The Mayo Clinic defines hoarding as: 

“. . . the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to discard them. Hoarding often creates such cramped living conditions that homes may be filled to capacity, with only narrow pathways winding through stacks of clutter. Some people also collect animals, keeping dozens or hundreds of pets often in unsanitary conditions.

 

Hoarding, also called compulsive hoarding and compulsive hoarding syndrome, may be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). But many people who hoard don’t have other OCD-related symptoms.

 

People who hoard often don’t see it as a problem, making treatment challenging. But intensive treatment can help people who hoard understand their compulsions and live safer, more enjoyable lives.”Continue Reading Woman with Thousands of Rats Highlights Problems Associated with Hoarding

If you think about it, over the last 10 to 15 years, the explosion of the internet and electronic communications has drastically changed our lives and how we do business. I actually remember when I dictated documents, my legal secretary literally made carbon copies when typing on her IBM Selectric and we used a fax machine to expedite communications. The pervasiveness of email communications has not only revolutionized the practice of law, it has changed the way we live our lives and how many boards of homeowners’ associations (“HOAs”) govern. 

Is it a good thing when boards hold discussions and make decisions via email on issues affecting their associations? In my opinion – not so much. Here are my thoughts:Continue Reading Email & Governance: A Good Fit?

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

If you follow news stories on homeowners’ associations (“HOAs”), you may have seen coverage on the uproar created by the Sutton Lakes Homeowners Association in Jacksonville, Florida that has asked a resident to remove a sign that simply says Jesus. Evidently, the governing documents of the HOA only permit “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs in the community.

While Colorado law prohibits HOAs from banning the display of political signs, other types of signs can be prohibited through use restrictions found in a declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions or through rules and regulations. The question is not whether an association has the authority to restrict signage; the question is whether these types of restrictions make sense for your community.Continue Reading Use Restrictions and Rules Should Fit the Community