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

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

Community association board members fill tough roles that require a great deal of attention to association business. We understand that, as board member volunteers, you need guidance from professionals to facilitate informed decision-making, allowing you to uphold your fiduciary duties to the association that you serve. To assist you in evaluating the legal priorities for your community, we have created this Legal Audit checklist. Place a check mark in the box beside each statement that applies to your community association–and don’t forget to complete Part 1 of the Community Association Legal Audit.

My community association has . . .

?   checked that the assessments charged to individual units match the allocated interests stated for those units in the association’s governing documents.

Associations must assess individual units for budgeted expenses in accordance with the allocated interests stated in the governing documents. When we advise clients of discrepancies that we note in unit assessments and allocated interests, we sometimes hear, “We’ve always done it that way; that’s what people are used to.” If the governing documents do not align with the association’s manner of assessing owners, then past mistakes do not support future disregard for the documents.Continue Reading Community Association Legal Audit (Part 2 of 2)