Governance

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The Aurora Sentinel published a story yesterday entitled Know where to turn when you have HOA nightmares. The story chronicles the troubles of a handful of residents of an HOA in Aurora. The complaints range from allegations of unfair late fees to retaliatory board members to inconsistent enforcement of covenants. Management for the HOA responded that the Board of Directors is following the governing documents in a consistent manner and homeowners are invited to address the Board as long as it’s done respectfully.

Unfortunately, these dynamics play themselves out every day in HOAs across the country. But it doesn’t have to be that way! The one thing we know for sure is boards of directors and homeowners must work together to create vibrant, healthy, livable and harmonious communities. Here are examples of how this works:Continue Reading Harmony in HOAs – It’s a Two-Way Street

Whenever you bring two or more people together, there’s always the potential for conflict. Add to this equation a homeowners’ association (“HOA”), assessment delinquencies, foreclosures, financially strapped homeowners and a board facing tough economic decisions that could result in an assessment increase or even the dreaded special assessment. Obviously, under these conditions the potential for destructive conflict escalates through the roof. 

If these challenges existed in your HOA, how would the board and homeowners handle it? Would your association come together as a community or turn into a combat zone? It’s up to everyone in the community to decide.Continue Reading Is Your HOA a Community or Combat Zone?

The recent violence in Arizona and the convention of the 112th Congress have brought thoughts of civility to the front of many of our minds. Even in Colorado, legislators bicker over whether to adopt a civility pledge.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2011/01/20/after-six-years-house-republicans-now-question-need-for-civility-pledge/21214/

People have differences of opinion at all levels of governance – homeowners and condominium associations included. Sometimes these differences are based in a genuine disagreement over what is best for the community. Other times, the disputes arise out of personal feelings, partisanship, and even the desire to cause discord.Continue Reading The Importance of Civility

We often hear the terms “proxy” and “ballot” used interchangeably. The documents are not one and the same, and Associations should take care to treat them differently.

A proxy is a document executed by an owner that grants to another person the owner’s right to vote on a given matter in the Association. Generally, an individual who cannot attend a meeting will grant a proxy to another person who will attend the meeting. This helps to ensure that the Association reaches quorum and is able to transact business, and allows the absent party to have a vote in the matters at hand.Continue Reading Proxies and Written Ballots – What’s the Big Difference?

What happens when your neighbor blasts his music too loud? Complains about your trees covering his yard? Fills his garage with fireworks for Fourth of July – and shoots them off every night for a month beforehand until midnight? Gets angry with you and dumps garbage on your lawn? What should the Association’s Board or manager do, if anything, when they receive the call from the affected homeowner?

Oftentimes, these types of problems are referred to by Boards and managers as “neighbor to neighbor” disputes. They become defined as such because they are disputes, of one nature or another, lodged by one owner against another owner, but generally do not affect either the common areas or more than a few other owners. Other common examples, in addition to those identified above, include parking, animals, and smoking.Continue Reading Tools for Handling Neighbor to Neighbor Disputes

Many associations schedule their annual member and budget ratification meetings in the last months of the year. Annual meetings give an opportunity for owners to vote on one of the primary matters within their control: the election of board members. More members typically attend these meetings than board meetings, and they expect to receive information about important association business and have a chance to ask questions about board actions. Associations should recognize the need to balance member participation and information dissemination with meeting control. No owner wants to attend long, unproductive meetings, nor do members want to show up to the meeting only to learn that they cannot conduct business due to a technical legal issue such as improper notice or lack of quorum.Continue Reading Annual Meetings: Planning for Success

We occasionally receive calls from distressed board members or managers when individual community members take steps to amend an association’s governing documents without going through a board process. Usually, a packet arrives in the board member’s or manager’s mail at the same time everyone else in the community gets the proposed amendment. This type of owner-initiated document amendment drive can result in substantial expense and, if not handled properly, can leave the association with vague, poorly drafted documents that make governance close to impossibleContinue Reading The Owner-Initiated Document Amendment

We routinely receive questions related to fair housing issues in common interest communities. Many community association directors and community association managers are aware that both the federal and state Fair Housing Acts prohibit discrimination against certain protected classes of persons in the provision of housing and services related to housing. One of the protected classes is handicapped persons. According to the Fair Housing Act, discrimination includes: (a) a refusal to permit, at the expense of the handicapped person, reasonable modifications of existing premises occupied or to be occupied by such person if such modifications may be necessary to afford such person full enjoyment of the premises; and (b) a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.Continue Reading The Fair Housing Act – The Handicapped Person; Reasonable Modifications and Reasonable Accommodations

 Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming more common methods for American communications. Sites that were once reserved for college students are now used by parents, grandparents, businesses, and movements to keep in touch and disseminate information. Many homeowners associations and condominium associations have joined the new media revolution, with varying degrees of success.

Facebook and Twitter can allow users to customize who can see information posted. While most association governing documents are matters of public record, if an association wishes to post other information, like meeting minutes or budgets, it may wish to limit access to association members. Any association that intends to make full use of the communications aspects of social media should take care to ensure that the site or page is regularly reviewed to grant access to members.

 Continue Reading The Use of Social Media in Association Governance