On an HOA Board: Here’s How to Avoid Problems
Category: Active adult communities
May 2, 2017 — If you live in an established 55+ community or an active adult community there is a Homeowners Association (often called Community Associations) in charge. While often maligned, these boards are necessary – somebody has to run the place. Boards need interested and capable people to fulfill that responsibility – and maybe that person is you. This article is based on an association board member orientation provided by David Rogel, Chair of Community Association Litigation for the Miami law firm Becker & Poliakoff (www.bplegal.com). He is the General Counsel for over 200 community associations. Our hope is that our notes of his presentation will help you understand how you and your association can avoid legal trouble, and provide a positive experience for your fellow residents. Note that this article was based on notes taken along with a few minor additions made by your editor; we apologize for any errors we might have introduced.
Fiduciary Duty
If you a board member of an HOA the first thing you need to know is that you have a fiduciary duty to the Association and its members (residents). That means that you have a legal and ethical relationship of trust to the organization and its members. You are in essence responsible for their money and assets, and you must hold their interests above your own.
Avoiding problems
One of the easiest ways for an association to find itself in a lawsuit is to make important decisions with no clear trail as to how it arrived at them. Attorney Rogel covered a number of potential problem areas along with the steps associations can take to avoid them. He pointed out that your underlying condo/association documents control most activities in your association. As a board member you must read and follow those.
Meetings/meetings/meetings
– Proper notice needs to be given of meetings so
Comments on "On an HOA Board: Here’s How to Avoid Problems"
Susan says:
We love living in our community that has an HOA. We know things will always look nice and there is recourse if you have a neighbor that doesn't take care of his property.
Babyboomer55 says:
Yes, HOA's are fine if you can afford or the additional assessments. ...in our community we have been struck every few years with additional assessments and several people didn't have the money and lost their homes in foreclosure. ...so if you don't have additional money in savings don't move into those types of communities.
Terri says:
I am a board member for a HOA that is a condominium. Not over 55 plus. There are 150 units. It is in an area that is considered a Towne Centre where there are also two other complexes in the whole shopping area that are rental properties. So you could go to Target, or Bed, Bath and Beyond, restaurants, etc. You kind of get the idea. The two other complexed that are rentals have around I believe 211 units in each. I have been on the board for 6 years now for condominium that is mostly owners. I have been re-elected twice now. I have been the VP, Secretary and now Treasurer. This was a new condo building and was moved to the owners from the builder. In the beginning of the years we established specific committees and volunteer leads like a communications committee, building committee, security committee, strategic, committee, well you get it. It has all worked well. The hardest part-getting people to want to be on the board. It takes time. We have one meeting a month in the evening with the residents and one working session a month. Because I am treasurer I also go to the finance committee each month. So if you are ever on a board and want to not take it lightly plan on it to be a little time consuming. I agree be prepared for costs to rise. Look at your associations documentation before taking the leap. For example where I live we have to pay for the Towne Centre parking area as well as clean up. It is quite costly and when it was agreed upon before it became the condo, the builder agreed on an increase each year that we have not been able to break as he put in there a 30 year clause for increases and agreed with it. We are fortunate we have 3 lawyers on our board. We have 7 members. We use to have 5 but extended it so we had a focus. People do not like rates increased. Best is to understand why and to make sure you attend all meetings so you do not miss anything when the board is meeting. Minutes do not tell enough. Rentals are an issue with condos and some housing areas. We have setup bylaws that state there are only allowed a specific amount of rentals less than 30 percent and we have a few that are emergency rentals. Those have to be voted on, you must be on a waiting list and there were specific things that have to take place in order to be one of those units. Basically most owners that live in the association do not like renters. Most would like to have none in our association and in time hopefully we get to that point.
Be careful with new places. the price of the HOA may be set at one price with the builder to attract you to come in and then when the association takes over the prices MAY NOT take care of the expenses. Make sure you get all documentation, see what the costs have been in the last few years for the association, as well as the total HOA each year. Ask about their contracts. On the board we spent the last 5 years basically rebidding and cleaning up contracts. Ask about other services. Will you have concierges? If you are in a condo you may. They cost. What about security. What will the concierge do for you. Will there be a general manager on site? Do you have a management service that supplies all of that. Or an off site management office. What I am saying is that it is more than about yard clean up. It may be pool services. Do you have an association pool? The list could go on and on.
We are looking for our retirement neighborhood and it will probably be in a house not condo. For us we ask for all of the documentation so we can read up to see if there are somethings we would not like. For example there could be restrictions on building a pool or adding to the home. Is there some architectural board that one has to go thru at the HOA. How fast do they react to the ask? Just things to think about. I stay very cautious after being on the board. I have learned a lot. I do like them as it does help manage and stay structured especially when you are living in a condo with a lot of people.
C Gallagher says:
The newest problems are with allowable vehicles: specifically motorcycles, large SUVs and Trucks, multiple cars. I think HOA boards should not allow motorcycles or large SUVs as both pose safety and nouse concerns.
Linda says:
The answer we got here (Florida) regarding prohibiting vehicles is that if the vehicle is legal to drive on the street, it can't be prohibited. Vehicles used for commercial purposes may be prohibited.
Clyde says:
The type of vehicles found at various condos often depend on the people who are attracted to the particular community. At our 55+condo of several thousand modest 2-story garden units, the average age is 75 or so. We don't permit commercial vehicles (most residents are retired). Almost all of the vehicles here are sedans from 1-5 years of age. Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, Hyundais and the like. At non-age-restricted places in this area, I see plenty of mammoth vans and SUVs, huge 4-seater pickups, muscle cars and motorcycles. There's nothing wrong with these vehicles, but if you don't like noise or too-close parking issues due to the size of a vehicle, then do your due diligence. To each his or her own.
Bob R says:
I'm the president of our HOA in IL. We have existed for 25+ years. We are fortunate that we have covenants and by-laws to direct us. We try to get these in the hands of buyers before closing to avoid issues in the future after move-in. (We have had incidents when real estate agents and attorneys have failed to provide these to buyers.) Amending any of these requires two thirds approval of the homeowners (one vote per home.)
Re vehicle parking: Our rules prohibit trailers, trucks (other than p/u trucks which comply with the state's definition/weight limit) RV's, and commercial vehicles (commercial plates and/or commercial advertising.) We are do make exceptions and allow folks to park and time to prep. and clean their RV's, but only for a few days/ month and NEVER when a house is for sale in the neighborhood. State law doesn't matter: they agreed to these rules when they bought their homes here.
Ken says:
Our board probably faces the same problems that many others have. With the addition that because we are in a resort community we get a lot of renters, often for as short a period as 1 week. The renters and other owners have some amount of tension - the former tend to crowd the pool and break the rules there, like bringing music, glass containers, and smoking. They often bring pets, which are not permitted, or throw loud parties. One renter even staged a large wedding at the pool!
The owners who rent like the revenue but the other owners don't like the commotion. Our insurance rates also went up when the insurer found out we had so many renters. It is a hard problem.
The other issue we have in common is what to do with the occasional deadbeat. It costs a lot of money and time to get rid of condo owners who fall behind on condo fees and disregard rules about renting. Getting people to serve on the board is another issue. They are often quick to complain but don't want to help either.
Colonel Mike says:
i served a 3 year term on a HOA board after being ask to run. At first i thought that it was a little strange asking a "weekender" to serve on the board of our gated community but i had heard some rumors that perhaps a small group of board members had a voting block majority and told the newly elected board members they could vote as they please but that group of four would be making the decisions which caused newly elected members to resign their elected position shortly thereafter. I think i was ask because it was known i don't back down from a fight if a fight is what is needed. What i found was quite the opposite. I was welcomed by the other board members and found that it can be a thankless job ( no surprise there) and many people believe we should strictly enforce the rules, except the rules they break or dont like. I came away with a greater respect for board members who do the job right. I would strongly encourage people to serve on a HOA board. The best boards are the boards that we keep getting in new people with fresh ideas. If you think your HOA is mismanaged take the opportunity to run. Hopefully your experience will be like mine but if it isn't dont back down from trying to make the board members live up to their obligations. It only takes one person trying to do the right thing that won't back down to get things moved back to where they need to be.