WHY DOES A COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION NEED AN ATTORNEY?
The primary benefit of hiring legal counsel to assist a Condominium or Homeowners Association is that it should save the association money in the long run, analogous to preventative maintenance. Problems will always exist, but timely advice from an experienced law firm can help an association reduce or avoid potential problems and, ultimately, the financial liabilities associated with those problems.
Specifically, an attorney should be retained to conduct a periodic review of the governing documents of the association, such as its Declaration, Bylaws, and Rules & Regulations, to make sure they are up-to-date with current laws, sufficiently address the common problems which modern community associations face, and are tailored to the specific community. Furthermore, any time the Board of Directors is considering an amendment or addition to any of the governing documents, an attorney should be consulted before finalizing any changes. An association that tries to write its own amendments or rules without this assistance runs the risk of creating documents that are poorly worded (and thus practically hard to apply or enforce), or which may even be totally void because they don't comply with existing law.
While maintaining a good set of governing documents is the cornerstone of any successful community association, there are several other ways in which an association can utilize an attorney to promote efficiency and savings: prompt and proper handling of rule enforcement disputes with individual owners, assistance with navigating the confusing (yet important) maze of insurance coverage, review of business contracts with third parties, and assistance with bank financing for improvement projects. Remember the old saying....."an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."