Q: We are a self managed association and members often ask for copies of records such as financial data and minutes of meetings. Often they ask for minutes before they are approved. One request is for our contract with the landscaper. We don’t feel that all these requests are appropriate. What do we have to provide to our owners?
Continue Reading Requests for Association records – What are the rules of the road?
A couple years ago a new state law was passed requiring that associations have an internal complaint procedure once the regulations for such are issued by the Community Association Ombudsman under the Department of Professional & Occupational Regulation. The official responsible for prescribing an internal complaint procedure for all associations proposed the regulations for it and they have been approved by the Governor. All Associations should have a procedure in place NOW to be in compliance with the law and regulations.
Continue Reading State Regulations for Internal Complaint Procedure – Regulations Now in Place
QUESTION:
I am on my community association board in Northern Virginia. There has been talk that the directors insurance is no longer needed due to a law passed in the last couple years protecting them. Is this true?
Continue Reading Directors and Officers Insurance Coverage – Necessary?
Question:
Our association just got started and has read through the VA HOA blog a lot! It has been a big help to us!
I had a question about the legal responsibility of a HOA board to respond to its members. We are a volunteer board, and there is one member of our community that is constantly sending emails (averaging 6 a day), certified letters, and posting inflammatory comments on Facebook and on our association home page. He recently sent one email documenting the number of emails he had sent us that had gone unanswered. He also attends board meetings and attempts to control the agenda and speak over the board, out of turn, and spending more than the allotted time on issues. We are a board of 8 neighborhood volunteers. With jobs, kids, and lives outside of the realm of the HOA, I just don’t understand how we possibly could respond to all of his emails. Is there a legal requirement that we respond to every email he sends? Or is there a legal guideline for determining which correspondence requires a response? Also, how can a board effectively manage people who are disruptive at a meeting? What advice would you offer to an association that deals with one particularly time-consuming member?
AN UNPAID VOLUNTEER TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING
Continue Reading Protecting the Community from Abusive Owners
Question:
I have a contract on my Virginia condo to close next week. After the contract was signed, a special assessment was voted on and passed. The first due date for the assessment is after the closing.
The contract says "Unless otherwise agreed to in writing, Seller will pay any special assessments and will comply with all orders or notices of violations of any county or local authority, condominium unit owners’ association, homeowners’ or property owners’ association or actions in any court on account thereof, against or affecting the Property on the Settlement Date."
The title agency is saying that because the special assessment was passed before the closing I must pay the whole assessment. Is this the correct interpretation of the above language from the contract? I will pay it if I have to, but as it is not even due until after the settlement date; I would like to confirm.
Continue Reading Who is responsible to pay special assessment?
Consider the situation where the Board of Directors has decided that they want to upgrade the appearance of an aging townhouse style condominium and they are talking about requiring all the unit owners to replace certain areas of vinyl siding with Hardiplank or similar high grade exterior product which is a much more expensive material. They are also going to require solid wood decorative shutters on some of the windows. The plan is to get bids, enter into a contract, and assess the owners because the association doesn’t have any money in reserve for this project. Some owners consider these improvements to be upgrades and say that the Board shouldn’t be able to require the owners to pay for upgrades as opposed to replacements. This article can also apply to some degree to townhouse communities which are not condos but where the association has the responsibility to maintain the exteriors of dwelling units and common facilities.
Continue Reading What to do when the Board wants (or needs) to upgrade the condo exterior
Yet another example of the risk involved in deciding not to make a requested accommodation in a prudent manner in light of the requirements of the Fair Housing Act. This often stems from board members and managers not knowing that "handicap" is a very broadly defined term under the Fair Housing Act. Handicap is defined as follows:
"Handicap" means, with respect to a person, (i) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of such person’s major life activities; (ii) a record of having such an impairment; or (iii) being regarded as having such an impairment. The term does not include current, illegal use of, or addiction to a controlled substance as defined in Virginia or federal law.
HERE ARE FIVE WAYS that boards can minimize collection-related legal fees and maximize collectability:
With the federally mandated switch from analog to digital signals the interest in satellite dishes has increased. A brief refresher on the Rules is in order. OTARD, the acronym for Over the Air Reception Devices prohibits community associations from enacting restrictions that unreasonably impair the installation, maintenance, or use of antennas used to receive video programming.
We have recently learned of a relatively new Federal law which gives some protection to tenants who reside in homes owned by folks who don’t pay the mortgage resulting in foreclosure UNTIL December 31, 2012. Below is a summary published on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) website:
