Articles

Safety hazards in the community you manage can result in, at best, minor accidents and, at worst, personal injury lawsuits. You and your staff should have a risk management strategy set up that covers all of the issues that could lead to liability for the association. The common areas in your community or condominium building are rife with risk—especially high-traffic common areas, which are used by not just members, but also visitors, and can get wear and tear or damage that could cause slips, trips, and falls.

Facts: A corporation owned several units in a condominium building governed by an association. After the corporation stopped paying assessments for its units, the association resorted to arbitration, in accordance with its bylaws. A representative of the corporation didn’t attend the arbitration meeting and didn’t contest the decision of the arbitrator in favor of the association. The arbitration award was confirmed by the court. Both after the award and the confirmation of the award, the corporation was sent notices by email and by certified mail.

Facts: Condominium unit owners owed several thousand dollars in unpaid assessments, including their share of the cost of a special assessment. The special assessment could be paid by unit owners in a lump sum or split into a several-year monthly payment plan. The unit owners had opted for the payment plan. The unit went into foreclosure and a board member bought it. Under the bylaws, outstanding amounts for unpaid assessments were transferable to new unit owners. The member refused to pay the monthly special assessment amounts. The association sued her.

Facts: The management company for a homeowners association sent a letter to a homeowner who was delinquent after failing to make several monthly payments to the association. The letter was a notice that the association, pursuant to its governing documents, held a lien on the homeowner’s property in the amount of the past-due payments. The notice was written on association letterhead, and had the association’s name printed above the signature line.

Associations and their management companies have the same overall goal: Keep the community running smoothly so homeowners enjoy living in it. That’s easier said than done, however. Fulfilling that goal involves numerous coordinated efforts between the manager and association. The first effort is negotiating a management contract that fits the needs of both sides, which means making decisions about what items each side wants to demand or is willing to concede.

In many parts of the country, winter is quickly approaching, and the cold and snowy season brings with it concerns that association managers should take seriously. The winter season creates liability in the form of slip-and-fall accidents and other personal injuries due to ice, snow, and freezing rain. It’s important to set up or renew contracts with snow removal companies and other winter services vendors, and to talk with your staff about winter-specific issues they should be on the lookout for.

A family’s purple playground set gained national attention when their homeowner’s association demanded that it be removed, going so far as threatening jail time for noncompliance, as we reported in last month’s issue (“Purple Playground Leaves Family, HOA Members Seeing Red”).

Facts: A homeowner owed $150 in past-due fees to the association. The association sent her a bill for over $1,000. It then pursued a homeowners’ association foreclosure sale. The homeowner sued the association and its management company for wrongful foreclosure, bid rigging, and unfair debt collection practices, among other claims. The association and the management company each asked the trial court to dismiss the claims.

Facts: After a fire due to clogged dryer vents damaged a member’s unit, the other members in a condominium building were required to provide proof, in the form of a receipt from a cleaning company, that their dryer vents and ductwork had been cleaned. A unit owner had documentation that she had complied with the requirement, but she didn’t submit the receipt to the association before the announced deadline.

Q: The association I manage defended itself against a homeowner’s claims and won. We just became aware that a relative of the same homeowner is attempting to sue us for some of the same claims. I thought that we couldn’t be sued twice for the same claims. Is that true?