Articles

Operable smoke detectors and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors can go a long way toward saving lives in condominium communities. A fire in one unit can damage other units or endanger lives. And CO poisoning can be fatal. Unfortunately, sometimes members don’t maintain their detectors or may intentionally disable them. Smoke detectors have long been required by law, and currently 29 states have laws regarding CO detectors.

Ideally, your association’s board would act efficiently regarding every request, activity, and issue it’s faced with in the process of serving the best interest of the community you manage. Sometimes, this isn’t the case. Board members could be overwhelmed, disorganized, or—unfortunately—acting in their own interests instead of members’ interests, leading to disputes with members. There doesn’t need to be a sense of urgency for the board to make decisions immediately on all matters; some things can wait.

Managing an association can be challenging enough when members are the only parties who can engage in community business like voting, or exercise rights, such as inspecting books and records. Requests for architectural changes to units or homes can get sticky, and so can disputes between members. So imagine dealing with a nonmember who suddenly has a legal right to be involved in the association. You may ask how an outside person or entity can do this; after all, isn’t the point of the association that the community is private—operated and enjoyed by the board and members?

Facts: A buyer purchased two properties at foreclosure sales in communities maintained by an association. The association later demanded payment for any and all unpaid association assessments, including those that came due prior to the buyer’s ownership, under threat of a claims lien foreclosure. The buyer paid the past-due assessments for both properties by check, noting that it “paid under protest and with full reservation of all rights and remedies.”

Facts: Two condominium association members discovered physical damage to their unit. One of the two thermostats within the unit malfunctioned and failed to register a temperature beyond 55 degrees. This caused the heat to run constantly at a high temperature for approximately one month. The continuous heat resulted in cracks in the dry wall, damage to the ceilings and woodwork, and damage to the furniture and floors. The second thermostat, located upstairs, was damaged by the consistently high temperatures in the unit.

For many homeowners who buy in a planned community, the rules and requirements in the association’s CC&Rs and bylaws keep the neighborhood clean, well maintained, and aesthetically pleasing, so worrying about a neighbor’s unsightly modifications to his home shouldn’t even be on the radar.

It's easy to use interior landscaping to do more than just improve the aesthetic of your community’s common areas. Interior landscaping improves indoor air quality (IAQ) and can even lower your energy costs. Plants filter air by absorbing pollutants and they produce oxygen—which is especially helpful in sealed, energy-efficient buildings that have less exchange of fresh outdoor air for stale indoor air.

Summer is here and like many associations, yours might want to celebrate with and create goodwill among members. But before sponsoring an athletic event like a basketball game at your community, read your liability policy to see if athletic events are covered and speak to your insurance broker also. Why? Insurers often exclude injuries resulting from athletic events from an association’s liability coverage, which could leave the community open to liability for any injuries that occur during the game.

Last year proved to be an exciting year for a push to reform and revamp many association laws and policies. And advocacy for key association issues continues going strong. The major organization behind furthering an association-favorable agenda is the Community Associations Institute (CAI), with its Federal Legislative Action Committee (FedLAC) and Government Affairs Department. The FedLAC advocated on behalf of community associations and CAI members before the U.S. Congress, federal regulatory agencies, state legislatures, and the courts.

For many homeowners who buy in a planned community, the rules and requirements in the association’s CC&Rs and bylaws keep the neighborhood clean, well maintained, and aesthetically pleasing, so worrying about a neighbor’s unsightly modifications to his home shouldn’t even be on the radar. And that’s one of the main draws of association life: living in a beautiful community.