Articles

Before you remove or cover up graffiti at your community, take color photographs of it. Your first instinct will naturally be to remove graffiti immediately so that it doesn't send the message that your community is in decline or give the vandals the recognition they want. But graffiti is a crime. And the police can use color photographs of graffiti to identify, track, and prosecute the graffiti artists responsible.

If you manage a community association for long enough, you’ll inevitably encounter disgruntled members. Some of these cases may not amount to anything if the member’s issue can be resolved or if you simply acknowledge the member’s complaint even if it’s meritless. After all, it’s not uncommon for association members to misplace frustration over other issues onto the association.

Keeping your community safe should be a priority for every association manager. Some communities have funds to spare for consulting fees from outside companies that will evaluate just how secure their properties are. But this can cost thousands of dollars and you may end up feeling pressured to buy expensive security equipment that you might not even need. Is there a way to get an objective assessment? Yes, if you’re open to asking local police to come to your community to assess its safety and give recommendations that will improve your current security strategy.

Q: There have been several incidents where cars have been speeding within the community I manage. It poses a real danger to members, especially because we have many children in the community who play in the common areas or on the front lawns of their homes. I’ve heard of other associations installing “traffic calmers” to stop cars from speeding. What exactly are traffic calmers and what should I know about them before installing them?

A couple will receive nearly $1.2 million to settle their lawsuit against a Molokai, Hawaii, condo association. The husband and wife claimed that they became targets for abuse after attempting to elect new board leaders for their condominium. Two insurance carriers for the association and its directors will pay the couple $1.175 million, as part of a recently approved settlement.

Facts: A homeowner purchased eight lots in a gated community. The lots were later re-platted into three lots. The association’s declaration wasn’t amended to reflect the re-platting, however. The owner’s property was still considered by the association to be made up of the eight lots into which it had originally been split.

Facts: The sale of any unit in a condo building triggered the condo board’s “right of first refusal” under the bylaws to purchase the unit before it was offered to an outside buyer. When the board learned that a member had entered into a contract with an outside buyer, it exercised its right.

It’s crucial for associations to comply with the Fair Housing Act (FHA). It not only makes living in the community easier for members with disabilities, but it also helps you avoid a lawsuit stemming from a member’s accusation that you haven’t accommodated their needs. Parking is an especially hot topic when it comes to reasonable requests for accommodation by members and their renters.

When a homeowner in your community makes a reasonable request for accommodation in order to modify their property, consider very carefully how you’ll handle your approval or denial of the request. In a recent Alabama case, a trial court determined that an association’s “conditioned approval” of a disabled owner’s new garage was actually a constructive denial of his reasonable request for an accommodation. 

Community Associations Institute (CAI) has established a chapter in New York City. The Big Apple chapter will represent condominiums, cooperatives, and homeowners associations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. Dozens of community association leaders in New York and neighboring states banded together to lay the groundwork for the Big Apple chapter, which will be “in organization” until it meets CAI certification requirements, a process that generally takes two to three years. CAI has certified more than 60 chapters.