Articles

The development of so-called live-work condominium buildings is picking up speed throughout the country in response to the proliferation of professionals who work from home. The condo hybrid creates a space that’s suited to work and residential needs. But the trend is not without its challenges: Some developers have experienced delays because building codes in most municipalities don't yet have provisions for these residential-commercial hybrids; the type of work the unit owner can engage in could also be subject to municipal oversight.

Facts: A condo owner and her neighbor had a disagreement. In retaliation, the neighbor “hid” a ceramic planter that belonged to the owner on a grassy, sloped area away from their units. The grassy area wasn’t intended for use by owners or their guests. While retrieving her planter the owner slipped and fell on the grassy slope, which was waterlogged from a rainstorm the night before. She broke her ankle. She sued the association and its management company.

Facts: A condominium board sued the owners of a condo to foreclose a lien issued for the nonpayment of common charges, and to recover the common charges and fees the owners allegedly owed. The owners counterclaimed, asserting that the board had no right to foreclose. The owners argued, among other things, that they already had overpaid common charges and that the board had “constructively evicted” them.

By Carol Johnson Perkins, Esq.

With the popularity of reality TV shows, hoarding is on everyone’s mind. Many of us collect or keep objects—perhaps more than we should—because they have sentimental value or we may “need them someday.” But compulsive hoarding is more than simply having too much clutter—it’s now recognized as a mental health disorder, under the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) adopted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) earlier this year.

Facts: A U.S. Air Force veteran lived in a Florida condominium unit for several years before getting a large dog in 2008. Although the homeowners association had a policy against keeping animals that weighed more than 25 pounds, the member agreed to take the dog from a coworker who couldn’t care for it anymore.

In August 2013, a Florida condominium association and its former management company agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a fair housing claim alleging that they enforced occupancy limits that discriminated against families with children.

Q: Like many associations, the association I manage performs a comprehensive annual audit. Is it okay to have a board member do it?

Community association managers today have to keep up with ever-changing technological, financial, legal, and management trends. But one thing largely stays the same: the language in many associations’ governing documents and other materials. Typically, this language hasn’t been updated in several decades, despite a drastic change in membership demographics. And that can create frustration among members whose cultural understanding of certain terms is at odds with the meaning the terms were originally supposed to convey.

When you hire outside contractors to make repairs in your community, how do you know they’ll finish when they say they will? The stakes are high. After all, delays cause not only financial problems, but also impact the quality of life of your members. For instance, a delay in repairs that involve a security gate or fence can create risks that end up being catastrophic. How can you prevent contractor delays? Get the right in your contract to penalize the contractor when work isn’t completed on time.

Facts: After purchasing undeveloped townhome lots, a residential property company refused to pay assessments to the association as required under the community’s restrictive covenants. The company asserted that the assessments for water and trash collection for its lots was arbitrary because the empty lots didn’t have houses yet that would require trash collection or water.