eAlerts

The risk of racial, religious, and disability discrimination claims likely are at the forefront of most community association boards and their managers. This week, we dig into another burgeoning area on the discrimination front — discrimination against families with children. On Aug. 29, 2019, for example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)…

Little has a more direct impact on an association’s bottom line than the owner’s payment of assessments. Yet, when owners fall behind on their dues, many boards of directors fail to tackle it head on. Their inconsistent responses — or lack of response altogether — can have significant financial implications. You can help them avoid…

A lot of people have a love-hate relationship with Airbnb and other short-term rental arrangements — and the same is true for community associations. Some want to bar the rentals entirely, while others want to allow them but struggle with regulation. This week’s article outlines the different approaches popping up across the country. As in…

Your clients no doubt know that they may need to reasonably accommodate various protected classes, but it may not occur to them that their efforts to empower one group could result in discrimination claims from another. A New Jersey condo association learned this lesson the hard way. The association has a large Orthodox Jewish population.…

Who doesn’t love dogs? When they’re barking all day, defecating in common areas, or worse — lots of people. This week’s article provides community association boards and their managers some valuable guidance for handling dog-related issues. Dogs can get the neighbors’ dander up in numerous ways. “The handling of dog waste is probably the number-one…

Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, wildfires, and thunderstorms, hail storms, and other kinds of freak storms — no community association is immune to disasters these days. Most boards of directors recognize this, but they may find the very idea of disaster planning and response intimidating. This week’s article explains how managers can help their boards reduce the…

You’ve probably seen it before — an owner adds some type of restrictive endorsement in the memo portion of a check in hopes of pulling a fast one. This week’s article explains how a condo association in Ohio has now spent years in court as a result of such an endorsement. The case provides some…

Maybe your boards like cumulative voting because it strikes them as fair. Perhaps they haven’t even thought about it and just continue the practice because “we always have.” Or maybe they’re thinking about adopting it now. If any of your clients are in one of these scenarios, they need to know the full picture about…

The so-called Internet of Things (IoT) continues to smash barriers in how people experience all aspects of life. This week, we explain why the proliferation of smart devices means those community association managers who aren’t on board risk falling behind and losing customers. The odds are good that some of your owners already are using…

Facebook groups can make it quick and easy for community association boards and their managers to foster communication with and among owners. Like so many other aspects of association management, though, it comes with some risks. This week, we explore some of the biggest risks and explain how to avoid them. 1. Failing to seize…