eAlerts

Age-restricted communities have become a real force in the housing market, providing a great alternative for elderly people who want to stay active and remain in their homes rather than move into nursing homes or assisted living facilities as past generations often did. But they’ve also presented challenges for their associations—members who are “aging in place” at such communities are more likely to develop medical problems or issues that are an inevitable part of getting older.

Q: An elevator repair person injured himself while working on one of the elevators in the common area of the condo building I manage. He’s threatening to sue our board of managers, as well as the company that previously owned the building before it was recorded as a condominium, and 200 individual unit owners. What are some factors that could determine which defendant is held liable for the accident?

A recent HOA ruling is putting voters on a level playing field. A San Diego Superior Court ruling has put things in perspective for a California community association, ruling in favor of the association by confirming that the board’s bylaws and covenants, conditions, restrictions, and reservations must be followed for current and future HOA elections.

Unfortunately, community associations—regardless of how well they are run—can fall prey to embezzlement or purposeful misuse of funds or resources. Association managers and board members should be aware of common ways that fraud is perpetrated and how to prevent—or in the worst case scenario, deal with—this white-collar crime, which has the potential to happen on two levels: the management company or the board.

If you’ve noticed that your management staff employees’ productivity has gone down while their online activity unrelated to work has gone up, it’s probably related. And you need to get the problem under control as soon as possible. Take a two-step approach by first holding a meeting with staff members explaining what you’ve noticed and that you feel there is a connection between personal online activities and decreased productivity.

It’s not uncommon for a member who hasn’t paid assessments or other fees to claim that he's withholding funds because of a perceived problem. But the good news for associations is that the obligation to pay assessments isn’t absolved because of alleged bad behavior by the association or management company. In a recent Washington case, a trial court ruled—and an appeals court agreed—that allegedly fraudulent condo sales didn't excuse assessment nonpayment.

Meeting by conference call is different from meeting in person, so when you must conduct association business that way, you need to think about certain practical issues before going forward. Use the following four tips when you hold board meetings by conference call. Also, ask your association’s attorney whether your state law requires your association to pass a bylaw amendment allowing board meetings to be held by conference call.

Hiring and retaining good employees—who are essential to effective management—can be hard. Some unqualified applicants might want the job simply because they need a salary. If you already have conscientious management team members, use them as a resource by implementing an employee referral program that pays them for referring job candidates whom you hire.

When enforcing your community association’s house rules, you’ve probably heard members claim they weren’t aware that they were in violation because they never received a copy of the house rules in the first place. This could lead to a sticky situation if a member’s violation has damaged common areas or other members’ units, but the member claims that he’s not liable because, without a copy of the house rules, he had no way of knowing that his behavior was prohibited.

Record keeping is an essential part of running an association. Not only does the law require associations to keep certain types of records for specified periods of time, but records also can prove that the association acted as it was required to in certain situation, and help you keep track of things like association spending, complaints and requests by members, and board decisions.