eAlerts

Evolving communities must deal with various issues—such as an aging membership, wear and tear on buildings and amenities, changes to the law, and the need to adapt to new technology—that can make managing and living in the community easier, to name just a few. The governing documents that initially served your association well may not work anymore to keep the community operating efficiently or make members happy to live in it.

Litigation with a disgruntled member can set your association back financially. Even if it wins a lawsuit and is awarded attorney’s fees, the time and effort it has had to expend probably took the focus off helping the community as a whole. Many member-association lawsuits stem from differing interpretations of the bylaws, rules, and regulations that govern the community. For example, a member could argue that improvements he or she made to a unit are permitted under the governing documents.

No matter how well you and the board of directors keep your community operating, you still run the risk of defending the association from a lawsuit, even if it’s a frivolous one brought by a disgruntled member. Legal fees are expensive, no matter how small the matter is, and they can break your association’s budget if you’re not careful. Consider the following cost-cutting strategies:

During your association management career, you’ll inevitably lose employees, which can be a nightmare if you’re already stretched to the limit for time or working with a tight budget that will make the hiring process difficult. And unless an employee has been vocal about dissatisfaction with her job, an exit interview is often the first time a manager will find out that something is wrong. By interviewing employees in the days before they leave, you can learn their reasons for leaving and even why they stayed as long as they did.

If a member violates a rule, you might be tempted to deem him a “member not in good standing,” and use that status to deny him certain privileges in the hopes that he’ll rectify the situation. But don't make the mistake of invoking good standing status without checking association rules. That's because, in order to do this, the association’s rules must provide for using good standing as a basis for revoking privileges.

It's important for association boards to address members’ requests under the Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) as soon as reasonably possible. A board that delays its response could face major consequences, including going to court to defend its actions.

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.

Some association members buy their homes with the plan to rent them to tenants. This is especially typical in beach areas or near ski mountains or nature attractions, where members can get top dollar during the "high season." But temporary tenants in the community can cause problems; they might not care about being a nuisance to permanent residents they’ll never see again. Hopefully, your association has set out parameters for rentals in its governing documents.

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.