Featured Articles

Associations, whether large or small, depend heavily on money to operate. Every aspect of keeping a community safe and running smoothly has a cost associated with it. Too often, associations make the news for negative financial reasons—fraud, bankruptcy, or other shortfalls that disrupt the community. However, an association that’s being run effectively combined with a strong local economy could have more money than expected. That’s great news for the association, but it creates the question of how that budgetary surplus should be used.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990, and the Fair Housing Act (FHA) was amended in 1988 to add protections for individuals with disabilities. But despite the length of time that these laws have been around, there’s still misinformation and confusion about how they apply to associations and their members, versus public spaces or private spaces that are accessible by members of the public. In general, the ADA applies to public spaces, and the Fair Housing Act applies to private spaces, such the interiors of members’ units.

Inevitably, in any homeowners association or condominium, there will be community-related conflicts. The bad news for associations when a dispute arises is that going to court can be extremely expensive, and the association might end up paying for litigation costs in the end. The good news when a homeowners association is asked to resolve conflicts is that there are ways to avoid costly legal battles: Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) can address issues that don’t truly require a trip to court.

Proper and timely maintenance of every feature in a planned community or condominium is key to keeping things running smoothly. But members will inevitably have a wide range of attitudes toward their own maintenance obligations. On one end of the spectrum will be members who understand that, depending on the governing documents, they have maintenance obligations that are not the responsibility of the association. On the other end, you’ll encounter members who either don’t understand their obligations or don’t take them seriously.

There’s always turnover for community association boards. A board member might move, retire, want to travel, or become too busy for some reason to fulfill her responsibilities. When a board member gives up her position, the association has the sometimes difficult task of replacing the outgoing member. There are certain qualities that some people have that make them more suitable for the role than others. Experience, of course, helps too. After all, the more a new board member knows, the more she’ll be able to contribute to the association in a meaningful way.

By Carolyn Zezima, Esq.

Buying a home in a community association is a serious investment, so many homeowners and members live in their units for an extended period of time. Although it sometimes seems like an on-site association manager is part of the community because she’s on the property continually, this is a job and, at some point, the manager or the management company will inevitably leave. The question that concerns owners and the board of directors at that point is whether the transition to a new manager and company will be smooth and productive.

By Andrea Brescia

As a community association manager, a large part of your time can be taken up with questions from directors and members that require a response. While you might want to provide as much helpful information as you can, be aware that this area can be fraught with risk for you and your management company. That’s because giving what you think of as a detailed and helpful response could be seen as “the practice of law” under certain circumstances, which could subject you to penalties.