Featured Articles

By Carolyn Zezima

By Andrea Brescia

With almost 800,000 bankruptcy filings in 2016 alone, chances are that someone living in your community will declare bankruptcy at some point. And the likelihood grows if your association is in the South, where the highest numbers of bankruptcies are recorded. With one filing, the member living in your community goes by the new name of “debtor” on official documents. And just like that, the way you deal with this member must shift dramatically.

At first glance, an association’s structure and management seem straightforward. A planned community or condominium building typically has a set of governing documents, a board of directors who make sure that the rules and regulations in those documents are followed, and a manager who, with her staff, oversees maintenance, compliance, and organizational aspects of the community. But that’s not always the structure. Some communities have more than one association that oversees them, or some portions of a community but not others might have two associations.

Finances are a huge consideration for community association boards and managers. It takes money—and sometimes lots of it—to keep a community or condominium building up to high standards and running smoothly. If you manage an association or serve on your association’s board of directors, you already know that almost everything you do depends to some degree on whether you have a budget that you can work with realistically.

The nature of condominium buildings—that is, units stacked on each other—means that occasionally an accident in one condo will affect the adjacent unit. Flooding is a common cause of damage to multiple units, and it can happen from appliances like dishwashers and washing machines that leak. So when an adjacent unit is affected by a leak in the original unit, who is responsible for fixing the damage? Does the association have a duty to get involved?

No matter what industry you work in, finding and hiring good employees is difficult. While the economy has recovered, there are still many jobseekers who apply for jobs that they are unqualified for, just because they need employment. And a candidate who seemed like a good choice for your community might end up not having the experience or attitude that’s necessary to help manage an association.

Much of the national conversation and controversy regarding the 2016 presidential election has centered on the integrity of the voting process. Speculation that voting results can be influenced by hacking has been in the media. And whether high-tech interference with the voting process is a reality or an unfounded fear, it’s still worth considering. So is it a good idea to use technology for board elections at your community? Most likely, issues like hacking aren’t even on a community association manager’s radar, but making the community run better certainly is.

Association living has many perks, and it seems that around every corner there is a new development with condos, townhouses, or freestanding homes. But after the excitement of a new planned community or condominium building dies down, and you and your property management company have been hired to manage the association, members could begin to find construction defects. Because construction defect claims can be complex, time consuming, and expensive, they are one of the most difficult issues that you’ll face.

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.

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.