Community Association Governance

If you and your clients have become hesitant to deny any request for an accommodation, a federal district court has just sent a message that denials made after a thoughtful and careful process may get more support than you’d have expected. The court sided with an association that denied an owner’s request for a second driveway as…

A grand jury recently released a report on the Surfside condo collapse. What do the report's recommendations mean for managers? The report doesn’t specifically refer to managers, but they would certainly feel the effects of any enacted recommendations. “I’d expect that if some of these recommendations are adopted, the burden will end up falling on…

Many associations are taking a second look at their insurance coverage these days. That makes this a prime time to remind them that omitting potential legal claims or other so-called “material” information can come back to bite them. A California HOA learned this lesson the hard way association when a court found it concealed important…

In a previous article, we dove into the upswing in condo deconversions in some parts of the country, with multi-unit buildings that were converted from apartments years ago reverting back to rental units. The Illinois Court of Appeals recently issued an important ruling addressing owners’ ability to challenge such moves. “The ruling is good for…

Board member burnout isn’t new, but recent events also have members concerned about their potential liability, only compounding the effect on board retention. “It’s just been a really tough time for boards, and it already wasn’t a glorified position,” says Jennifer Biletnikoff, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla., office of Becker & Poliakoff. “I have…

We’ve covered several cases over the past couple of years where state courts found that an association’s residential use restriction prohibited short-term rentals. But now the South Dakota Supreme Court has held otherwise. That court concluded that the definition of the term “residential purpose” includes short-term rentals (Wilson v. Maynard). “This is a different interpretation…

In the first part of our two-part article on the Miami-Dade County grand jury report on the Surfside condo collapse, we examined some of the report’s most noteworthy recommendations and the implications for condo association boards. Now we take a look at what those recommendations might mean for managers and how the recommendations are likely…

In a previous article, we dove into the upswing in condo deconversions in some parts of the country, with multi-unit buildings that were converted from apartments years ago reverting back to rental units. The Illinois Court of Appeals recently issued an important ruling addressing owners’ ability to challenge such moves (Glazer v. The Private Residences…

Board member burnout isn’t new, but recent events also have members concerned about their potential liability, only compounding the effect on board retention. “It’s just been a really tough time for boards, and it already wasn’t a glorified position,” says Jennifer Biletnikoff, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla., office of Becker & Poliakoff. “I have…

Various parts of the country are seeing an uptick in condo deconversions, with multi-unit buildings that were converted from apartments years ago reverting back to that status. Owners may have dollar signs in their eyes and dreams of avoiding the costs of long deferred maintenance or modern upgrades, but they need to have the full…