When the weather is snowy or icy, don’t send an employee up to the roof to clear gutters, inspect for leaks, or remove snow. The employee could injure himself. By winter, it’s too late to do your inspections and gutter clearing, but you’ll still need to remove any snow that accumulates. To do this, have employees stay on the ground and use a telescopic extension pole to eliminate the buildup.

When you clean up snow and ice, be sure to remove all of it and not take halfway measures—like only throwing down salt, which can leave common areas slippery. After the cleanup, designate an employee to check the sidewalks, steps, driveway, and parking lots to make sure they’re clear. Pay particular attention to steps because this is the place where members are most likely to injure themselves. If a member falls on leftover ice, you could end up being sued.

Facts: A condo owner purchased his unit for use as a vacation property and as a rental unit during those periods when he was at his permanent home in another state. According to the owner, his unit suffered damage during renovations performed by contractors working under the condominium association’s direction. Specifically, the owner asserted that substantial renovations to the exterior of the buildings of the units, including his unit, had to be made due to the association’s failure to properly maintain the common areas of the units.

Facts: Two owners purchased an unimproved lot in a planned residential community. The recorded Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&Rs) of the association applied to all properties located within it. Several years later, the association filed a complaint alleging that the owners had breached the CC&Rs when developing their lot, but the owners denied any breach. The association asked the district court for a judgment in its favor, which was granted.

An above-ground pool that two Pittsburgh-area community members built on their property is making waves after the association filed a lawsuit, alleging that the pool violates the Unity neighborhood development’s regulations and should be removed.

Last month, the Insider showed you the importance of using a workplace involvement program to engage employees in both their work and the association. However, regardless of the steps that you take to create a pleasant work environment and motivate your employees, eventually, you’ll have to deal with an employee who doesn’t perform well and must be let go.

In our last issue, the Insider stressed the importance of following a year-round maintenance plan and suggested that you put roofing at the top of your list of tasks to prioritize. If your association is responsible for the maintenance of roofs in the community, it’s particularly important to have them inspected before winter. After all, most roof damage occurs during winter. Harsh weather conditions—such as heavy rain and snow, strong winds, and extreme temperatures—can cause substantial damage to a building’s roof.

If your community allows only certain kinds of pets, write a bylaw that states which types of animals are welcome, and say that “all other types”  of animals are forbidden. If you try to specify the animals that aren’t allowed, you’re bound to leave something out. Worse, if you allow pets and think that means you don’t have to write a pet bylaw at all, you could be in a for a big surprise. Let’s say you have no pet policy and state law doesn’t prohibit people from owning exotic cats, like cougars.

Don’t overlook the requirements of your declaration and bylaws when you set your annual budget. If you do, you might not be able to enforce the assessments you charge your members. Example: Your association sues a member to collect unpaid assessments. The member says that the declaration requires the board to adopt the association’s budget and to give each member 14 days’ advance notice of the meeting at which the budget is going to be discussed.

It can be difficult for the person who actually receives members’ checks to know which are from delinquent members and must, therefore, be inspected more closely. This is even more problematic for associations whose members send their payments directly to a lockbox. One way to resolve this is to flag the account. This means that the association makes a notation on delinquent members’ accounts that only checks for the full amount due should be cashed and that all other checks should be turned over to you.