Your clients may have the legal right to foreclose on a delinquent owner’s property, but that doesn’t mean they should — especially if the sale price is disproportionately low. That approach could backfire, with the sale overturned by the courts. A recent ruling from the South Carolina Supreme Court (Winrose Homeowners’ Ass’n v. Hale) drives…

Governing documents typically give community associations the right to foreclose on delinquent owners at some point. That right, however, doesn’t necessarily entitle an association to sell foreclosed property at whatever price it wants. A recent court case (Winrose Homeowners’ Ass’n v. Hale) drives this point home. A state Supreme Court found that the sale price…

When it comes to installing cameras in common areas, your clients may have any number of motivations. They could be driven by an uptick in area crime, pressure to crack down on rule violators, or just the desire for a greater sense of security, among other reasons. Cameras may be more affordable and less obtrusive…

Leaps in technology have made it easier and less expensive to conduct surveillance, prompting more and more community associations to consider installing cameras in their common areas to combat problems like crime and rules violations. But cameras might not turn out to be the simple solution they expect. In fact, they could create problems of…

The idea of DNA testing to get to the bottom, so to speak, of dog droppings left around a community struck many as absurd when it first came on the scene. The practice remains far from widespread, but more associations’ boards are giving it a second look as they and their managers struggle to cope…

Community association managers carry a lot of risks, and, contrary to popular belief, they’re not all covered by their clients’ insurance policies. If you’re counting on those policies for protection, you could be left on the hook for defense and liability costs. “Many managers mistakenly believe they have adequately shifted all their risk to clients,”…

There’s a new threat — or opportunity, depending on your perspective — to community associations, and it seems most associations aren’t ready for it. Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are being pushed by advocates for affordable housing, the elderly, the environment, and, perhaps most critically, legislators. Are your clients ready? “It’s the wave of the future,”…

Community association boards of directors often rely heavily on their managers to help them obtain insurance coverage for the association and the board. But what about the managers themselves? According to insurance professionals, many managers have insufficient protection, whether because of misunderstandings about their coverage under association policies or other reasons. “Many managers mistakenly believe…

Architectural review committees play an important role for associations that strive to achieve consistent and pleasing aesthetics in their communities. But, as the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility — and the irresponsible use of that power by an architectural committee can prove costly for its association. As a recent case out of…

In the January 2020 issue of Community Management Association Insider, we talked to two property management professionals with decades of experience about how the numerous codes of conduct for association managers play out in the real world. They provided valuable insights on why ethics are so important in management and explored the first “bucket” of…