It seems as if drones—unmanned aerial vehicles without a human pilot aboard—have been increasingly in the news for their use by the military, commercial businesses, and private recreational users. The use of drones in combat has long been talked about, the retail giant Amazon has launched a new service that uses drones to deliver packages, and drones are common at parks and open spaces. 

Q: My association has really embraced technology for day-to-day management. We have a large membership and we’ve found that everything from organizational software to a drone for investigating maintenance concerns has streamlined community management. We’d like to extend this technology initiative by implementing electronic voting. What practical aspects should we take into consideration and what are the pros, cons, and ways to avoid any pitfalls?

Facts: The water pipe serving an owner’s condominium unit was constructed in such a way that it ran through a portion of the ceiling of an adjacent unit prior to entering the owner’s unit. The adjacent unit underwent foreclosure. Subsequently, the utilities in the foreclosed unit were disconnected. Over the course of two years, the portion of the water pipe running through the foreclosed unit froze, broke, and caused damages. The unit owner had the subject water pipe and the damages repaired.

No matter how large or small the community association you manage is, you’ll need to employ at least a few staff members. While they should receive training that’s specific to their job, there’s one type of training that’s necessary for everyone: how to abide by the Fair Housing Act (FHA). It’s easy to forget that maintenance workers, who fulfill many of their job duties without coming into contact with the community’s members, will sooner or later have interactions with home or condo owners.

A pair of state senators expressed their support for residents of a Florida homeowners association at a recent town hall meeting primarily concerned with gaining control of their community. Association homeowners from a community that includes about 27,000 homes are fighting legal battles with the association and with the community’s developer over the number of votes the developer would be able to cast in elections. Meanwhile, the developer sued the association in Circuit Court to get the maximum number of votes for undeveloped tracts.

Q: I manage a condominium building that was previously owned before the current association took it over. A handicapped unit owner claims that some elements of the building—namely, some doors—are difficult, but not impossible, for him to use as a result of his disability. He is suing the association under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and asking that the association spend what would be a considerable amount of time and money redoing the design and construction of the building to accommodate him.

No matter how large or small the community association you manage is, you’ll need to employ at least a few staff members. While they should receive training that’s specific to their job, there’s one type of training that’s necessary for everyone: how to abide by the Fair Housing Act (FHA). It’s easy to forget that maintenance workers, who fulfill many of their job duties without coming into contact with the community’s members, will sooner or later have interactions with home or condo owners.

Privacy issues have always been taken into consideration when it comes to issues like medical information, but it might not occur to community members that seemingly more casual items are protected from general knowledge. So community members who want to inspect the records of their association—for a variety of reasons, some legitimate and some improper—might not realize that these records aren’t automatically free game.

A pair of state senators expressed their support for residents of a Florida homeowners association at a recent town hall meeting primarily concerned with gaining control of their community.

Homeowners in an Alabama community claim they've been paying hundreds of dollars every year but have no idea where the money is going because there are no meetings, no detailed budgets, and no communication from their association. They are blaming the developer.

The head executive of the developer and his daughter sit on the board of directors, which comports with laws governing associations in that area; however, homeowners haven’t spoken with him in a decade. Meanwhile, the board collects about $60,000 in dues annually.