HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 1, 2021
Published: Fri, 01/01/21
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How Not to Dismiss Your Condo/HOA Owners' Concerns
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In this week's tip, we raise a warning about dismissing owners' concerns because you've heard them all before.
We recently got a letter with an interesting twist on our usual approach. A reader wrote, "Any help for those of us homeowners who have issues with the indiscretions of that governing body... such as not following the existing rules?"
What can you do to allow residents to provide constructive feedback on your performance—and to actually hear your owners' feedback without getting defensive or dismissing it?
Our experts have heard this lament too often. "I think one of the stories we hear time and time again is the untouchable power that some get from serving on the board," reports Jennifer Horan, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla., office of Becker & Poliakoff, who has represented condos and HOAs for more than 15 years. "We as a firm don't represent individual owners. But we do get a lot of calls looking for attorneys on issues like this, where the board isn't noticing meetings or people catch them discussing association business without posting notice.
"I think it's also the number-one thing we hear whenever an association is taking action against an owner, whether it's for architectural rules or things like that," she adds. "People say, 'So and so was allowed to do this; why am I not?' And so and so is a board member."
You know this, but we'll say it for the record anyway: "Though they're the governing body, board members aren't subject to different rules than homeowners," says Elina Gilbert, a shareholder at Altitude Community Law in Lakewood, Colo., who has specialized in community association law for 20 years.
That's why it's so important for board members to actively listen. "Board members have to be told that it's important for them to listen to what's being said regardless of who's saying it," says Joan Lewis-Heard, a senior associate at SwedelsonGottlieb in Los Angeles, who at any given time represents hundreds of condos and HOAs throughout California.
She's got a great tip for making sure you're truly hearing what's being said. Read it, and get three more tips on how to hear your members, in our new article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4255.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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Reader Pushes Back: What Happened to Condo/HOA Neighborliness?
In October, our experts advised a board member not to step in and have a talk with a bully who was parking in his elderly neighbor's driveway. We heard from a reader who disagrees: "I agree that the board--and the entire association as a whole--should stay out of police business or anything that should be police business. But I'm not 'just a board member.' I'm also a neighbor."
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Reader-Pushes-Back-What-Happened-CondoHOA-Neighborliness.cfm
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Does a Condo/HOA Board President Vote on Issues Before the Board?
This question never goes away. Here, our experts explain whether a condo board president or chair should vote in every matter before the board or refrain from voting unless there's a tie.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Does-CondoHOA-Board-President-Vote-on-Issues-Before-Board.cfm
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What to Know About Spouses Running for Your Condo/HOA Board
An HOAleader.com reader asks: "We have a husband running for president and his wife running for vice president. There are no state rules in Alabama that I know, and there's nothing in our bylaws. Anyone else have this happen?"
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/What-Know-About-Spouses-Running-for-Your-Condo-HOA-Board.cfm
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COVID Vaccines Are on the Way: Can Your Association Require Them?
Though COVID-19 vaccines have just started to arrive in the United States and won't be widely available for some time, the most vulnerable Americans and health care workers are beginning to receive them. Your board members, like many other business leaders, are probably now wondering whether your condo or HOA association can, and should, require anybody to be vaccinated, whether that's your residents, guests to your facilities, or service providers.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/COVID-Vaccines-Are-on-Way-Can-Your-Association-Require-Them.cfm
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Political Protests and Rallies Won't End; Can Your HOA Control Them?
Perhaps you've seen the photos of the St. Louis couple outside their home in a gated community pointing guns at protesters? Whether the couple was legally entitled to take the actions they did that day isn't the topic of this article. Instead, we look at what you can do—if anything—if your community becomes enveloped in a public protest.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/Political-Protests-Rallies-Wont-End-Can-Your-HOA-Control-Them.cfm
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