HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - February 11, 2022
Published: Fri, 02/11/22
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HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - February 11, 2022
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We love taking our readers' real-life questions and offering solutions, and we're continuing that practice in this week's tip.
An HOAleader.com reader asks, essentially, what should be done about the HOA board president who refuses to step down even though he has admitted he's $30,000 behind on dues.
Our experts had various ways to express it, but they were universally appalled at this situation. "That's crazy," says Lisa Magill, of counsel based in Pompano Beach, Fla., Kaye, Bender & Rembaum. "Terrible."
Before we get to solutions, let's run through the most important challenges our reader's scenario poses for this board:
1. This president isn't qualified to serve. "In California, under the governing documents, he's disqualified," 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.
That would also be true in Wisconsin if the documents had such a provision. "In Wisconsin, this president couldn't serve if their documents said owners have to be current with their dues to get elected to the board," says Lydia J. Chartre, CCAL, a partner at Husch Blackwell in Milwaukee who represents 650 associations at any given time. "Many don't say that, and I've been advising them to add that language. Otherwise, those board members are deciding whom to send to collection, which is a nightmare. Why not avoid that situation?"
That's also true in Florida. "The board president should lead by example," says Magill. "And in Florida, the president would be ineligible for board service due to this enormous delinquency and, according to what the reader said, that the current service violates the governing documents."
2. The meeting at which the president was elected probably wasn't valid. "Number one, the association should call their lawyer and figure out how to do all this properly," says Andrea L. O'Toole, a community association lawyer for 16 years and the founding partner at O'Toole Rogers in Lafayette, Calif. "The reader's association probably didn't even hold their meeting properly. It sounds like notice didn't get sent properly."
3. The owners don't get to choose who's president. Another problem? "It sounds like the members weighed in on the vote for president, which would be improper," says O'Toole. "Members vote for directors, and the directors vote for the president. So there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how the election and officer appointment processes work."
We're just getting started. Check out our new article, https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4464.cfm, to find out five steps our experts say this board should be taking without a second to spare.
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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