When a Condo/HOA Board Member’s Presence at a Violation Hearing Could Backfire
HOAleader.com - Tip of the
Week - July 28, 2023
In this week’s tip, we answer a reader’s question about who can attend hearing committee meetings. In our reader’s case, the hearing committee is independent from the board, and the board can’t overrule the
committee’s actions. Our reader wants to know if board members can attend those hearings.
One of our Florida experts, Jennifer Biletnikoff, a shareholder in the Naples, Fla., office of Becker & Poliakoff, who has represented condos and
HOAs for more than 15 years, says this type of situation is one that might occur in Florida.
"Here those fining, compliance, or hearing committees can’t have board members or their relatives on the committee," she says. "That’s a statutory
requirement."
Could a board member attend those committee hearings in Florida then?
"At the hearing itself, the owner is given an opportunity to be heard," says Biletnikoff. "But the association also has a position. If the hearing is run efficiently, where both parties have the opportunity to be heard, I think it’s a good practice to have someone from the association there. Whether it’s a board member or the community association manager, they can either give the
association’s position on why the board imposed a fine in the first place or answer questions the committee poses.
"I’ve sat in on meetings where nobody like that was present, and the committee ended up rejecting the fine because they had
questions and didn’t get the answers they needed," she adds. "They wanted to know things like how long this problem had been going on and whether what the owner was saying was accurate."
There wouldn’t be an independent hearing and fining
committee in California, reports Stephen T. Brindle, a San Francisco-based senior associate at Swedelson & Gottlieb, a law firm that represents associations throughout California. "The communities I’ve worked with have a hearing committee because they don’t want to burden the board with every hearing they have to conduct," he explains.
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President