HOA Is Split on How to Proceed After Past Mistakes
HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - December 15, 2023
In this week's tip, we address an HOAleader.com reader's question. It's complicated and worth a full review. But to make a long story short, our reader says that, for 40 years, their HOA has allowed owners to vote on pretty much everything. It has also recorded some of those
owner votes at their local courthouse.
They realized they weren't doing things quite correctly in terms of HOA governance, and for six years, the community has been split on how to proceed.
Honestly, our experts aren't entirely sure what's going on and would like more information. "This is something that's too complicated for a short response," says David C. Swedelson, the principal at Swedelson & Gottlieb, a law firm that represents associations throughout California.
"And there are more facts I'd need to know.
"But it sounds like the problem is that, for 40 years, a homeowner could stop the board from doing something if the board didn't accede to the vote of the owners, even though the CC&Rs didn't
require that," says Swedelson. "This is uncharted.
"In California, generally almost always, once the homeowners vote for the board, the board makes all the important decisions, except for assessment increases, who gets on the board, and
amending the governing documents."
Marshal Granor, CCAL, managing partner at Granor & Granor PC in Horsham, Pa., who's not only a community association lawyer but also the former owner of a community association management company,
would also like more detail.
"Yikes!" he says. "Why would someone record a rule? And someone wants to undo a 1983 rule because it was adopted ‘wrong'? Why is getting more approval than necessary ‘wrong'?