HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - February 24, 2012
Published: Fri, 02/17/12
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How--and When--to Respond to Angry Letters from HOA Owners
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In this week's tip, we offer help with your correspondence.
By that, we mean we provide guidance on when to respond
to owners' letters, and when your board should hold fire.
You might be surprised to find that your governing
documents address this issue. "The standard answer is
that you do whatever your governing documents say
you do," explains Justin D. Park, an attorney at Romero
Park & Wiggins PS in Bellevue, Wash., who advises
homeowners associations. "I've seen ones that talk about
communications with the board, and they have specific
terms for dealing with those communications."
Also be aware of state laws. "In Florida, condo
associations are basically required to respond if an
owner sends an inquiry by certified mail," explains
Lisa A. Magill, a shareholder and association attorney
at Becker & Poliakoff PA in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
If you get no guidance from your governing documents
or state law, what to do? Actually, that requires some
board thought. "This speaks to larger issue," says
Debra A. Warren, principal of Cinnabar Consulting in
San Rafael, Calif., which provides training and employee
development services to community association management
firms and training and strategic planning sessions for
association board members. "What's the association's
policy for conflict resolution? You not only want to
provide information to owners, but you also want to
protect the corporation from undue lawsuits, small-claims
procedures, and situations where you have to get attorneys
involved and increase your legal expenses. Focus on what
you need to do to resolve conflict in ways that are the
least costly and that take as few resources as possible.
"More important," adds Warren, "consider the procedures
you're going to go through to minimize conflict with
your owners. In some states, there are requirements for
a meet-and-confer. When that's not required by law, your
board can still adopt the process. Usually the kinds of
letters that come in that are troublesome or create a
'what do we do?' scenario occur when people feel they're
not being heard. They're being told to come to a meeting
or to put their concerns in writing. Sometimes it's
important to have them hear what their elected board
member has to say, and then the issue can be over."
Once you've considered big-picture issues, you can then
create everyday policies for addressing letters. Find out
who should send letters and the best way to respond to
angry missives in our new article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/685.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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