HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - October 5, 2012
Published: Fri, 10/05/12
=================================================================
Can You Ban Abusive Owners from HOA Meetings?
=================================================================
In this week's tip, we answer a reader's question about whether
the board can amend its governing documents to restrict an
abusive owner's access to meetings.
If it's any consolation to our reader, this isn't a unique
problem. "This really isn't a community association issue,"
asserts Brad van Rooyen, a partner at Home Encounter, a Tampa,
Fla., company that manages 15 community associations totaling
about 3,000 owners. "It's happening in schools,
workplaces--everywhere."
But it does happen in community associations. "There was a case
in Massachusetts in which a court found an owner guilty of doing
a number of bad things," says Robert Galvin, a partner at Davis,
Malm & D'Agostine PC in Boston who specializes in representing
condos and co-ops. "The owner was making obscene signs at board
members, putting dog feces in bags and leaving the bags in front
of their units-really outrageous things. The owner claimed a
constitutional right to express himself. The court said he could
do things like put notes up in the laundry room, but the rest of
the stuff wasn't right. The case shows how difficult these
issues can be."
Our experts say our reader can include wording in the governing
documents to try to curb this type of behavior. However, because
state laws differ and this is somewhat uncharted legal territory,
it's not clear how bad the owner's actions have to be before a
meeting ban enforced through the governing documents will be
effective.
The process starts with your governing documents. "The board
should really look at defining what's harassing behavior for the
community," says van Rooyen. "From there, the board should work
on a resolution or amendment to the governing documents that
members and residents shouldn't engage in abusive or harassing
behavior. It could just be a standard, boilerplate statement.
But the board should at least add it to the documents."
That's a start, but it's best to be even more specific. Find out
what to cover, and how to approach an abusive owner to try to
talk out the problem, in our new article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/764.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
=================================================================
Free Group Membership Upgrade
HOAleader.com members can now get a free upgrade to group
membership.
With a group membership, the rest of your HOA or condo board--up
to 9 additional members--will get their own member accounts.
It's a fantastic value.
Make your job easier. Help the rest of your board get up to
speed on HOA management best practices by adding them to your
HOAleader.com membership today for no cost.
Already a member? Create complimentary accounts for the other
members of your HOA board now:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/main.cfm
Not a member yet? Sign up now with our low individual rates and
then add your fellow board members for no additional cost:
http://www.hoaleader.com/details.cfm
=================================================================
Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
================================================================
How Far Does an HOA President's Power Extend? Discussion Forum Follow-Up
Can a president sign a landscape contract without the board's approval? And
did the president of this reader's HOA have a conflict of interest here? Our
experts provide answers.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
Small HOA, Big Problem: Too Much Inclusion?
The good thing about some small associations is that they allow all owners to
get involved in decision making. The bad thing? They allow all owners to get
involved in decision making. In this week's tip, we weigh the pros and cons of
small-HOA boards over-sharing with owners.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
Small-HOA Challenges: The Pros and Cons of Getting Everybody's Input
One common problem at small condo and homeowners associations is that it
takes seemingly forever to make decision because many small-association
boards solicit input from all owners on major decisions--even if their
governing documents don't require them to. Here we discuss the benefits and
drawbacks of that practice.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
Can't Fill That Open HOA Board Seat? Try These Suggestions
In this week's tip, we give you two suggestions for coping when you can't get
anybody to run for an open board seat.
Click here to read full article:
================================================================
What Happens When Nobody Runs for the HOA Board?
An HOAleader.com reader wants to know what happens when nobody runs for any
open board seats. Here our experts give the lowdown.
Click here to read full article:
=================================================================
Get your own copy!
Subscribe to the HOAleader.com Tip of the Week at:
http://www.hoaleader.com/public/department49.cfm
=================================================================
Please feel free to forward the *entire text* of this email to
others.
Copyright 2012, Plain-English Media, LLC
(866) 641-4548
http://www.hoaleader.com