HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 2, 2015
Published: Fri, 01/02/15
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HOA Boards: Here are Five Great New Year’s Resolutions for 2015
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While you’re resolving to improve your personal life, don’t forget to
improve your HOA board operations, too. In this week’s tip, we get you
started with two of five things boards should do and stop doing.
1. Do what your documents tell you to do. “The first thing boards should stop
doing is ignoring their governing documents,” asserts Robert Galvin, a
partner at Davis, Malm & D'Agostine PC in Boston who specializes in
representing condos and co-ops. “I find a lot of boards take action or fail to
take action because they haven’t read or understood their governing
documents. That’s pretty common.”
Likewise, bone up on board operations, even if you’re not required to. “In
Florida, new board members are required to take a course showing they’re
certified and that they’ve read their governing documents,” says Joshua
Krut, a partner at Weiss Serota Helfman Cole Bierman & Popok, a law firm with
offices in Ft. Lauderdale and Coral Gables, Fla., that represents about 250
associations. “That’s a good way to learn the basics.”
2. Stop signing contracts without asking your lawyer to take a peek. Surely,
you’ve seen our experts suggest you have lawyers review contracts before
you sign on the dotted line. But they raise the issue again because it keeps
happening.
“Before you enter into contracts, particularly if they involve a lot of
money, like something over $10,000, definitely have an attorney review
them,” advises Melissa Garcia, a partner at Hindman Sanchez, a law firm in
Arvada, Colo., with about 1,600 association clients. “We’ve seen a number
of huge projects, and the board members may even know and have experience
with the vendor, in which the board members evidently think, ‘We don’t need
this contract reviewed.’ Usually, it’s a one- or two-page contract, and
it’s completely slanted in favor of the contractor. Then boards get into
legal battles.
“If you’re making decisions that involve a lot of money or could be hotly
debated by your community, you need to make informed decisions,” contends
Garcia. “And those require expertise, whether that’s attorney review or
the involvement of another type of expert.”
Check out three more resolutions your board should adopt this year in our new
article: http://www.hoaleader.com/members/1113.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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It's a New Year! Five Things HOA Boards Should Resolve to Do -- and Stop Doing
Our experts suggest you turn over a new leaf in 2015. Here are five things they
say board members should be doing but often don't, along with things board
members do but shouldn't.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Its-New-Year-Five-Things-HOA-Boards-Should-Resolve-Do--Stop-Doing.cfm
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Emergency Situation: Only One HOA Board Member Remains
In this week's tip, we deliver a rapid response to a reader who's the last
person standing on an association board. What can a lonely board member do to
get others to serve--and fast?
The easiest thing--and we use that term advisedly--is for our sole
remaining board member to appoint a fellow board member, and then for the two
of them to appoint another, and so on. (Of course, first he has to convince
them to serve, but we're assuming he's got some sympathetic neighbors who
are willing to step up.)
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Emergency-Situation-Only-One-HOA-Board-Member-Remains.cfm
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Solo Board Member Needs Immediate Help: Can This Situation be Fixed?
An HOAleader.com reader writes, "Our association has struggled for years
to get members to volunteer for the board or for that matter anything else. We
began one year ago with the five members that are required for the board.
Since that time, one by one they have either quit, moved, or given up and
walked away disgusted with the amount of work that's needed and the abuse and
disrespect of the members of the community.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Solo-Board-Member-Needs-Immediate-Help-Can-This-Situation-be-Fixed.cfm
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Want to Report HOA Delinquencies to Credit Agencies? May Not Be Wise
An HOAleader.com reader asks if it's permissible for an association to
report delinquent assessments and property liens associated with
delinquent assessments to credit reporting agencies. In this week's tip,
we explain that the answer is unclear in many states. But others sometimes
can, or do, on your behalf.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Want-Report-HOA-Delinquencies-Credit-Agencies-May-Not-Be-Wise.cfm
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Can You, and Should You, Report HOA Delinquencies to Credit Agencies?
An HOAleader.com reader writes, "Are HOAs capable of reporting delinquent
HOA assessments and/or property liens associated with delinquent
assessments to credit reporting agencies?"
Here we discuss whether you can do that and, more importantly, whether it's a
good idea.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Can-You-Should-You-Report-HOA-Delinquencies-Credit-Agencies.cfm
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