HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - October 28, 2016
Published: Fri, 10/28/16
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Don’t Get Soaked Policing Your HOA Waterways
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In this week’s tip, we talk about your responsibility to be the water police.
We’ve heard from consultants who work with builders, developers, property managers, and homeowner’s associations who say that boards “must regard waterways and lakes as assets that must be maintained and monitored” like any other amenities.
This one makes our experts a little nervous. They generally agree that you may have responsibility for lakes and waterways. But they say you’d surely know that already, and going beyond what you must do is very, very risky.
“This goes directly back to your CC&Rs and bylaws,” asserts Joe Winkler, vice president of marketing at Keystone Pacific Property Management in Irvine, Calif., which manages associations ranging from two to 4,000 units—about 65,000 units in total in Southern California. “They’ll clearly delineate any responsibility the HOA has for lakes and waterways. If the governing documents don’t call these responsibilities out, the association should in no way be doing anything outside their governing documents—period.
“This one’s cut and dried,” adds Winkler. “This isn’t an issue where you say, ‘Oh, my gosh! We forgot to deal with the lakes!’”
That’s also in line with the thinking of Alessandra Stivelman, a partner who specializes in community association law at Eisinger Brown Lewis Frankel & Chaiet in Hollywood, Fla. “In most of my experience, there are easements between an association and the local water management district, and the association isn’t necessarily maintaining lakes and waterways,” she says.
“But this would all be recorded documentation,” says Stivelman. “Lakes generally aren’t considered association property. But that may be how governing documents are set up in Florida. Associations have to look at who owns the property and then see if there are agreements for maintenance. It’s all in the governing documents, in the declaration, easements, and in agreements with the local water management district.
“There may be mutual responsibilities, but it’s all contractual,” says Stivelman. “That’s been my experience with it, and I don’t want clients taking on responsibility they don’t have, liability wise and expense wise.”
Read our new article for details on why wading into this area unnecessarily could cause a flood of problems:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/2449.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Don't Get Soaked Policing Your HOA Waterways
In this week's tip, we talk about your responsibility to be the water police. We've heard from consultants who work with builders, developers, property managers, and homeowner's associations who say that boards "must regard waterways and lakes as assets that must be maintained and monitored" like any other amenities.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/public/Dont-Get-Soaked-Policing-Your-HOA-Waterways.cfm
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We've just heard from consultants who work with builders, developers, property managers, and homeowner's associations who say that boards "must regard waterways and lakes as assets that must be maintained and monitored" like any other amenities.
Click here to read full article:
http://www.hoaleader.com/members/Does-Your-HOA-Have-Maintain-Lakes-Waterways.cfm
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