HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - June 1, 2018
Published: Fri, 06/01/18
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Setting the Record Straight on Condo/HOA Presidents' Power
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In this week’s tip, we start with a quick quiz to test your knowledge:
True or False: Can your HOA or condo board president vote on routine issues at your association’s board meetings, or is the president allowed to vote only if there’s a tie?
True or False: Can the president act on her own to sign contracts binding the association?
The position of president seems to foster a good number of misunderstandings and misperceptions. “I could write a whole article here,” jokes Susan Hawks McClintic, co-managing shareholder and the chair of the community association transactional practice group at the law firm of Epsten Grinnell & Howell in San Diego.
Misperceptions probably come from past practice—but that doesn’t mean they’re based on laws or rules to follow, says Todd J. Billy, an attorney at The Community Association Lawyers in St. Louis; Billy is a licensed attorney in Missouri and Illinois and has more than 1,000 active condo and HOA clients.
“A lot of misperceptions come from habits versus a formal legal opinion advising as to what can be done,” he says. “Usually if a long-time board member who served as president doesn’t want to vote, for whatever reason, practice then becomes the rule,” says Billy. “But the standard is for presidents to vote. They should vote.
“If presidents don’t vote, then it’s a question of, ‘OK, if the president votes only when there’s a tie, does that create an undue importance on the position—on the president and on that vote versus treating all votes equally?” asks Billy. “That’s how boards should operate.”
McClintic is on the same page. “The president who’s a board member has the same vote on board actions as any other director,” she explains. “Every director has a fiduciary obligation to the association, and the president who’s also a director should generally vote on all matters before the board unless the president has a conflict of interest on an individual voting item.
“Each officer has equal authority on items that require board action,” she adds. “Thus, a president is no different than a secretary, a vice president, or even a board member at large when it comes to voting on board actions.”
Jane F. Bolin, the founding member and managing partner of PeytonBolin, a Florida-based law firm focused on community association law, agrees. “The misperception is that people think, based on your officer position, you have any more power than another director on the board,” she says. “You don’t. All directors have an equal vote. And no one director should be acting outside of a group agreement as a board. There aren’t separate powers.”
Check out our list of facts and myths on presidents’ duties (and get the answers to our pop quiz above) in our new article: https://www.hoaleader.com/members/3730.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Click here to read full article:
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In this week's tip, our veteran writer Gabriella Filisko admits to learning something new. "Imagine my surprise, as a writer about community associations, to hear that her neighbor's 49-unit north-side Chicago condo building had been approached about being bought out, with the new owner turning the units into rentals," she writes. The owners approved the sale, and the building is no longer a condo association.
Click here to read full article:
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Imagine my surprise, as a writer about community associations, to hear that my neighbor's 49-unit north-side Chicago condo building had been approached about being bought out, with the new owner turning the units into rentals. The owners approved the sale, and the building is no longer a condo association.
Click here to read full article:
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