HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - January 18, 2019
Published: Fri, 01/18/19
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One Condo/HOA Board Blunders, Another May Be About to Compound Those Errors
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In this week's tip, we lend a hand to an HOAleader.com member who wants to know
if a board is acting properly. The short story is that there was weather
damage to two units in an association, and the board at the time waived
assessments for those owners for the eight months the units were
uninhabitable.
Fast forward to a new board today. It's now trying to force one of those two
owners to repay the waived assessments.
Oh, man. Our experts have lots of concerns over all of these decisions in our
reader's question. "It's flat-out wrong and illegal," contends Bill
Worrall, vice president of FirstService Residential in Hollywood, Fla.,
which manages 1,300 condominium and homeowner associations totaling
310,000 residential units. "Chalk this all up to a stupid decision."
Worrall first suggests making sure the prior board acted with authority. "I
think the reader first has to go back and look at what's documented," he
suggests. "Did the board make a decision at a duly-noticed board meeting,
and is this decision in the minutes? That has to be confirmed—was this even a
board decision? Even if it's wrong, which it is, that's the first question."
If the prior board properly took this action, Worrall and our other experts
still see several mistakes in this scenario. Here's just one:
1. Assessments should never, ever have been waived. The first error the
original board made was its "humanitarian" act to "suspend" the two owners'
association fees. Note that our reader uses the word "suspend," which could
mean that the board intended for the fees to be eventually collected. But the
full context of this scenario indicates the fees were waived. We're
proceeding on that assumption.
In most cases, boards simply can't waive fees. And even if they can, they
never, ever should, according to our experts.
Here's a simple analogy: Did these owners' lenders waive mortgage payments
during this period? Highly unlikely. The board should have followed the
lenders' lead.
Find out why our experts say boards can't waive assessments, along with
three other mistakes these boards appear to be making, in our new article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/3849.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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One Condo/HOA Board Blunders, Another May Be About to Compound Those Errors
In this week's tip, we lend a hand to an HOAleader.com member who wants to know
if a board is acting properly. The short story is that there was weather
damage to two units in an association, and the board at the time waived
assessments for those owners for the eight months the units were
uninhabitable.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/One-CondoHOA-Board-Blunders-Another-May-Be-About-Compound-Those-Errors.cfm
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How Many Bad Decisions Can One Condo Board Make? Our Experts Count 4
An HOAleader.com reader asks, In 2017, our association was hit by a severe
wind storm. Two units were declared uninhabitable by the fire chief, code
enforcement, etc. Two units' walls were blown away, and the roofs were
crushed in by a large tree.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/How-Many-Bad-Decisions-Can-One-Condo-Board-Make-Our-Experts-Count-4.cfm
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4 Ideas That Could Reduce Your Condo/HOA's Fine Frustration
We offer some potential stress relief in this week's tip. The one sure way to
make your owners angry--which in turn inevitably makes them more
unpleasant to you and their neighbors, which then makes your life more
stressful--is to impose fine after fine on them. It's a no-win cycle that
takes a lot of your time and makes your job as a board member all the more
thankless.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/4-Ideas-That-Could-Reduce-Your-CondoHOAs-Fine-Frustration.cfm
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4 Steps to Reducing the Number of Fines You Impose in 2019
The one sure way to make your owners angry--which in turn inevitably makes
them more unpleasant to you and their neighbors, which then makes your life
more stressful--is to impose fine after fine on them. It's a no-win cycle
that takes a lot of your time and makes your job as a board member all the more
thankless.
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/members/4-Steps-Reducing-Number-Fines-You-Impose-in-2019.cfm
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5 Hot Condo/HOA Challenges You May Face This Year
In this week's tip, we get you started in 2019 with a scan of the national
condo/HOA environment. Part of your job is to know which issues should be on
your radar this year. To help you out, we asked our experts in both HOA/condo
management and the law what they expect to see arise more often in 2019.
Here's the first of five hot or soon-to-be-hot topics they suggest you
prepare to face
Click here to read full article:
https://www.hoaleader.com/public/5-Hot-CondoHOA-Challenges-You-May-Face-This-Year.cfm
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