Month: July 2017

Don’t Tolerate Board Member Harassment

Because the decisions that a board makes very rarely please everyone, you could find yourself having to prevent unacceptable behavior toward board members. Most displeased owners may focus their energies on building consensus and replacing current board members. But there are some members whose tempers will flare and who will handle their displeasure with the board in completely inappropriate ways in the short term.

Organization Is Key to Planning Effective Annual Member Meeting

Managing a condominium building or planned community is undeniably challenging; balancing the needs of members, the board of directors, your own staff, and contractors or third-party vendors can be like a juggling routine. You might feel as though each day you’re interviewing for your own job. A great opportunity to both shine as a manager and execute one of the most important events of the year is the annual member meeting.

Make Sure Meeting Notice Is Sufficient

It’s crucial to make sure that meeting notices are properly handled. Otherwise, a court could rule that decisions stemming from such meetings are not valid. That was the situation in a recent Colorado community association lawsuit. There, the board of directors of a condominium association wanted to effectively rewrite its declaration, originally drafted in 1983, because the original document was so outdated that the board felt it was necessary to start over from the beginning. After the declaration had been amended, two condominium members sued the association.

Protect Board Members from Harassment

Because the decisions that a board makes very rarely please everyone, you could find yourself having to prevent unacceptable behavior toward board members. A board may have just approved a large special assessment to finance an improvement, and some owners may not be pleased with how the association’s finances are being handled. Most displeased owners may focus their energies on building consensus and replacing current board members.

Avoid Fair Housing Trouble Over Assistance Animals

Pets can enrich the lives of their owners, and many associations understand this and do allow members to have pets. However, dealing with pets in condominium communities requires balancing the freedoms pet-owning members enjoy on their privately owned property with the rights neighboring members have to enjoy their property. Some communities avoid this balancing act by banning pets entirely; others impose strict pet size and quantity limitations on members.

Determining ‘Special Employee’ Status for Association Employee’s Recovery

Q: I manage a community association through a property management company. The association itself has some employees—namely, a superintendent for repairs—but I am the person who controls his workload. The employee had an accident on the property and filed a workers’ compensation claim. He’s also trying to sue the association and the management company for a second recovery. I was under the impression that there couldn’t be a double recovery for an injury in this type of case.