Month: April 2018

Consider Hurdles to Leasing Unused Common Areas to Businesses

If your association is looking for new and creative ways to generate more revenue, can it lease underappreciated common area space to a commercial tenant as a way to add convenience to your members and income for your association? With the rise of mixed-use spaces, the convenience—and financial benefit—of having a popular bakery or a national bank locked in for a 10-year, income-generating lease may seem like an attractive option for a common area that’s going largely unused in your community.

Dealing with Items Not Mentioned in Guidelines

While it saves a lot of hassle—and potentially litigation—when association guidelines are detailed, occasionally you’ll come across a member with a request to install an item that hasn’t been addressed. But does that mean that it’s permissible for an owner to do anything that isn’t mentioned?

Use Caution When Considering Leasing Unused Common Space

By Andrea Brescia

Find the Right Commercial Tenant for Your Association

By Andrea Brescia

For associations that have designated commercial space, finding the right tenant is critical. While there are a lot of retail stores that provide convenience, not every commercial tenant is necessarily a good fit for your community.

Recent Settlements Illustrate the High Cost of Fair Housing Complaints

Recent cases from California and New York—involving families with children and reasonable accommodation requests, respectively—highlight the importance of staff training in fair housing law in order to avoid discrimination complaints.

Families with children. A California condominium community recently had to pay more than $1.1 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving hundreds of current and former residents with children under 14, who lived there from 2011 through mid-2017.