Vermont Condo & HOA News

• $50 million assessment at Mountain Green to hit condo owners in July (VT) April 3, 2024
  Mountain Green condo owners voted in favor of a $50 million assessment to bring the building into the 21st Century, but some longtime owners said their quarterly payments will be so high they can’t afford it and they will be forced out.  An $18 million assessment was approved in 2022, and another $29 million was approved by condo owners on March 11.  Starting July, owners will pay $10,000 or more a year for the next five years, after which payments ...
• Voters To Decide If Town Takes Over Sewer System (VT) September 17, 2023
  The Select Board last Monday agreed to draft a warrant article for the town to assume ownership of a sewer system from the Northwoods Estates homeowners association.  Jim Dyckman, president of the homeowners association, had asked the Select Board on July 24 to sponsor a warrant article for required Town Meeting approval.   Read the article………………………..
• Quechee Club hits members with surprise bill after flood damage (VT) August 23, 2023
  With a ski hill, tennis courts, a swimming pool, 36 holes of golf, a clubhouse restaurant and its own private lake, Quechee Lakes has always been a pricey place to live. Now as a result of the July storms that flooded its golf course, the members-only community just got pricier.    Read the article………………………..
• FEMA help for private roads and bridges (VT) August 18, 2023
  If your privately owned road or bridge was damaged or destroyed by Vermont’s July severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides, FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) may be able to provide financial assistance for replacement or repairs.   Read the article………………………..
• Lyman Meadows residents push for water rate review (VT) March 24, 2023
  Members of the Lyman Meadows condominium association are asking the town to review drinking water rates charged to residents of the village housing complex, arguing that they are paying the same rates for untreated water as regular users who receive treated water.   Read the article………………………..

Vermont News Archives

Vermont Condo & HOA Articles

• The Finer Points of Fining Condominium Owners
  Condo association rules provide a behavioral road map for owners, explaining what they are allowed and not allowed to do. But creating effective rules is only half the challenge for boards; enforcing the rules is the other arguably more challenging half of this equation.  When it comes to enforcement, boards don’t have many tools. They can’t “vote owners off the island,” they can’t arrest owners and they can’t evict owners from units they own.    Read the article…………………………….
• Replacing Board Members
  Problem: One member of our seven-member board has resigned, leaving us with only six members. The association’s documents require a seven-member board, but the next election, at which a new board member might be elected, is several months away and there don’t appear to be any owners willing to fill the vacant position.    Read the Q&A………………………………..
• Roof Replacement 101: A Project Too Vital to Put Off
  Nothing lasts forever, not even your roof. While roofs have a relatively long life compared to other building systems and components, at some point they will need either partial or full replacement. Here are the facts and factors you and your community need to know when your roof’s useful life starts winding down.    Read the article…………………………….
• Tree Care & Maintenance: Keeping Your Biggest Landscaping Elements Healthy
  Trees provide us with many benefits, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious. Whether your community is an urban high-rise surrounded by hundreds of others, or a sprawling suburban development with acres of grounds, its trees are an integral part of the landscape—one that we often take for granted, but which requires specific, dedicated care and maintenance in order to stay healthy and lush for decades to come.   Read the article…………………………….
• Holding Orderly, Efficient Annual Meetings – It’s Not as Hard as It Seems!
  Talk to anyone familiar with common-interest community governance anywhere in the country, and they will tell you the same thing: apathy is rampant among residents of co-ops, condos, and HOAs. Not only is it difficult to get owners and shareholders to run for their boards of directors, but it’s a struggle to even get them to show up to the once-a-year meetings held to elect those board members and to update the community on what is happening in their home ...
• Boards & Boundaries: How ‘Available’ Should You Be?
  In multifamily residential communities, where neighbors share common space, amenities, and maintenance—if not actual walls—establishing and maintaining boundaries can be a bit tricky.   Read the article…………………………….
• Emergency Preparedness in the Era of Climate Change: Preparing for the Unpredictable
  The acceleration of global warming and the accompanying climate crisis is affecting shared-interest residential communities all over the United States and around the world. This past September was the wettest ever recorded in the eastern United States, with nine times the normal rainfall. Scientists warn that excessive rain and wind, extreme heat and cold, as well as increasingly intense discrete weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes, will continue and likely worsen as the planet continues to heat.   Read the article………………………………..

Vermont Article Archives

Vermont Laws

Condominium Ownership Act 

Common Interest Ownership Act

Vermont Condo & HOA Resources

Vermont Human Rights Commission VHRC would like to help condo boards avoid problems. VHRC offers fair housing training to condo boards and the residents prior to a complaint being filed. The training are interactive and usually take one to two hours depending on the number of questions and issues.

Community Associations Institute –  New England Chapter