Working With Managers and Management Firms

• Setting Expectations for Your HOA Management Company November 8, 2023
  The best relationships between HOAs and the management companies they employ are based on open communication and clear expectations. There is a lot that goes into maintaining property values. However, if you’re not exactly sure what your management company should be doing for your association, it can be difficult to determine if you’re getting the full value of your service agreement.   Read the article…………………………
• Reader Questions: Who’s the Boss – Manager or Board? (CA) October 28, 2023
  Q:  I am president of an HOA with management whose performance has been lackluster. Lackluster is characterized by little to no communications unless initiated by the board, not following through with board instructions, and inability to manage our violations process in a steady and predictable manner.   Read the Q&A……………………………..
• What Is the Role of a Community Association Manager? October 21, 2023
  A community association manager (CAM) performs various tasks depending on the size of the community and its unique needs. Also known as a Homeowner’s association manager, a CAM helps oversee the daily operations of a community association. Here are some responsibilities of community association management specialists:   Read the article……………………………..
• How to Build a Better Relationship with Your Community Manager March 29, 2023
  Hiring a community manager to help with the day-to-day operations of a homeowners’ association (HOA) can enrich your community while also simplifying your board’s obligations.  A good community manager will help you with important association issues and represent you to other service providers.    Read the article………………………..

Working With Management Archives

Working With Attorneys

• Why might a resident take your HOA to court? (CT) April 15, 2024
  Running a homeowners association (HOA) can be incredibly challenging at times. Residents won’t always agree with everything you do, despite you doing them to protect the interests of the HOA and the residents in general.  Dealing with a legal challenge from one or more residents can be frustrating, time-consuming and costly for an HOA. Understanding some of the most common reasons for challenges can help you anticipate and, hopefully, avoid them.   Read the article…………………………….
• Unlocking Success: Using Legal Representation Over Collection Agencies for Delinquent Condominium Assessments March 7, 2024
  Community associations in Michigan play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and functionality of shared living spaces. However, when faced with delinquent condominium assessments, these associations often encounter significant challenges in recovering the owed amounts. While some may consider turning to collection agencies as a solution, there are compelling reasons why community associations should select a law firm instead.    Read the article…………………………….
• Ohio Panel Disqualification Reversal November 28, 2023
  In a dramatic twist echoing the thrill of a courtroom drama, an Ohio appellate court has unleashed a pivotal decision in a high-stakes legal skirmish between a homeowners association and a management company. The court, with a gavel of justice, struck down a lower court’s move to disqualify a defense attorney, a decision reverberating through the halls of legal precedent.    Read the article………………………………
• Common reasons residents may sue an HOA (CT) October 21, 2023
  Being on a Homeowners’ Association (HOA) board can sometimes feel thankless. Never more so than when you face a lawsuit from one of the residents for whose benefit you are trying to manage the place.    Read the article…………………………………….

Working With Attorneys Archives

Working With Accountants

• HOA Homefront: New Year’s resolutions for HOA service providers (CA) January 20, 2023
  This is the fourth and final installment of a series on resolutions for HOA members, which previously addressed directors, homeowners and managers.   Read the article………………………..
• The High Cost of Terrible Service at your HOA or Condo November 15, 2022
  Have you ever been disappointed with the quality or service of something you have paid for? You aren’t likely to spend your money on that item again. Whether it was poor quality or poor service that caused your disappointment really doesn’t matter. The same is true for your Homeowners Association or condominium.   Read the article………………………..
• How Condo Boards Can Make Sure the Sponsor Pays His Share (NY) June 9, 2021
  At newly built condos, it’s common for construction problems to crop up. But accounting and record-keeping are equally important, as one of your clients recently discovered. What’s the story?  Read the entire article……………………………….
• Cutting Costs: When Using Volunteers Does More Harm Than Good (OH) December 22, 2020
  With next year’s budgets in preparation, boards may be looking for ways to cut costs and reduce spending. Often, Board’s will look to their owners to volunteer for a variety of maintenance tasks, from snow shoveling to planting flowers. While minor work can be performed by volunteers with relatively little liability exposure, that is not the case with more significant work.    Read the article………………………………..

Working With Accountants Archives

Working With Insurance Agents

• How to Choose the Best Condo Association Insurance for Your Community (FL) February 28, 2023
  Condo insurance can be one of the most important yet confusing aspects of managing your Tampa-based condo association. It can be time-consuming and frustrating to ensure all your association’s needs are met, and a policy is chosen that both provides sufficient coverage and remains within budget.   Read the article………………………..
• The High Cost of Terrible Service at your HOA or Condo November 15, 2022
  Have you ever been disappointed with the quality or service of something you have paid for? You aren’t likely to spend your money on that item again. Whether it was poor quality or poor service that caused your disappointment really doesn’t matter. The same is true for your Homeowners Association or condominium.   Read the article………………………..
• 16 months after fire razed Thousand Oaks condo building, frustrated residents await repairs (CA) July 25, 2022
  Residents of a Thousand Oaks condominium complex are deeply frustrated that 16 months after a fire ravaged a four-unit building there, it has yet to be repaired.  “It has become extremely difficult for me and the other residents here,” said Mary Troness, who has lived at the approximately 200-unit Wildwood Township community at the corner of Avenida de Los Arboles and La Paloma Circle for close to 40 years.   Read the Q&A……………………………….
• 2020 Could Make 2021 the Year of Insurance Agency E&O Lawsuits February 16, 2021
  Insurance agents and brokers should prepare for a big agency errors and omissions (E&O) litigation wave to crash their shores in 2021.  Agency E&O claims are a lagging indicator, meaning plaintiffs typically only go after agents and brokers after they exhaust other legal avenues—most often suing insurers—and come up short, according to experts at the 2020 virtual Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS) conference.    Read the article…………………………….

Working With Insurance Agents Archives

Working With Vendors

• Navigating Dispute Settlements and Business Decisions: A Guide for Community Associations April 17, 2024
  In the complex realm of managing condominium and homeowner associations, disputes with contractors and other critical business decisions can unexpectedly arise. Successful navigation through these challenges requires proactive measures, clear communication, and careful decision-making. In this guide, we explore how to handle dispute settlements, important business choices, and the significance of release agreements for associations.   Read the article…………………………….
• Construction Contracts: Best Practices and Important Considerations April 1, 2024
  Your reserve account is finally fully-funded and that pool house is looking shabby. It’s time for a refresh! Maybe you can remove that ancient, dead tree while you’re at it. Before you hire a contractor to perform work in your community – be it major or minor – it’s important to make sure that you know what you’re getting, and they know what they’re expected to do.   Read the article…………………………….
• When to File a Breach of Contract Lawsuit or How Long is Too Long? (CO) February 22, 2024
  The Colorado Supreme Court recently issued a decision that significantly impacts common interest communities’ need to enforce contracts by filing a lawsuit or an arbitration proceeding. This decision affects the timing considerations of when such proceedings must be filed.   Read the article…………………………….
• Homeowner gets bid but does not follow proper procedure (NV) February 19, 2024
  Q: One of the residents knows a company who provides barrier arm installation and requested we ask the company for a bid, which is totally fine in my opinion.  However, the problem stems from the resident bypassing the board and our management firm and directly contacting the company and not having it send the sealed bid to our management company to open at our meeting. Instead, the resident just passed out the bid to various other homeowners associaiton members.   Read ...

Working With Vendors Archives

Working With the Media

• Lights, Camera, Lawsuit! Your Property, Common Property, and Intellectual Property August 16, 2023
  Movies and music provide immense amounts of joy and entertainment to people all over the world. Collectively, the movie and music industries are worth upwards of twelve figures in revenue in a single year (for those of you counting the zeros on your hands at home . . . that’s north of $100,000,000,000.00 a year!). Much like you may be protective of your property and your homeowner’s association may be protective of its common property, it is understandable that those ...
• How to Effectively Handle and Avoid Most Negative News Coverage as an Arizona HOA November 17, 2022
  Whenever you see a story on the news about an HOA, the odds of it being positive are low. As a board member of an HOA in Arizona, your instinct kicks in, and you want to know what they are doing wrong. So, you jump on your laptop, conduct research on HOA Arizona bylaws or PR strategies for board members, but immediately hit a brick wall because you don’t know where to start.   Read the article………………………..
• Important Takeaways for Community Associations from TV News Report on Rules Enforcement (FL) January 28, 2022
  A report that aired in late November on 7News (WSVN-Fox) in South Florida focused on a local renter in a dispute with her condominium association over her motorcycle. While the property’s rules ban motorcycles, the tenant had apparently been explicitly told she would be allowed to keep and park her motorcycle at the property prior to signing her lease.   Read the entire article……………………………….
• Homeowners’ group apologizes after calling Alabama child’s sidewalk art ‘unsightly’ April 28, 2020
  A Riverchase mother is speaking out after her young daughter’s encouraging message left in chalk on the sidewalk was met with assertions that they were defacing the neighborhood and lowering property values…….Shortly after this article published, Seaton received an apology call from the president of the association.    Read the article…………………………..

Working With the Media Archives

Dealing With Governments

• Charge Up Fairfax Program Open to Communities Looking to Install EV Charging (VA) April 18, 2024
  Starting May 1, community associations in Fairfax County interested in installing electric vehicle charging stations for their residents will be able to apply for technical assistance and partial reimbursement through the Charge Up Fairfax program.  Electric vehicles, or EVs, are better for the environment and less expensive to fuel and maintain than gas-powered vehicles. The convenience of at-home charging makes EV ownership more practical, but that can be a barrier for residents of community associations who may not have access ...
• Southbury Zoning Dispute Continues Without Conclusion (CT) April 18, 2024
  The application before the commission that night was a request for a modification of detailed plans for 455 Main St. North. Joel Kahn, who is the acting president of Old Field, Inc. Homeowner’s Association, said the association would like to turn one of its two handicapped parking spaces into a regular space and add a landscape buffer along the northern end of the parking area for its club house/community building. The association would then repaint the parking spaces.   Read the ...
• Dispute over road maintenance at Georgetown Lake continues (MT) April 18, 2024
  “To me they are just abandoning us, they don’t care. To the point the people living up there are getting sick and tired of it. If we don’t make a fight right now, we’re going to lose everything up there. And we don’t get much already anyhow,” said Brian Clark, president of the Georgetown Lake Homeowners Association.   Read the article…………………………….
• Prepping for a nightmare scenario: What happens if there’s a condo collapse in Volusia County? (FL) April 18, 2024
  This week, some are training on how to respond to what would be a true nightmare: A condo collapse in Daytona Beach Shores.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is hosting the training at the county’s Emergency Operations Center at 3825 Tiger Bay Road Daytona Beach. Volusia County and chose the scenario. The county’s coastline is lined with condos and hotels, and some were evacuated as a precaution because of Hurricane Ian and Tropical Storm Nicole.    Read the article…………………………….

Dealing With Governments Archives