Many HOAs and condominium associations have annual meetings coming up this time of year, or special meetings to amend their covenants, conditions and restrictions (“CCRs”) or bylaws. What is the best way to collect the votes your HOA needs to elect a board or get that important change to the CCRs or bylaws passed? […]
Virtual HOA Meetings?: Virginia’s General Assembly Makes It Easier For Property Owners’ Associations To Hold Entirely Electronic Meetings
Association (both property owners’ association and condominium association) meetings are typically held at the community clubhouse or other local building. However, with the increasing availability and utility of technology, virtual meetings are becoming more commonplace. Virginia’s General Assembly (Virginia’s state legislature) recently passed legislation, House Bill 1205 (the “Amendment”), amending the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act, […]
How to Tame an Unruly Meeting
Board members and managers alike can all recall meetings that left them scratching their heads wondering how in the world things could have gotten so out of control. The supportive homeowners leave, while the rowdy ones stay and escalate the situation. The board members (and often the homeowners and the manager) feel beaten up and […]
Quick Tips for an Effective Meeting Agenda
It’s no secret that some Board meetings can run longer than necessary. In most cases, Board meetings should take no longer than two hours. In order to conduct an effective meeting, you need to start with a concise meeting agenda. The meeting agenda should be drafted by the community manager (if one exists) and reviewed […]
We’re Having What Kind of Meeting?
What’s the different between an annual meeting, special meeting, town hall meeting, and board meeting? With so many different types of meetings in community associations, it’s easy to get confused. Here’s some clarification. Read the article…………….
Three Steps for Effective Community Association Annual Meetings
1. Planning A. As far in advance as possible (preferably immediately after last annual meeting). Set date (must comply with Bylaws) Reserve meeting space (and tables, chairs, audio-visual equipment, podium and microphone) Give date to Association attorney Put notice of date in ALL newsletters Read the article……………..
How to Keep the Annual Meeting From Becoming a Marathon
There are many ways to keep your co-op’s or condominium’s annual meeting from turning into the New York City Marathon. One of the best is to hold the meeting it someplace other than your building. It’s a tradeoff: convening at a nearby venue costs money, and it might lessen turnout since people have to make […]
Controlling Chaos at the Annual Meeting
Spring is in the air, which means it’s annual meeting season at many New York co-ops and condominiums. The managing agent usually handles preparations: securing a venue; sending out notices, ballots, and proxies; coordinating with the accountant on the financial statement; and arranging with building staff to have tables and chairs available. But it may […]
Proxies & Proxy Voting at Membership or Board Meetings (NC)
We get lots of questions about proxies and proxy voting. And that’s understandable, as proxy issues at meetings can get very confusing. A proxy is simply a power of attorney as could be used to open a bank account or buy a car for another person. If proxies are permitted at a meeting, the proxy […]
“Sunshine Laws” Do Not Apply to Community Associations (Open Meetings are Still Required) (FL)
Frequently, there are complaints by association members regarding violations of Florida’s Sunshine Laws, Chapter 286, Florida Statutes, which mandates public access to records and meetings. Sunshine Laws only apply to state or local governmental organizations. Although there are similar open meeting requirements for community associations, they are private organizations that are governed by entirely separate […]
Keeping Fisticuffs Out of the Annual Meeting (NY)
It was surreal, recalls Alvin Wasserman, director of asset management for Fairfield Properties. At an annual meeting that was supposed to be routine, a unit-owner made allegations against one of the board members. Her husband became very upset. Insults flew until a shouting match erupted. Then it went to the next level. “The husband took […]
Your Timeline for Planning a Successful Annual Meeting
According to a recent poll from Cities Management’s Facebook page, 71 percent of voters prefer to hold an annual meeting at the beginning of the year. This makes sense because the year-end financial statements from the previous year will be shared, and most often homeowners want to see these in the first quarter. Regardless of […]
Community Associations: Proxies at Meetings are from Mars and Written Ballots are from Venus
Most community associations, at least annually, are faced with action items requiring a vote of their membership. For example, community association membership participation is necessary on an annual basis to elect the Board of Directors and for ratification of the next year’s budget. Read the article……………….
The Impossible Task – Improving HOA Meeting Attendance
If you’re a community manager or board member you’ve probably heard the tired old joke about annual HOA meeting attendance. You know that one, about doubling the HOA dues or announcing a major policy change to get the attention of homeowners in hopes that they will come to the annual meeting. Like any good joke, […]
Bob’s AGM tips (ON)
Directors, managers and condo lawyers will spend at least the next year struggling through intricate implications arising with respect to the major amendments to the Condominium Act, 1998 (“the Act”) and its many new regulatory provisions flowing from the Protecting Condominium Owners Act, 2015. Managers have the obligation to refrain from rendering professional advice beyond […]
How to Have Successful HOA Elections
One of the centerpieces of a successful HOA is a well-organized election process. However, in order to ensure that your HOA elections succeed every year, it’s important to take heed of a few key rules: follow your governing documents; send out proxies; ensure that you have a quorum; document your elections appropriately; know who can […]
How to make condo meetings fun again
Condo board directors attend a lot of meetings. Most condos have at least one board meeting a month and managers many more. During board meetings, directors make decisions that affect the entire condo community and property. Read the article…………….
HOA Meeting Basics
HOA board meetings are designed to transact essential business. They should be carefully choreographed to that end rather than a rambling discussion. Members should be welcome and encouraged to attend and observe. To that end, provide a Member Forum at the beginning of the meeting for owner comments, questions and complaints (It’s the American way). […]
Improving Quorum for Your Meetings
Most board members, and even homeowners, have heard the word “quorum”. However, many don’t understand it or its importance for doing HOA business. In case you’re not familiar with the definition, a quorum is a minimum number of board members and residents in attendance at an HOA meeting. Unless the quorum is reached, meeting business […]
The Death of Civility – Why Do Community Association Board Members Serve?
I have been to a number of community association meetings in the past year, and too many of them were contentious, confrontational, loud, rude and generally ugly. I have written a number of Codes of Conduct for adoption by boards of directors to address behavior ranging from being unprepared for the meeting to falling down […]
Challenging the Chairman of a Meeting
Have you ever been at a meeting that you did not believe was being run properly? Is the chair ruling every motion out of order? Were you unsure on what you could do or did you feel like there was nothing you could do? Fortunately, there are actions that you can take in these situations. […]
Conflicting Interests Lead To Disputes That Erupt At HOA Meetings
“O brave new world that has such people in it!” These immortal words from Shakespeare’s The Tempest aptly describe homeowner associations. Conflicting interests can lead to disputes that erupt at meetings. To control such outlandish behavior, HOA meetings are well served by using a parliamentary procedure such as Robert’s Rules of Order which allow a […]
Recap – Motions at Meetings
It is AGM season again. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I decided to highlight a post from two years ago about motions at meetings using Robert’s Rules of Order. I posted a Chart that I had made summarizing the motions that I see most often at condominium meetings. Read the article…………..
What is a Quorum and Why is it Important to an HOA Board?
A quorum is the minimum number of HOA board and members who must be at a meeting before business can be transacted. Homeowners can usually find quorum requirements within their Bylaws. You might be surprised but reaching a quorum to run a meeting is actually a common problem in many homeowners associations. Read […]
Increase Participation at Annual HOA Meetings
While members of the association should understand that it is in their own best interest to attend the annual meeting of the members, many do not realize how important these meetings are. Failure to attend annual meetings results in failure to meet quorum, which in turn results in frustration and disappointment for board members – […]
‘Tis the Season of the Annual Meeting
Reaching the end of the contentious and hotly contested national election was no doubt a relief for many of us. However, for our community association clients, there is no rest for the weary because late winter and spring is association annual meeting season! Read the article………..
Planning and Conducting a Successful Annual Meeting
Happy Birthday to your Association!! The annual meeting can be a chance for the current board to shine on the past year’s performance, promote the plans of the community, and answer the myriad of questions that come with being a board member. This is usually the meeting with the most residents in attendance. A statement […]
‘Getter Done’ Meetings in Your HOA
Meetings are the venues where homeowner association business decisions are made. Since these meetings are usually infrequent, their importance cannot be understated. However, some HOA meetings are challenged because: Read the article
Condominium Association Life: How can board implement electronic voting?
Q. I am the president of my association. The board would like to increase voter participation at our annual election meeting. How do we implement electronic voting? Read the Q&A…………….
Written Ballot vs. Proxies
Planned communities and condominiums (I’ll refer to both types of communities as community associations) are very much like small countries. The board of directors is the government, the declaration, bylaws, and rules serve as the constitution (along with a few state statutes), and the members are the citizens. Much like a country, one of the […]
Secret Ballots and Quorums in California
HOAs are run much like a democracy. The people within the community or board members vote on issues that affect the community, such as new rules. However, even people heavily involved with the HOA can find all the rules and regulations confusing, especially when there are state, local and association rules and laws to follow. […]
Need more time for vote? Consider adjournment
Q: Our condominium documents require the approval of two-thirds of all owners to amend the documents. Our association has spent a lot of time and money preparing new documents for approval. Our meeting is fast approaching and almost all of the votes are in favor of the new documents, but there are just not enough […]
Reasonable Doubt: the dos and don’ts of attending your first condo board AGM
There is no shortage of new condominium buildings in Toronto. Many of the people purchasing units in those buildings may be first-time unit owners who aren’t familiar with condominium governance and procedure. To this end, first-time unit owners who have received notice of their building’s annual general meeting often ask us what to expect at […]
Rigged (HOA!) Elections
A few months ago, the Chairman and Secretary of a Pennsylvania community association were convicted by a jury of election fraud. The directors schemed to fill out ballots to stack the deck in upcoming board elections. An attorney in Las Vegas plead guilty to a similar charges a few years back. He was part of […]
Make Your Vote Count: It’s HOA Elections Season, Too
According to Community Associations Institute, more than 68 million Americans live in 338,000 managed communities. In Canada, approximately one in eight people live in a condominium or strata corporation of some kind, totaling about 1.2 million owner-occupied dwellings as reported by Statistics Canada. Collectively, these homeowners spend tens of billions of dollars to maintain their […]
These are the Five People You’ll Meet at the Annual HOA Board Meeting. Which One Are You?
You’ve received your annual meeting notice and you may be wondering, should I go and what is this about? The answer to the first question is a resounding YES! The answer to the second question takes more than one word. The annual meeting is a meeting of the members of your association where you elect […]
A Look at Election Fraud: Staying on the Up and Up
Every co-op, condo, and HOA must elect a board of directors to oversee the community’s finances, physical maintenance, and other day-to- day operations. While board elections don’t rise quite to the level of a state or even local election in terms of gravitas, an apathetic or inept board can profoundly impact the cohesion and quality […]
Requirements to Challenging an Association Election Through Arbitration (FL)
Hardly anything generates more buzz and quarrel within community associations than the annual board of director elections. During the annual meeting and election season, numerous legal inquiries are made regarding the law on the election process, election disputes and challenging election results. Challenging an election requires meticulous and timely action. This blog post discusses the […]
A Look at Election Fraud: Staying on the Up and Up
Every co-op, condo, and HOA must elect a board of directors to oversee the community’s finances, physical maintenance, and other day-to- day operations. While board elections don’t rise quite to the level of a state or even local election in terms of gravitas, an apathetic or inept board can profoundly impact the cohesion and quality […]
Kass: Apathy and the Condo Owner
Question. I live in a condominium development consisting of more than 200 townhouses. Our Bylaws state that to have a quorum, we must have a majority of the homeowners of the Condominium Association, either in person or by proxy. A majority did not attend the recent annual meeting, either in person or by proxy. The […]
What’s So Special About Special Meetings? A Brief Look Into Special Meetings of Property Owner Associations
All North Carolina property owner associations are required by law to have regular meetings of the Board of Directors (“Board”) and at least one annual membership meeting to discuss and transact certain association business. But what about those items that arise months before or after the annual membership meeting? Or the rare emergency situation? Luckily, […]
How an HOA Board Can Ask for Member’s Help as Inspectors of Election
It’s that time again in your homeowners association – time for the Annual Director Election. To be proactive and try to drum up participation from the membership, the HOA board may want to send out a notice to the members asking for volunteers to assist in this process. The notice could include the following: […]
How Your HOA Board Can Make the Annual Meeting Worth Attending
Does your HOA board dread the annual meeting because it’s boring, no one shows up, and it seems completely and utterly pointless? If so, your Board is not alone. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, the annual meeting in your homeowners association can actually be – dare we suggest – fun? […]
How To Run A Successful Association Meeting
One of the first things a manager or board should do is review the association’s governing documents for any annual and special membership meeting requirements. Typically, this information will be in the bylaws of your condominium or community association; however, you should also review the declaration and articles of incorporation to see what they contain. […]
Annual HOA Meeting Celebration
Holding successful homeowner association meetings takes thought, creativity, advance planning and funding. Too many HOAs scramble to cobble together this important event and, guess what? Few show up and the numbers fall short of the quorum requirements. This doesn’t need to happen. Just think what you can accomplish at this important event: Read the […]
Conducting Proper Community Association Meetings
Question. I am on the Board of Directors of a small condominium association. The annual meeting is scheduled for August, but we would like to begin preparing for that meeting as soon as possible. None of us have any real experience, and would like your comments on how to conduct a proper and efficient condominium […]
Effective HOA Meetings
It can be frustrating to be part of a meeting that’s disorganized and seems to go on and on. It’s not difficult to run an effective HOA meeting – all you need to do is follow these simple guidelines: Read the article………..
Help! We Can’t Get a Quorum at Our Annual Meeting
A common question that I receive from managers and board members is the following: What can an association do when it cannot obtain a quorum at the annual meeting? Read the article…………
Millie’s Motion at the Annual HOA Meeting
The Annual Meeting of Nottacare Condominium convenes. The agenda shows the standard items including Review Minutes, Financial Report, President’s Report and Election of Directors. As per usual, about 20% of the 95 members show up. But the board has been proactive in getting proxies from the rest so having a quorum is not a problem. […]
Why the Seating Arrangement at HOA Meetings Is So Important
Meetings are a necessary component of homeowner association operations. The seating arrangement at HOA meetings is critical to a productive outcome. Foreign diplomats are particularly careful in choosing the shape of the table and who sits next to who since the slightest faux pas can have disastrous results. In King Arthur’s day, meetings were held […]