Recently the Snow Hill HOA Board of Directors had the opportunity to work with several government?entities in order to resolve a long-term issue for our community.?We could not be more pleased with how our officials worked with us, and with each other, to help us.? Read the entire article……………………………….
A sense of belonging: Committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion in community associations
A strong desire to feel a sense of belonging, to be treated fairly, and to recognize and embrace our differences: These ideals are at the core of who I am as a person and to the organization that I’m proud to support today. CAI is dedicated to promoting equality and opportunity in all aspects of […]
Should Reserves Be Mandatory?
I hate beating around the bush, so I want to get to the point. A financial crisis is coming and it’s going to be a big one. It’s also going to hit those that can least afford it. It’s going to result in massive amounts of foreclosures. It’s going to result in countless cases of […]
PMCPOA Allegedly Revised Fines Schedule Without Following State Law (CA)
Dear Board of Directors, Because the procedure by which it was adopted did not conform to requirements of California Civil Codes #4355 and #4360 (Davis-Stirling), I ask that you immediately rescind the Rules Violation Fine/Penalty Schedule adopted at the BOD open meeting of March 16, 2019. Read the entire article……………………………….
Post-Surfside, condo associations must be proactive with change | Opinion
The horrific tragedy of the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside has impacted condominium associations for similar towers nationwide, as many condo owners across the country are now raising questions about their own buildings’ structural safety and financial health. Read the entire article……………………………….
Are America’s condos having a midlife crisis?
It’s easy to get whiplash when you hear news about condos today. On one hand are stories [pro and con] about new, luxury condos. On the other, is Champlain Towers, a twelve-story condominium that collapsed in Surfside, Florida, killing 150 people. The majority of condos in the US fall somewhere in between. They aren’t shiny […]
Foothills HOA board is moving in the right direction (AZ)
Two years ago, I wrote an open letter to my fellow members of the Foothills Community Association advising them that our HOA was in trouble. One year ago, homeowners spoke up loudly demanding change. They voted 11:1 for bylaws reforms intended to increase transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to the interests of the Association’s members. Read […]
The Surfside condo collapse and the costs of not regulating
The families of those who occupied the Champlain Towers South condo building the night of June 24 are feeling the consequences of a collective failure to manage risk with an acuteness few of us ever experience. How this failure happened is still not clear, but it is coming into sharper focus every day. Read the […]
Brookings Institute – Lessons from the Surfside condo collapse on strengthening community ownership
The June collapse of the Champlain Towers South multifamily condominium tower in Surfside, Fla. has called into question whether bad governance played a role in the tower’s failure. Was maintenance on the building deferred because the condo board, elected by the unit owners, had a short-term incentive to do so in order to retain power? […]
I Know All About Condo Living. Change Is Coming
Reprint of NY Times Op-Ed piece Read the entire article……………………………….
Eleven Seconds That Changed Miami: Surfside Collapse Forced A Reckoning
The mural is almost done now. Stretching across two vast canvases next to the memorial in Surfside, the Cubist-inspired painting is a jagged expression of grief and horror. The artist, Roberto Marquez, has been working on it for weeks. Now the Champlain Towers South condo site is all but cleared, and the names of the […]
Let’s Heed The Wake-Up Call In The Collapse Of Surfside’s Condo Tower (HI)
The collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, was a tragedy. Let’s not allow it to happen here. We are an island state, understood to be one of the most remote places on earth, surrounded by 2,500 miles of open ocean on all sides. We have a tropical, hot and humid climate […]
Collapse of Surfside condo towers might eventually impact you more than you think
Terry Schlitt’s phone has been ringing off the hook. So has Michael Lue’s. That’s what happens when you’re a structural engineer in Vero Beach and a condominium building collapses less than 150 miles away. Read the entire article……………………………….
Commentary: No easy answers in Surfside condo collapse, except a failure of imagination
On July 7, the grim mission at Champlain Towers South transitioned from search and rescue to recovery. Equipment has been removed, and the dogs have been sent home, but crews still are combing the rubble for the few still missing. Blame has been cast at the homeowners’ association, the land on which the tower was […]
Bass column: How I fought the HOA so I could fly the ‘W’ flag again (OH)
I could not believe the email I was reading. That team flag I was flying at my townhouse? Stop doing that. That sign of joy that baseball had returned from the pandemic and my team had won? Take it down. Read the entire article……………………………….
A Divided and Insufficiently Taxed House Cannot Stand
“It’s not just condominium buildings that are showing their age,” Peter Coy writes in a piece critiquing the condominium form of ownership for underinvesting in maintenance. Coy just as easily could have been describing American democracy that is showing its age in similar ways. Read the entire article……………………………….
Nikki Fried blasts decades of deregulation for Surfside condo collapse
Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried said more than two decades of building deregulations led to the condo collapse in Surfside that killed at least 95, left 14 missing, and displaced scores of residents. Read the entire article……………………………….
Legislative Changes on the Horizon (FL)
The tragic Champlain Towers South collapse has resulted in an outpouring of support worldwide, while also raising safety concerns among those who reside in community associations in Florida. Read the entire article……………………………….
I was in Surfside when the condominium building was demolished. Here’s what I saw
After a series of night-shattering explosions,I watched the surviving portion of 12-story Champlain Towers South collapse upon itself in seeming slow motion, replaced by billowing clouds of white dust that quickly overtook our hotel two blocks away. Read the entire article……………………………….
As condos turn 60 years old, condo boards nationwide are ill-prepared
As those first-generation condos come of age and move past their prime, they are governed mostly by people who are not building experts. They are people like you and me who bought a unit and now serve on volunteer boards that oversee everything from mundane disputes to multi-million-dollar renovations. Read the entire article……………………………….
Aging Condos Are a ‘Ticking Time Bomb’ and Need More Oversight
It’s not just condominium buildings that are showing their age, as was the case in the deadly collapse of a condo in Surfside, Fla. The condominium form of ownership itself is under strain. Some condo buildings are even being “de-converted” to rental properties—including the 391-unit 1400 North Lake Shore Dr. in Chicago, which was bought […]
Let’s Not Focus on Blame – and Focus on Change Instead
As they say…hindsight is 20/20. The tragedy in Surfside rips your guts out. I had to go there and see it for myself. I did. I then walked over to the memorial and saw pictures of the victims, including little kids, entire families and you wonder how anything like this could have possibly happened. Immediately […]
The Florida Condo Collapse — Lots of Blame to Go Around
While politicians in Washington continue to play games with an urgently needed $1 trillion infrastructure relief bill, the nation was hit full force with the cost of ignoring what needs to be rebuilt in this country. The collapse of half of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Florida, should act as a red flag […]
A volunteer board with no government oversight: What could go wrong?
A few years ago, as our son and his wife were considering how and where to build their home, he laid down this condition: “We’re not building a house anywhere that has a homeowners association.” When he made that assertion around our kitchen table, I was a little surprised. Today, in light of the Surfside […]
Miami condo collapse shows how the U.S. keeps getting disaster response wrong
Already experts are arguing about who should have done what regarding the apparent failure of the complex’s structural integrity. But a second fight is brewing about who should have called whom when. And unlike the engineering of a single building, this controversy is relevant for all search-and-rescue missions for major American disasters. Read the entire […]
My View: Measure to stop Arizona forced condo conversion to be included in final budget
The stalled passage of the 2021-2022 state budget has left uncertainty about numerous areas of Arizona’s public finances and related policy. The final budget comes together by means of members developing and amending a bill that is then sent to the governor just like any other bill. One policy change in this year’s budget procedures […]
Divided we fall: Helping address inequality in community associations
Decades-long social movements have made progress in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in communities and workplaces across the U.S., but challenges to address inequality remain. Recent incidents involving the display of the Confederate battle flag in some community associations have renewed the need to understand the implications of the Civil War-era symbol. Read the entire article……………………………….
Stevenson Ranch: Best-Laid Plans (CA)
At the May Stevenson Ranch Community Association meeting, the L.A. County Public Works Department presented its plan to rehabilitate the landscaping in the Stevenson Ranch Landscape Maintenance District. On the surface, it was a plan to deal with the deteriorating condition of the landscaping. Yet, it felt canned — homogenized, processed like a TV dinner. […]
From the Community Editorial Board: HOA rules (CO)
Question: If you live under HOA rules, House Bill 1310 would allow you unfettered expression by way of posting flags and signs. Some lawmakers worry about escalating disputes among neighbors and offensive content, while others cheer free speech. Your take? Read the entire article……………………………….
HOA flag bans misunderstood, mitigate hate (CO)
Homeowners Associations, or HOAs, are based on a concept of you give up something to get something. That which you give up you know before you move into the HOA. You sacrifice homeowners’ rights to gain the advantages of living in a planned, orderly, amenity-oriented and improved-home-value community. Read the entire article……………………………….
Ethics Starts with You…
The term “Ethics” can sometimes generate different feelings and meanings for different people. However, we usually count on people of high moral character to act virtuously both in public and private. They seek the greatest amount of good for themselves and others. In this way, they are seen as moral decision-makers. Read the entire article……………………………….
Armstrong: Colorado ACLU gets it wrong on HOAs and property rights
I love the American Civil Liberties Union. I think the state and national ACLU do some great work, even though I often disagree with their policy positions. When in 1988 George H. W. Bush derided Michael Dukakis for being a “card-carrying member of the ACLU,” Dukakis should have retorted, “You’re damn right I am and […]
HOA HB 21-1310, flag messaging promotes divisiveness, solves nothing (CO)
The HOA flag bill, HB 21-1310, infringes upon an HOA’s right to govern locally, will set the stage for community divisiveness and can result in your HOA’s ambiance morphing into a cacophony of flag/sign messaging in front yards, windows and on your neighbor’s balcony or deck. The Bill states an HOA must allow “any flag, […]
Op-ed: What do pool rules have to do with supremacy? Dive in
Over the past week, while most Americans soberly reflected on the George Floyd’s murder a year earlier, our Lakeview high-rise was embroiled in a wildly different, comparatively ridiculous, controversy — showing how quickly supremacist thinking can take hold. Read the entire article……………………………….
Can HOAs Do Better? An Opinion from an HOA Board Member (CO)
Do you live in a Home Owner’s Association (HOA) Are you serving on an Executive Board like I am? Well, you are not alone, although it might feel like it some days. There are some 9,200 HOAs in Colorado where 1,850,000 Coloradans live – almost a third of the population of the State. Read the entire […]
Why Your HOA Should Make a Permanent Switch to Digital Board Meetings
Throughout the pandemic, a lot of changes were made to move business operations to the digital world. Video conferencing platforms became ubiquitous, not just for the safety they represented, but for the comfort of seeing the faces of family and friends. It is safe to say that every demographic now knows what a Zoom meeting […]
New Jersey Legislative Leaders Seek Immunity for Community Associations
The aggressive nature of COVID-19 required extraordinary measures by governing bodies – both at the national level and in every community across America – to slow and/or stop its spread. Read the entire article……………………………….
What Federal Government Policies on Equity Mean for Community Associations
On January 20, President Joe Biden signed an executive order directing all federal agencies to advance equity. What is equity, and how will the executive order impact community associations? Read the article………………………………..
Senate Bill 144 will hurt struggling Las Vegas HOAs (NV)
I would like to take some time today, to encourage you to contact your state senator to oppose Senate Bill 144. I believe this is harmful to our Las Vegas area homeowners associations. Read the article………………………………
Homeowners, not government, should decide on short-term rentals (AZ)
The article “Time to crack down on short-term rentals abuses” suggests that the way to remedy the previous bad legislation by the Arizona legislature, preventing HOA’s from banning Short Term Rentals (STR’s), is to empower local governments to make their own rules and laws preventing the abuse of STR’s. Nothing could be further from the […]
Baxley: Florida legislature should pass our Pandemic Safe HOA bill
Florida homeowners love the benefits of community associations. This has been especially true during this pandemic. Neighborhoods in my district, such as Spruce Creek, Stonecrest and SummerGlenn exemplify the unmatched professionalism and care of Florida’s community associations. Read the article…………………………………
Stevenson Ranch Landscape Death Spiral (CA)
Over the last six years, the Stevenson Ranch Landscape Maintenance District, which is managed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, has accelerated into a death spiral. Read the article………………………………………
Secrecy – a Canadian Tradition
Closer to home, the Condominium Authority of Ontario (CAO) has embraced the Canadian tradition of secrecy. Their public registry is an online database of information gathered from the more than 11,000 condominium corporations across Ontario. Yet nobody seems to know just how many condominium corporations exist in Toronto or how this breaks down by building […]
Reader: HOAs Are for Beige Neighborhoods Run by Beige Boards
Down in Littleton, a couple has faced off against its HOA regarding a Black Lives Matter flag. In Lafayette, another couple is fighting their HOA over a sign that mentions the BLM movement. “I want to have signage that promotes our values of diversity and inclusion on our own private property,” says Kristen Freaney, the […]
Virginia sets example for fair HOA solar policy
Residential solar contractors encounter plenty of speed bumps in the process from sales to installation, whether that’s tire-kickers, financing issues or logistical delays. Working with a client who lives in a homeowners association (HOA) subdivision could cost installers much more time and money. In the worst-case scenario, it can even lead to cancelled contracts. Read […]
Herring Strikes Blow for Emotional Support Animals (VA)
Attorney General Mark Herring has issued a press release touting his victory in compelling a Pulaski County townhouse community to accommodate a couple with an emotional support animal. Read the article………………………………..
Are We Actually Talking About Deferred Maintenance?
This may seem a little crazy, but what if we boil down something as complex as climate change, by asking a couple of questions: Is ignoring climate change about the same as ignoring maintenance on something like, let’s say, your home? Deferred maintenance… is that what this whole thing, really, is all about? I got […]
Modernizing HOA Law or Exploiting a Crisis? (VA)
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” -Winston Churchill. The Virginia General Assembly is currently in session. One interesting bill to Virginia homeowners is 2021 HB1816. This bill seeks to amend the Property Owners Association Act and Virginia Condominium Act regarding the use of “electronic means” for meetings and voting. Making videoconference a larger […]
Is Manatee County Becoming a Defacto Metro? (FL)
As development continues to grow unabated in Manatee County, the unincorporated areas of the County look like a patchwork quilt of residential development. Many of the nation’s leading home builders are establishing both small and large pockets of development in these unincorporated areas. Read the article…………………………………
The Silver Lining – Condominium Meetings and Accessibility (ON)
The fact that we’ve been forced to meet virtually has, I think, given some owners greater access to condominium meetings. [Note that owners who don’t have access to a computer can attend by phone, and can participate quite effectively, which also helps with access to such meetings.] Here are some things we have experienced at […]