Should Our Association Maintain Right of First Refusal
I met with an individual the other day who is concerned about latent problems stemming from her cooperative's position of right of first refusal in regard to potential buyers. My thoughts on such issues are that community associations should tread very lightly when going down such a path.
Cooperatives, condominium and community associations have to be very careful that issues such as discrimination do not crop up when the association attempts to excerise this right of first refusal. Associations must be absolutely certain that the decision with respect to the right of first refusal is based upon economics and/or an unwillingness to abide by the association documents rather than race, creed, sex, etc.
Indeed, many secondary mortgage providers do not allow a right of first refusal in community association documents on which they lend money because of the possibility for discriminatory usage. Associations are best advised to get an opinion for legal counsel in regard to this very sensitive issue.