Court Whacks Directors with a $500,000 Attorney Fee Award!

(And , the jury said they weren't negligent!)

This actually happened in Ritter & Ritter v Churchill Condominium Association (decided August 21, 2008). The case is also the newest judicial statement on the scope of an association's duty to maintain common area and its rules are a “must know” for all community association directors and managers of condominiums as well as planned developments and co-ops. We suspect many of the case facts will be familiar:   Read more

National Fire Prevention Week and Condos

Last year there were over 1,000 fires in condominiums around the country.  As bad as that number is, that is only the tip of the problem .   When a single-family home catches fire, the fire departments usually can put the blaze out before it spreads.   In a condominium association, fires almost always spread to multiple units in minutes, before the firefighters can even get there.  Owners and renters who live in condominium units need to take extra care in preventing fires as these accidents can have a severe impact on neighbors, sometimes resulting in injury or death. A condo association board can take the lead in working with the residents in helping to prevent fires.  With responsibility for the common areas, the board should make sure that an annual fire prevention inspection is part of their routine and that it isn’t overlooked in the rush of other association business.  The board can also look at adopting common-sense rules to make sure that resident’s don’t overlook fire safety in day-to-day activities.       Read more  (Word DOC)

Hiring Right and Training Professionally

Today's condominium owners pay top prices for their units and those prices include not only the unit, but the many amenities that go along with community living.  Well-trained, conscientious staff members are essential to fulfill owners' high expectations.  However, the growing number of South Florida condominiums has stretched the labor pool's ability to "cater" to those residents.  Until recently, hiring and retaining personnel who are able to meet the expectations of condominium clientele has been a difficult task, with employee turnover running high in some cases.  Read more  (PDF)

Look Ahead to 2009 and Your Association’s Maintenance Budget and Your Association’s Maintenance Budget

As we close the month of August, remember that it is budget time for the majority of homeowner associations. As a board member, one of your more daunting tasks and responsibilities is to prepare an appropriate budget for the coming year. Take an objective look at your community’s maintenance needs and what you were not able to accomplish in 2008 due to lack of funding. Now is the time to incorporate these items into your budget for 2009. Communities are another year older and deterioration caused by extreme weather conditions (heat, rain, snow, wet and cold) continues. Managing the upkeep, repairs, and replacements of common elements are at the core of one of the primary responsibilities of the board. Items to consider for maintenance should include:    Read more

Latest Edition of APRA newsletter now available

IN THIS EDITION Future Forecasting  Unlike weather predicting, this really works. Ask the Professional Reserve Analyst.  Advice worth heeding. Powder Problem.  How to cure efflorescence. Why Maintain Asphalt?  Maximize your underfoot asset. Bob’s Rules of Disorder.  Person who shouts loudest shall have the floor  Read more (PDF)   (APRA - Association of Professional Reserve Analysts)

The Business Judgment Rule and How It Protects Directors and Officers

As the attorney for a goodly number of common interest communities, in any given week I receive telephone calls, letters and e-mails which fall into the following categories: (list)

My advice to my clients in all of these situations has one common thread – the Business Judgment Rule.  The Business Judgment Rule is a legal principle which holds that an officer or director who makes a decision using reasonable judgment will not be held personally liable for that action.   Read more

Authoritarian Boards, Public Rancor and One Board's Wise Compromise

Most boards keep an eye out for red flags. The board at Brooklyn's Willoughby Walk Cooperative Apartments, however, kept an eye out for a red, white, and blue flag — and in the process invested hours of time and attorney fees, got a black eye in the media and went up against the spirit of a federal law so patriotic it's got both "Freedom" and "American Flag" in its name. Here's a case study of both how authoritarianism can create unnecessary problems reaching far beyond the walls of a co-op, and how compromise and creativity can lead to Solomonic solutions.   Read More

HOA Barking Lots

Locations like the Pacific Northwest are blessed with an abundant supply of bark mulch, a byproduct of the timber industry, for use in landscaped beds. Blessed because, while mulch cover is highly prized for planting beds, few areas of the country have access to such a desirable material for this purpose. Those that do not have access to bark mulch make do with materials such as chopped pine needles (called "pine straw") or the large, irregular chunks of shredded hardwood bark. Those that can get bark mulch have several high-quality options from the bark of Fir and Hemlock trees, ground to various uniform sizes.  Read more

Does Your Roof Have You Covered?

Budget time has come and gone, New England has had several snow storms, your maintenance budget has already been exhausted due to roof leaks…… and it’s only February.  What do you do? You scramble to get quotes for roof replacements, have an association meeting to try to explain to the community why you need to do a special assessment or secure a loan for a capital improvement project.  In the end, you hope that the project and financing are approved. Does this sound familiar?  If so, you should know how to identify the signs that your roofs are either failing or nearing the end of their life expectancy.  Here are the danger signs that you can look for:   Read more

Insurance Policies Help Protect Your Association's Funds

You read about them every day in newspaper headlines—cases of theft and fraud involving homeowners associations and many other types of businesses. Associations face a variety of issues and, unfortunately, embezzlement and lawsuits are a common occurrence across the country. There are particular types of insurance policies that are in place to help you protect your association’s money.   Read more

Making the Case for Eco-Friendly Living

Change is good, as the saying goes. And it’s even better when that change both saves money and helps the environment. Sometimes, though, change can be difficult. That’s especially true when it affects the places we live and possibly impacts our wallets. This is why residents can be a bit reluctant when their board or management announces a shift to greener living, a change that inevitably will help save energy and improve living conditions but may also cost a few dollars to get the ball rolling.   Read more

Some Legal Issues

Case from DIRT - the Internet legal discussion group on for real estate professionals

08/06 Is parking of commercial vehicles in the driveway a violation of no business subdivision restriction

From HUD - Fair Housing Authority Discrimination Cases

PUERTO RICO CONDO ASSOCIATION MUST PAY $17,000 FOR DENIAL OF ACCESSIBLE PARKING SPACE. Read the Consent Order.

HUD charges owners, managers of Las Vegas condo complex for denial of accessible parking space. Read the charge.

Heating, Insulation, Maintenance: Prepping Your Building for Winter

There's no way to completely "winterize" a building, but that doesn't mean you can't make sure everything is watertight and in operating order before the cold sets in. Winter is particularly hard on buildings that suffer from water penetration, because trapped water expands as it freezes, causing bricks and masonry to crack and loosen.  Even if you follow a year-round maintenance program — the best prevention — you should still attend to your building's exterior envelope and address key elements of the mechanical systems before the onset of winter. Here's how, in a step-by-step checklist for prepping your indoor and outdoor mechanical systems and your general building exterior. Read More

Is CSR to blame for America's financial collapse?

You may have thought the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the need to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was down of financial arrogance, toxic loans and managerial incompetence within the banking community. But perhaps it is more because they failed to practice corporate social responsibility properly.   Read more

Community Controversies and the Media

There is nothing an association can do in advance that will guarantee that it will not have to cope with controversies in the community. However, an association can do things that will make it less likely that a controversy will surface and if it does, that resolution will be successful.  Read more  (PDF)