Season 3, Episode 10 of ‘Association Leadership’ New Inspections, Reserves and Insurance Legislation
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Tags: Education & Licensing
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Tags: Education & Licensing
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How Sustainable Lake Management Creates Happier, Healthier Communities (1 CE Credit).
You may have noticed the positive effects on your health and happiness when spending time around the water, but do you know the science behind this phenomenon? Humans have an undeniable connection to waterbodies. This underscores the importance of continuous freshwater management and the prioritization of sustainable techniques.
In this presentation, attendees will learn:
Partner with the aquatic management experts at SOLitude for your continuing education needs in 2022. Reply to this email to schedule a presentation in your area today!
SOLitude Lake Management is a nationwide environmental firm with local offices throughout the U.S. We are dedicated to making water a more healthy and beautiful part of our world. In that pursuit, SOLitude offers sustainable solutions that improve water quality, enhance beauty, preserve natural resources and reduce our environmental footprint. Do you have a lake, stormwater pond, wetland, or fisheries management question or concern?
Call us at 866-996-3294 or simply fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you right away.
2/17 at 1:00 PM EST! Join Becker Shareholders Steven H. Mezer, J. David Ramsey, and Senior Attorney JoAnn Nesta Burnett for this online class where you will learn about the Fair Housing laws on the state, federal and local level that impact community operations and actions with respect to requests to maintain emotional support animals on the property despite pet or animal restrictions.
WEBINAR Florida
Virtual HOA Board Member Certification Course Tuesday, December 8, 2020 from 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
Join us for this Virtual HOA Board Certification Course taught by Emily Gannon from Kaye Bender Rembaum. We will also have a “Board Member Best Practices” presentation during the course presented by Campbell Property Management. This session is for Board Members of Homeowners Associations only – NOT Condo Associations.
WEBINAR Florida
CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION BOARD MEMBER CERTIFICATION December 9th 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm Course #: 9630075 | Provider #: 0005092 | 2 CEs in IFM or ELE Join us for this Virtual Condo Board Certification Course taught by Allison L. Hertz from Kaye Bender Rembaum. We will also have a “Board Member Best Practices” presentation during the course presented by Campbell Property Management. This session is for Board Members of Condominium Associations only – NOT Homeowners’ Associations. Hosted by Campbell Property Management. Webinar Online
WEBINAR Florida
WEBINAR- “HARASSMENT, CYBER-STALKING, DEFAMATION & SLANDER IN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS” December 10th 11:00 am – 12:30 pm Harassment, Cyber stalking. Defamation & Slander in Community Associations: What the $%@# Did You Say to Me? Instructor: Shawn G. Brown, Esq., BCS An informative seminar covering various forms of communication and threats in Community Associations, including Facebook, Twitter and Next Door; how it affects those directly involved, how it affects the community, and how it affects the operations of the association; and what types of communication are protected. Note that there is no CE credit for this webinar.
State of Florida Property Management Associations events brings attendees from all over the State of Florida – information, insights, and expertise, where amazing relationships are formed. Members and Clients tell us the time spent with their peers at events are invaluable. We’d love to hear from you- for questions, comments, or ideas, Note: as of now these members events are virtual, we hope to soon have in class education events in the future.
contact: membership@sfpma.com
Tags: Condo and HOA, Condo and HOA Board of Directors, Events Meetings and Courses, Management News
Cash Flow in Your Community Association by Alexa and Guests: Alan Seilhammer, Zed LaCour, and Mitchell Drimmer President, Axela Technologies July 22 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm EDT Register Here If you live in a Condo or HOA, every year the Board of Directors is required to create a budget that will cover all the anticipated expenses (and hopefully they will also fund your reserve budget). If everything goes to plan then your community association is running like a Swiss Watch. If you plan well and accurately, your budget will perform as it should. Yet, as Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan until they get hit.” Even with the best budgets community associations will be greeted with surprises. Some of these surprises can be natural disasters, significant failures of expensive mechanical installations, an economic downturn resulting in delinquencies, and a host of many other events that are unknown and unpredictable. This Webinar with a Community Association Manager, Banker, and Collections Expert will address what happens and what can be done when a community association finds itself behind from a cash flow perspective. We will discuss how community associations can control and maintain a consistent cash flow.
Now to be fair if Condo or HOA Docs already include Violations and Fining in their Buildings or on their properties then a Board may violate an owner or owners for the violations. Most do not! even with this every Board must abide by what is written in the Laws of Florida. Below and part of this article is an Article our Friends at the Cooperator published and hit the nail on the head with Boards Power and we feel Lack of Education!
Condo owners often complain that their board doesn’t do enough, or that the board members aren’t involved as much as they would like in the administration and maintenance of their building. While a disinterested or apathetic board is certainly a problem, going to the other extreme can be just as bad…or maybe even worse. Board members who let their power go to their heads can be a liability to their building community on many levels, but of particular concern is a board that oversteps its bounds and intrudes on the privacy and agency of individual residents.
Understanding the boundaries and limitations of your power is something that every board member needs to realize or else trouble—including legal problems—can result.
Another Question came in: This Board ruled that Washers and Dryers are no longer allowed in the units, Even though there are areas in every unit where water hookup and venting has occurred in the past? The owner stated that there was NO owners vote and this was never placed into the Condo Docs….He did find, The Board made a deal with a company to place machines on each floor of a 14 story building and the board wants owners to use these machines to bring in money to help pay for these! So the board took a secreat Vote and approved this spending money of the owners with no vote! He asked us is that legal?
Balancing what is right and what is expected can be tricky for boards — so much so that sometimes, board members and non-board members alike wonder why people bother to serve in the first place.
“I always tell my fellow board members and clients that if you’re going to be on a board, you are basically a sacrificial lamb,” says Luigi Rosabianca, managing partner of the Manhattan-based law firm Rosabianca & Associates PLLC. “You don’t get paid for it, but by doing so you are providing a service to your building. It’s not only a way to protect your investment, but also your quality of life—but [board members] have to learn what being on a board means, and not to overstep their bounds.”
What can a board member really do about an ongoing noise complaint, for example? What sort of majority is needed if a vote in enacted to change something within the condo or co-op? Can a board impose rules regarding security or visitors?
Questions like these can usually be answered by reading the co-op or condo’s official governing documents, says Al Pennisi of the law firm of Pennisi Daniels & Norelli LLP in Rego Park. “The powers are designated in the corporate documents—the certificate of corporation and the bylaws—and some of the additional powers are listed in the offering plan and amended in the offering plan when it’s a co-op conversion. Primarily, it’s the corporate documents and enhanced by case law.”
It’s essential that anyone who is elected to their board read and understand what they can and cannot do as a board member. “You need to do it with all the knowledge necessary,” Rosabianca says. “The first thing you need to do is read the offering plan or prospectus as well as the bylaws, which very specifically outline what the board’s powers and limitations are.”
In addition to the documents, a new board member can also get advice and instruction from those already involved in the process. “When someone new comes on, they get instruction from owners, management companies and other board members if they aren’t educated about those sort of things,” says David J. Byrne, a shareholder attorney with the law firm of Stark & Stark, with offices in New York and in New Jersey. “In a practical setting, they don’t always read the documents they should.”
Condos and co-ops have different rules, and their boards have very different powers. Even comparing co-op to co-op or condo to condo will find differences, so just because you served on the board of one building doesn’t mean your current board will operate exactly the same way. Your powers and limitations will be most likely be different on any board you serve.
“The power a board has in a co-op is different than that of a condo,” Pennisi says. “Co-op boards do have more power than condo boards because they control the use of the apartments, they control the sales and leases where in a condo, the unit owner can sell at his or her discretion. Condo boards have less power but both boards can make and enforce rules and regulation pursuant to the documents.”
One of the chief complaints among residents who think their board has overstepped its bounds arises when someone—a super, handyman, or other building staff member—enters their home without permission, usually to check out something like a leak or electrical problem.
“With condos and co-ops you have classic communal living—and with communal living there are certain sacrifices that have to be made,” Rosabianca says. “You are conceding that your neighbors have certain rights to access common elements in the building, and that [building staff] may periodically need to access to your unit.”
Let’s say there is a leak in unit 4F that will affect the owner’s quality of life downstairs in 3F in not taken care of. If the owner in 4F can’t be reached to let building staff into the unit, it is reasonable to expect that the super or repair person will access the apartment to deal with the situation—with or without express permission from the owner of 4F. Upsetting as it might be to think of strangers entering one’s home without permission or supervision, that access is considered reasonable if it’s deemed necessary under the circumstances.
“I always use the ‘reasonableness standard,’” says Rosabianca, “which is vague, but most management companies are really well versed and know what to do and what not to do in situations like these. As a rule of thumb, you should ask, ‘Is this in the best interest of the building?’”
According to Pennisi, co-op documents require you to give the board access to your apartment to make repairs—but that’s not usually the case in condos.
“If there’s a leak in the walls [of your condo,] they just can’t go in and break the door down,” he says. “It has to be a bona fide emergency. If water is leaking under your door and the super or manager has tried calling you and they can’t get in touch with you, they have right to break in and make repairs. I always tell my boards to bring a witness and go in with a camera and take pictures of what the apartment looked like. Don’t go by yourself in case something is stolen and it’s your word against theirs.”
Security in buildings has become a tricky issue in recent years, and since most governing documents were written prior to current concerns about terrorism and other threats, boards sometimes enact security measures that some residents feel may go a bit too far. But does having an especially robust security program in a co-op building ever cross the line from “overzealous” into “invasion of privacy?”
“There could be ‘too much’ security in a practical way or an economical way but not really from a legal point of view,” says Byrne. “The boards probably have a pretty broad discretion to set rules on security, so although it might seem like they are overstepping their power, they aren’t really.”
Some boards feel it’s necessary to have cameras all over their building, a thorough ID check for all visitors, and building access controls that residents may feel are going too far. Some buildings require key code access or card access, and some use cameras to record people coming and going. While it’s fair to say that most residents get a certain peace-of-mind from knowing access to their building is tightly controlled, others find it intrusive, says Pennisi.
“People say, ‘You have no right to take my picture coming and going,’ or they object to having their Social Security number used as an ID” Pennisi continues. “But a number of courts have ruled that [building rules] supercede the individual’s right, because [buildings] have the right to know who’s coming and going. You can’t publish their information or show the videos, however. That would be going too far.”
When it comes to what boards and managers can do with any personal information they collect on building residents, civil rights and privacy laws have the final word. In short, boards and management are prohibited from making any of that information public.
Unfortunately however, “Things happen like that all the time,” says Rosabianca. “People make mistakes …most of the time it’s just errors, rather than fraud. I’m on a couple of boards where they distribute board applications to all board members, and they include a lot of personal details. You’d like to think that your board members are responsible with the information and will shred the information afterwards.”
If materials are being handled properly, Rosabianca continues, one copy of your personal information should be kept under lock and key at the manager’s office—and no one on the board should be distributing that information, or keeping copies for themselves. Some boards are even policing themselves in this respect by blacking out certain information on sensitive documents they see in the course of carrying out their duties to the building.
Though rare, there have been cases where board members have—either through negligence or ignorance—acted improperly with building information or money. Michael Crespo, president of Citadel Property Management Corp. in Manhattan, says he recently dealt with an unscrupulous treasurer.
“We recently had a situation where, in an effort to clear up the books of a building we’d just begun managing, we asked the board’s treasurer if it would be OK to send out two deposit checks that had been collected for [construction] work and move-in fees several years prior,” he says. “The deposits were clearly for a one-time item, and there really was no reason to keep holding on to them—they were just throwing off the balances, and we wanted to clean it up. The board’s treasurer suggested that we do a journal entry and make them ‘disappear.’”
Crespo says that after explaining that these were real deposits that were owed to shareholders, “The treasurer continued to press the issue and explained that he had done this type of thing at his job all the time. In either case, I explained that we know the difference between correcting a journal entry and sweeping someone’s money under the carpet. Needless to say, the shareholders in question (who were also on the board) wanted their money. We ended up cutting them a check.”
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While the vast majority of board members take their position in stride and are solely interested in doing what’s best for their building community, some board members do let authority go their head. Most managers and board attorneys have at least one or two stories about boards imposing ridiculous rules on their residents—regardless of whether they actually have the authority to do so.
“Boards do sometimes abuse their power,” Byrne says. “I’ve encountered boards that don’t actually have published rules, yet think they do. There are boards that set unreasonable restrictions on things, or think they have the power to charge residents fines when they don’t.”
Other examples of boards overstepping their bounds and abusing their position include members trying to get family members elected to the board or overseeing applications for people they know, or giving work contracts to friends or family.
“Those are the type of ‘wink-wink’ things you see,” Rosabianca says. “You really want to avoid these types of conflicts. If you are on a board, you should be above the fold. You shouldn’t be soiling your hand.”
Keeping a board in check and on the right side of propriety and the law could be something as simple as pointing out that more rules are not always better.
“We simply like to remind the boards that we deal with that when they implement excessive amounts of rules that infringe upon their neighbors, these rules will often come back to bite the people who created them,” Crespo says. “We’ve seen it time and again: a board puts practices into effect that are very difficult to enforce, and which the very people who implemented them are the ones who end up violating them the most. This is where we like to be the voice of reason. We ask that boards be realistic and use discretion, and ask if they would like these rules enforced upon them.”
We need more Education where Board Members who are controlling the best for each and every owner should have to be Licensed the same way as Building Managers are, or financial money managers! What to you think?
Tags: Condo and HOA Board of Directors, Condo and HOA Laws, Management News
Tags: Business Articles, Condo and HOA Board of Directors, Events Meetings and Courses, Management News, Member Highlights