Board decisions challenged by members

Started by GeorgeR4 • 4 replies • 1382 views

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GeorgeR4 (North Carolina)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Our board approved a home addition that clearly meets the Covenants and by-laws. some membersare very upset because it was not put top a vote at a meeting of all members. The Board has the powewr to approve. Have others run into this? George R President

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

George,

It should never be a members decision but either a committee of the Board that reviews all architectural applications or the Board. If you have 400 members, where in heck would you ever get anything passed. The Board is responsible for decisions of this nature, thru a committee or by themselves.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Why do these members feel that they should vote on something that the board has poweer to approves?

They have NOT been given the power from your documents to vote on this.

Educate your members on their voting power - when and where and how.

If they don't like the way their board votes, then vote them out at the next election.

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

George,

It's not unusual that the members are not aware of what powers the board has and that they, in most instances, have very few. In most HOAs the only vote the members get is to elect the board members and in some they also must ratify the budget and perhaps vote if a project exceeds a certain amount of money. The last two are not required in all HOAs, as the first is! It sounds like it may be time for you to educate your members. Good luck!

JanetB2 (Colorado)
Posts: 4,219

Posted:

If everything meets the covenants and by-laws, and was approved by the appropriate committee then there should be no reason for the homeowners to be upset. This is the reason most HOA's have an "Architectural Committee" to oversee these type issues to not waste the entire HOA homeowners time to oversee.

If the change did not meet the covenants and other documentation, then they would have a reason to be concerned. As others stated ... it would benefit everyone to have an educational meeting.

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