Amendments

Started by JacquelineB4 • 13 replies • 2212 views

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JacquelineB4 (Florida)
Posts: 8

Posted:

Has anyone in Florida added an amendment to their HOA Bylaws? If so, can you give me some of the steps you took to accomplish this. I have a Prop. Man. who says it costs so many thousands of dollars, must go through an attorney and it just isn't feasible. Just wanted to check. We have a couple of very simple "amendments" that need to be done, but we keep hitting brick walls from our PM. Also is there a special form that has to be completed? Thank you.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Jacqueline,

Boy, is your P.M. ever full of xxxx. Your bylaws or Articles of Inc will tell you how to deal with amendments. If you want to write simple amendments, just follow the format of your exhisting bylaws. Once you have them (the proposed changes) written and everyone agrees on the content, you can take it to an attorney for any corrections to how it is worded and it's legal content.

Once the correction comes back to the Board, then it goes out to the membership for a vote, approval or not approved. Thousands of dollars? I don't think so.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Also check your state corporation laws to see if they need to be filed with the court, county or State (or not at all). They probably have forms to help guide you in this process.

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

Tim and Jacqueline,

Any amendments to the CC&Rs, Articles or ByLaws are required to be filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Courts(this is what we call them in Fl.) in your County where the HOA is. You will need to have notorized copies of the amendment, including signatures of the President. The cost is about 20 bucks per amendment. You do not have to file anything with the State.

SharonG4 (Mississippi)
Posts: 54

Posted:

In Mississippi only the CCR's are required to be be recorded however you may choose to record the bylaws. Our bylaws can be amended by majority vote of the Board alone. They do not have to go before the general membership, so check your current bylaws and CCRs to determine the policy for your HOA

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Jacqueline, the Clerk of the Circuit Courts will more than likely have specific guidelines on the size and formatting and margins required on the filed document. You can possibly find the requirements on their website.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 1,767

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SharonG4 on 10/27/2010 11:54 PM
In Mississippi only the CCR's are required to be be recorded however you may choose to record the bylaws. Our bylaws can be amended by majority vote of the Board alone. They do not have to go before the general membership, so check your current bylaws and CCRs to determine the policy for your HOA

I checked the Bylaws of an HOA in Mississippi and it says that proposals of amendments may be propsed by the BOD or a signed petition of 25% of the membership, but that amemdments must be approved by 2/3 of each class of membership. This was from Brdigewater HOA in Ridgeland, MS

SharonG4 (Mississippi)
Posts: 54

Posted:

Richard

I guess that that particular HOA requires that their amendments to the by-laws be approved by their membership. Our community by-laws specifically state that CCR's require 2/3 approval of all members in good standing but by-laws may be amended by majority vote of the Board of Directors only. Our BOD did recently amend our by-laws and we filed them with the clerk in our county, who told us that it is not required to file by-laws in the state of MS however we filed them anyway.

I don't think that it is unusual for by-laws to be amendable by the BOD only, but I could be wrong--do most communities require membership approval?

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 1,767

Posted:

Sharon

Most, if not all CCR's and Bylaws thorughout the country, must be approved by some percentage of the Members in good standing, as well as they should.

SharonG4 (Mississippi)
Posts: 54

Posted:

Richard our CCR's do have to be approved by 2/3 of all home/lot owners in good standing. Our bylaws only have to be approved by the majority of board of directors. The bylaws mainly deal with the admin/procedural aspects not the rules and restrictions of the community.

JonD1
Posts: 2,350

Posted:

Jacqueline:

I for one would like to hear the details of your amendments.

You suggest you have a few.

And your suggestions are supported by who or how many?

Are you currently serving on the Board on your property?

LawrenceC1 (Georgia)
Posts: 480

Posted:

When we made changes to our CC&R documents we started with a request to our lawyers, who drafted the amendment in proper legal terms, and provided us with an agreement document to be signed by 2/3 of our homeowners. Cost of the service $700.00.

The biggest challenge was getting 2/3 of the members to sign. We went house-to-house several times, following up with homeowners who weren't home or "wanted to think about it". Once we had the requisite number of signatures we had the President and Secretary sign a form in the presence of a notary, and then the lawyer filed everything with the Superior Court ($37.50).

Everything about the HOA should be so easy.

RichardP13 (California)
Posts: 1,767

Posted:

Sharon

If your Bylaws are like most others, they contain rules that determine the elections in your Association. I for one, wouldn't leave that decision in the hqands of a couple of people.

SharonG4 (Mississippi)
Posts: 54

Posted:

Yes Richard they do but there is also a section that states that all bylaws must agree with the provisions of the covenants and if by chance there is disagreement then the covenants take precedence. So in the case of an election where our covenant states that you must have 2/3 of all members in good-standing either present or by proxy to meet the quorum for the election of officers----the bylaws must state the same thing. The board could not change this rule unless of course they amended the covenants first.

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