Can a President of hoa do work for hoa

I don't want to give you the legal advice and I'm curious as to what other's say as well. I'm in a similar situation as I as well as one of the other board members do some of the more minor work around our complex (lightbulb changing, minor painting/mowing). It is my interpretation that this is the reason our HOA has Worker's Comp insurance. I questioned as to why we had it and were paying @$700/annually for Worker's Comp when we have no employees. My understanding is that if either myself or the other board member were injured while doing work, the comp would kick in. I'm hoping there's a Property & Casualty Insurance agent on the forum here that could confirm or deny this. As for whether we pay the board member, yes we do pay him a trivial amount, just a few bucks. I don't take any payment though as I do it more to be a good neighbor and I kind of like doing it.

Unless there is a provision in your CC&R's that require all vendors to have a license, I don't think there was anything improper here. Since he "cleaned up rust" - I doubt there was any construction done that would require a contractor's license under Florida law. There is nothing wrong with hiring the presidents husband who is not a Board member to do small jobs as long as he is treated like any other laborer. And since they paid him by check and will probably 1099 him if required; I don't see anything improper here. Now if they continue to hire him for other small jobs you may have a valid complaint but I would let this one go.

GlenL has the correct perspective on the issue.

I didn't read the first posting clearly enough as the HOA president's husband is a welder by trade. To me, that would be a qualified person to handle rusty metal.

It's a judgement call on the behalf of the board. If residents generally trust the board's leadership and direction, it will be a worthy and efficient hiring. If there's distrust, then nothing will convince the residents that this hiring was nothing more than cronyism.

At the end of the day, was the bill reasonable and was the work what was needed?

One more thing that just came to mind. If this work was performed because the unit owner would not do so then I would guess the cost of these repairs could and should be placed back on the unit owner not the HOA.

So that would result in no cost to the HOA and a job well done.

I really appreciate all the feed back on my concern. I should have been a little mor explect on a few issues and will explain a little further.

On the Rust issue. Here in Florida we have wells which are about 150 feet in depth and used just for water our lawns and each home owner has their own well and watering system. However the water in the ground has a lot of Iron content and when the water lands on the pavement, sidewal, and house it turns to dirty rust color.

In Florida all contractors must have a permit and also have lilabity Insurance to do work. A H.O.A.is a legal Cooperation and should not hire a person to do work for the H.O.A. and receive a Check for their services. Now if the person does do the work as a volunteer then fine for he is not being paid by a cooperation.

Having a resident do work who is not licenced and gets paid to do a job which he or she is not quailified to do is like throwing money away. What if the job is not correctly? What if the owner of the property files a law suite who pays the legal action which will be nessacery to defend the achtions of the boards vote? I am sure the H.O.A. pays.

The issue is there are qualified people who have been trained, have proper papers, and proper insurance, to cover themselves but also the cooperation they are providing a service to. There is another issue here which the board and others have over looked. That is what is called a conflict of interest, for why not send a request for bids, or even ask for a volunteer from the residents.

The property in quest has received four letters to take action on cleaning the rust (there are many companies quailifed in Florida to do this) and have not taken any action on their own. That is the reason the H.O.A. stepped in.

I agree with hiring a person who will do work on ones property and not be to cercerned on the legal issues but I still would be he.

Now here is the kicker to this whole issue and now what does the H.O.A. do? The rust was cleaned up three weeks ago and the Board paid and now it has all returned again so what happens now?? Shoul they have hired a proffessional we the Homeowners could have had some e\leagle recourse but now do they just hire the Presidents husband again?

One should always look at all the facts before making a rash decision.

Bill,

If the rust has returned so quickly, then the owner might want to have a professional look at the well. Something might be going on from down below that can be remedied with a look. What area of the State are you in? I believe that there is a treatment that can bee added to the well which might help. This is the very reason why our covenants prohibit wells in the developement. Some tried to sneak them in but after a letter from the HOA with the possibility of hefty fining, they all stopped the drilling before it got finished.