Are the members in arrears a secret

Lynne,

Typically, the members who are in arrears are protected by privacy laws. Therefore, the Association may tell you the number of lots not current in their payments but not who.

Some State laws require that a membership list of those eligible to vote be made available to any member who asks. Having this list and using a simple process of elimination can identify who is or isn't current on assessments. To find out if this is the law in your State check your States HOA and corporate laws.

The process of determining a quorum will depend on the language in your governing documents. I've seen them say a quorum consists of:

x% of the membership
x% of the members entitled to vote
x% of class A and x% of class B members

Sometimes, it will depend on the issue itself. IMO, a quorum for a general meeting is 10% of the members entitle to vote. If we are voting on an increase in Assessments or a Spacial Assessment, the quorum jumps to 60% of those entitled to cast but - if a quorum isn't reached at that meeting - if you follow the notice requirements and hold another meeting within 60 days then the quorum is halved.

Therefore, you will need to read your governing documents to answer your question on quorums.

As for seeing the ballots, typically anyone within the Association may request to view the records of the membership. This would include the ballots. This way you can verify the count. A secret ballot just means that the ballot was cast without a name or lot number on it. Sometimes your State laws will assist you here as well. Check your States corporate law as well as any HOA/Condo laws.

Hope this helps,

Tim

Lawrence,

It would vary by State. Typically, an Association may keep from disclosing lawyer client information. There are typically other limitations as well. I suspect that this would be within your States corporate law and/or HOA laws perhaps sections of other GA laws would also apply.

A member of the Board should also keep in mind that a members right to inspect is not the same thing as a member exercising that right to inspect. The Association does not have to volunteer information that may be of questionable nature and possibly used improperly. As a matter of fact Georgia Code - Corporations and Partnerships - Title 14, Section 14-3-1602, specifically says that the member may inspect the records providing [emphasis added]:

A member may inspect and copy the records identified in subsection (c) of this Code section only if:

(b) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in subsection (a) of this Code section if the member gives the corporation written notice or a written demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy.

(c) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the following records of the corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (d) of this Code section and gives the corporation written notice at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy:

d) A member may inspect and copy the records identified in subsection (c) of this Code section only if:

(1) The membeŕs demand is made in good faith and for a proper purpose that is reasonably relevant to the membeŕs legitimate interest as a member;

(2) The member describes with reasonable particularity the purpose and the records the member desires to inspect;

(3) The records are directly connected with this purpose; and

(4) The records are to be used only for the stated purpose

If you read through the codes, you will see that they point to other sections of law as well. I did not take the time to fully investigate this.

I personally, see zero issue reporting at the annual meeting that there are 10 lots who are behind in paying assessments. I do believe that there are issues if you report the names or the numbers of the lots. Just do a search on this forum about releasing names of delinquent members and you will see that this issue tends to be discussed every year.

Not knowing GA law, I can not provide you specifics for GA.

As I said, each State is different. In Virginia, the laws are very specific about what you may not release to other members: § 55-510. Access to association records Once you click the link scroll down to "C. Books and records kept by or on behalf of an association may be withheld from inspection and copying to the extent that they concern:" if you are interested.

Tim

Lawrence, you also need to see if enforcement actions between the HOA and homeowners are private either under your CC&R's or State law. Our documents for instance allow anyone to examine their own account with the COA but not their neighbor's account. If you have something similar then IMO the information should not be released. You also need to decide where the threshold for releasing the information is, one day late, ten, thirty. In the beginning our COA used to publish the names in the news letter. Later Boards have taken the stand that while the membership has the right to know how much is in arrears they don't need to know the names. We tell the homeowners that demand the information to visit the County Court web site, there they can see who the COA has filed a lien against which happens at the 90 day mark and is then public record.

Lynne are members in arrears not allowed to vote? I ask because not every CC&R or State law allows members in arrears to be denied a vote.

(19) may suspend any right or privilege of a unit owner that fails to pay an assessment, but may not:

(A) deny a unit owner or other occupant access to the owner’s unit;

(B) suspend a unit owner’s right to vote;

(C) prevent a unit owner from seeking election as a director or officer of the association; or

(D) withhold services provided to a unit or a unit owner by the association if the effect of withholding the service would be to endanger the health, safety, or property of any person.

************************************************************************************

God forbid there be any actual consequences for their actions; it might hurt their self-esteem.

Glen - How can any one deny you access to your home(unit) because you are behind on a debt? Even your mortgage company would have to do a full legal foreclosure and serve you eviction papers before they could lock you out. And that is because they own your house.

All HOA members have this problem when gathering petitions or trying to get enough of a quorum for a special meeting (remember an attendance and who voted list in addition to the quorum is required for any special meeting called without Board approval, else you can't prove the vote was valid for the reason you mention). Your real problem is that while this is a problem for you as a single shareholder, it is not a problem for the Board of Directors or the HOA itself. They will both continue quite nicely if your petition never gets the required # of valid signatures.

As a general rule of thumb, HOA Board members have to be careful whenever disclosing information someone may object to the releasing of. They are elected people and the possible repercussions of a release is always dancing around in the back of their minds. Likewise, if you have er, lets call them loudmouths in your community they will complain loudly about almost everything. Heaven forbid you as a Board member disclose to the public that the pompous loudmouth is a dead beat. You would definitely hear about it. It is only in the funny papers that they slink off embarrassed. More likely you would hear accusations that this is a lie, the Board is embezzling our money, sign this petition to remove so and so from the Board, underground newsletters designed to look like the real one but full of fake info, you have slandered and libeled me, yada, yada, yada, etc. Heck they may even sue. In some states it is easier for an indigent to file a lawsuit than it is for someone with a job. About 40% of the time if they are behind on their assessments, they are also often behind on their mortgage too. A person in such a position loses very little by launching an expensive lawsuit (and as zero hour approaches) will only settle if the HOA wipes out the debt and issues a retraction and a compensation check. He/she is broke so there is little point in the HOA counter suing.

Additionally, sometimes the deadbeat isn't really a deadbeat, just someone nice who is having a hard time financially. Why should a Board member intentionally embarrass that person by calling attention to what may be the single rough spot in their life? Sometimes they default for awhile, but next month they get the new job and they bring everything up to date and never bobble again.

The response of my HOA in our annual report is X # of units are in arrears. If questioned, we may provide the tax map # of the lots in arrears. Let whichever person is inquiring go to the courthouse and look that up. Likewise, our docs provide for commencement of collection actions within 30 days of default. If asked who we sued last year, assuming someone is too lazy to log on to the Internet and look on the courts website, then we would simply release the names of the suits, and let them research the court records to figure out which one was a warrant of debt and which one had a yard with grass too tall or their flagpole was too high.

On the other hand, we have been around so long hardly anyone except Board members attends Board meetings, so bad habits creep in and sometimes the lines between Executive Session and Open Meeting get ignored (easy to do if only Board members are present) so that a deadbeat may occasionally be named when the Treasurer provides their monthly financial report to the Board or when some Board member talks about their meeting last week with the HOA attorney handling the collections. Although they know better, the bad habits have become so ingrained that sometimes names slip out in open session even when a member is actually present with an architectural request or something similar. Rumors then spread.

Further we take the attitude that while any member is entitled to a list of names showing who else owns what, that person's actual resident mailing address or unlisted home telephone # is not something (in VA) we are required to release. Of course this is wasted effort as all of the info is usually freely available for the asking at the County Tax Assessors office. And more than once frustrated people have gotten it there rather than from us. That's fine. We protected their privacy, it is the County that didn't.

Lynne,

No. There is no privacy issue involved here at all. The legal standard for an actionable privacy violation is an act that falls into 1 of 4 categories:

1. Intrusion upon a person's solitude or seclusion
2. Public disclosure of private facts (e.g., unreasonable publicity given to someone's private life)
3. False-light publicity (e.g., publicity that places someone in a false light before the public)
4. Appropriation of someone's name or likeness

Only number 2 is even close, and a public disclosure requires a public-wide disclosure, and not a disclosure within the membership of an HOA.

-L

Lawrence C1 said "In either case, privacy laws do not prohibit the release of information that is limited to members of a common interest association. "

That was what I thought I had heard in the past. But, I wanted to hear it again. Also getting the management company to give me any info has been very difficult. I recently (this week) again asked for the names of the H/owners so when we have our special meeting and count votes, I can verify the actual H/O voted and not a tenant. I was told on a bulletin board blog "NO"! Not an e-mail to me or a phone call.

In Fact this is what was posted
" Personal Information -
The following statement was posted in the last two months, but, since repeated requests have been made for homeowners' personal information, we want to put out a reminder to everyone. Neither Board members nor any management company or its agents give out any personal information about any homeowner for personal use (including but not limited to names, addresses, phone numbers, residents in arrears, collections, liens, or foreclosures). That has always been the policy and there can be no exceptions. Board members may have this information only for the purpose of conducting a decision-making process in the community. Thank you"

My request was not for my Personal use but an HOA special Meeting. But I
am spitting into the wind!

I also, really wanted to reply and thank you for all of your input and helpful advice!
LV

You could also request a list of all members from the HOA which they have to give to you and request which members are in good Standing which they are in most cases suppose to give to you depending on state law.