Association Attorney?

MC4---we have a very open communication process among the Board Members, the Association Attorney and the Manager. ALL e-mails and written communications are CC'd to ALL of the above. The manager and myself (the secretary/treasurer) receive hard copies (in the mail) of all legal papers and letters.

Does this help?

Stan,

From your posts, you are a disgruntled homeowner. Sueing the Board in my opinion is the incorrect way to solve problems with them. Get on the Board, do the job for a while and then you will know that being a Board member is a thankless job with critics coming out of the wall at every turn.

Make changes where they seem to be in need, do it thru the system and open up your mind to being an activist for you association. There are always 2 ways to solve problems. Make the positive choice, save your money that you waste in attorney fees and become a better association member. Merry Xmas to you.

Stan - you're incorrect, plain & simple.

The HOA attorney doesn't represent the Board, (s)he represents the HOA which is most likely a registered corporation. The homeowners elect the Board to run the affairs of the corporation and if the owners don't like the way it's being run they have every remedy legally available to them. It's not reasonable to expect an attorney that represents a corporate (legal) entity to be representing the individual (or groups) of homeowners any more so than one would expect an attorney retained by a corporate business to instead represent individual or groups of shareholders.

Stan,

What I've gathered people are saying is the if the members of the Association do not like what the Board is doing, then the membership should step up and take charge. Sometimes the simple fact of attending the board meetings is enough. Sometimes it takes a recall effort.

Please understand that most of the regular posters on this board are or have been members of their Associations BOD. They are aware that the "ideal world" is usually a goal and not an actuality. However, we are trying to change that by becoming involved - sharing ideas, experiences, research - and by working within the system. Some of us take it personally (myself included at times) when posts that are really targeted about a specific HOA or Board are worded to be generalized about all HOA's and Board members. Call it a typical knee jerk reaction. I hope that after the knee jerk, we can move forward and discuss the topics openly and learn from them.

I can tell from your posts that you are interested in the affairs of your Association. Have you attempted to change the things you've identified to be a concern by running for the Board and/or educating the membership? Personally, I have found this to be very effective. My Association's news letter is called the Tallyho. I titled my newsletter the Tally Know and published it at my expense after every board meeting I attended. It took almost three years to have changes take hold, but it did happen.

Tim

Do I distrust HOA Boards? Yes, to the same extent I distrust politicians who use my/your fees (taxes) inappropriately. However, I like the concept of the HOA to maintain standards and quality of life just as I do with our government. I do believe in the "trut and verify" mission of homeowners. When inproprieties exist one should get involve for change.

Most lawyers will advise homeowners pursuing legal action against a Board who obviously isn't complying with their by-laws that it is costly to the resident and possibly to the HOA which means either way the homeowner loses to some extent even when they win. The Board has fiduciary responsibilities that extend to financial management. They are trusted with financial decisions and use of HOA fees/income. The point is that when they don't live up to those responsibilities and are sued (after all else fails) they are in fact using the residents money and all residents money to defend themselves against charges. The homeowner therefore is fighting against an entity they in fact financially supported. If the homeowner wins in Court they also lose as it costs the HOA to go to Court i.e. use their HOA fees. Just a fact. This also makes the playing field between the Board and a resident uneven as the Board has the financial assets of the total HOA to throw at the resident. The Board personally has nothing to lose by spending your fees to defend their actions (the HOA loses not the Board member's pocketbook). Most residents understand how costly Court can be and don't have the assets equal to the Board's (the HOA's) to play in Court. So you get the point, the Board is playing with the house's money and you with yours in taking the Board to Court.

Boards of Directors and HOA's can be effective and productive but dysfunctional HOA's are another matter. Labeling residents who get involved and discover inproprieties as disgruntled and simply angry people, with exceptions, is inappropriate and most likely indictes the resident detective is "on to something".

Glent, enough with the name calling and lawyer talking points/slogans, please debate on the basis of facts, when all that is left to defend is a hit and run slogan, we know the defense is weak, let's keep this forum on a high level