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incorrect information on advertising flyer

Started by BonnieG1 • 9 replies • 1767 views

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BonnieG1 (Nebraska)
Posts: 1,186
Posted:
After our Open House, three Board members became aware of information on our flyer that was incorrect. It stated the age was 55 (Our governing documents say 57) with a possible waiver from the Board for persons 52 or over. These are the flyers that had already been sent.
Since this is a retirement community, we cannot start allowing underage people (under 55) to move in. Actually according to our documents the age is to be 57.
We also noticed our name misspelled on one page of large print in the information packet.
The lawyer that is on the Board advised us to toss the incorrect flyers.
Our "Resident Agent" who designed the flyers chewed me out for making a decision by myself to toss the flyers. (I told her I did not make the decision by myself) She said many companies have errors in the information they send out. I think this Resident Agent may also be upset with me for siding with a "difficult" person. I was just doing my best to go by the wording of our documents.
My question is could we be sued for false advertising if someone 52 years old who has received a flyer attempts to move into a unit (43 unit condominium) and we don't allow it.?

I know I may have some typos in this post. I did proof it but don't always catch everything. Anything that I send from the Board, I have all Board Members approve before I send it.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By BonnieG1 on 10/13/2011 5:59 PM

My question is could we be sued for false advertising if someone 52 years old who has received a flyer attempts to move into a unit (43 unit condominium) and we don't allow it.?

I'm not a lawyer and I do not work within the legal profession. By take on this would be:

I doubt you would be sued for false advertising, providing you correct the mistake. Inform any realtors that you know were there of the mistake and make sure that you specify the age requirement as one of the first things with any potential buyer.

Now, if you had already accepted a bid and then found the mistake, you would probably have to pay back any fees the potential buyer had already spent.

Tim
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
Oops, should have read: My take on this
JeffR7 (California)
Posts: 251
Posted:
How are you able to limit age to 57 years old? Federal Fair Housing laws prevent discrimination based on age for any housing including HOAs. The only exception from that law are communities that are designated as 55+. If you are such community you can keep the age to 55 and older, but I don't think you can go for 57.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
Jeff,

Is it possible that HOPA specifies 55 "or older" that the minimum age limit may be set older than 55?

JeffR7 (California)
Posts: 251
Posted:
Tim, I am not an attorney, but the way I read it '55 or older' means it's limited to people of 55 years of age or older. meaning you can't say only 55, or only 55 through 65.
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
Jeff,

I'm not an attorney either. I can see an argument being made either way.

I didn't find anything in the legislation that insisted that the minimum age is only 55. However, it did define an older person as someone age 55 or older. Perhaps I missed something. Perhaps Bonnie will have an answer for us.

Tim
BonnieG1 (Nebraska)
Posts: 1,186
Posted:
Sorry, I don't have an answer. I know that I was advised on this forum that we can have more restrictive guidelines than the FHA but not less restrictive when it comes to who can live in a unit.
The Fair Housing Act just states that at least one person living in a unit needs to be 55 or older. Our documents state that the only person that can be under 55 and live in a unit is the spouse of a person 55 or older.
I don't know if we can be more restrictive regarding the 57yr age our documents require. Since our documents are 30 years old, we desparately need to amend many items in the documents.
Since I am Secretary and know how much work this will involve, I am not jumping up and down and shouting "Hooray" we get to try to amend our documents. But I know it needs to be done.
TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,061
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By BonnieG1 on 10/14/2011 2:55 AM

Since I am Secretary and know how much work this will involve, I am not jumping up and down and shouting "Hooray" we get to try to amend our documents. But I know it needs to be done.

LOL Thanks I needed that today!



FredS7 (Arizona)
Posts: 927
Posted:
I think people worry too much about being sued. The chances of being sued for a flyer (when anyone who chooses to buy needs to read and sign much more official documents) is so close to zero as to not be worth worrying about.

The BEST reason for tossing the flyers is the other editing errors. That sort of carelessness leaves a really bad impression.

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