conveyance of property

We are a 55 and over community. The developer's board was in place for five years. After the expiration of the five years, he prepared and filed a Conveyance of property document which was signed by his board ( no member of the 55 + community was on the board. After five or six months elapsed he happened to mention to one of the residents that certain property was turned over to the Association. Once this was made known, the community assembled its own board at a meeting of the members. First Question: Is that conveyance valid?

Three years later he entered into a Quit Claim Deed with the then board president
transferring certain private streets in the development to the association. However a paragraph in the Deed reads as follows: "This transfer is made for convenience sake and the purchaser will transfer the property to the seller when requested to do so." Is this a valid transfer?

Our Restrictions provide that we must maintain the private streets whether conveyed or not. I'm assuming that the conveyance documents shift liability to the Association but since we are obligated by our legal documents to maintain the streets anyway, we will be sued along with the rightful owner in the event of an accident.

I would appreciate some insight from the knowledgeable readers on this forum. Thank You. Jean

You are inquiring about two different transactions.

CC&R's usually grant the developer/declarant the right to control the board of directors until a certain point in time. While under developer control, the acts of the board directors of the association have the same validity they would if the homeowners were in full control. Assuming that the property conveyed in the first situation was intended to be common area, on the face of it there seems to be nothing wrong with what you described.

The second situation is a bit screwy. Generally, quit-claim deeds are not deeds of conveyance. A quit-claim deed allows one owner of a property to surrender or disclaim his interest to another person already on the deed. In this case, there is not only the wrong form of deed but that strange paragraph that says the association (the buyer) will give the streets back to developer (the seller) when requested to do so.

My best advice is to consult an attorney regarding the deed for the streets.