Voting Rights for Husband and Wife who own two separate Units

Hi,
We have a married couple that owns two separate units which are registered in their separate names. When it comes to elections we are running into an issue because they get two votes on every issue (1 per unit). We are small community and every vote counts so it seems unfair that they can skew the results on amendments. Is there anyway our HOA can restrict them to 1 vote because they are husband and wife?

Thanks

As Matthew said, the answer is in your governing documents.

Typically, it's one vote per lot. If someone owns more than one lot, they get to cast a vote for each lot they own.

So this husband and wife have TWICE the investment in the property but should now get to vote just once like the single unit owners....Hmmmmmmm.

Does that sound right????????

So if someone buys 3,000 shares of AT&T and I buy one share I get one vote and they get the same one vote?????

Funny how some folks seem willing to "bend" the rules of fair play when it suits their agenda.

We had an owner here who tried that when i was clear those owning muliple units did not support her seeking a Board position. It did not fly.

Try another way.

Depending on the size of your community and because they own two units, get two votes, they could also have two seats on the Board. If your Board consists of three, they would have a majority.

Matthew

That is not true. They have to meet to discuss or act upon association business.

There was one poster on here that said he saw a few BOD Members chatting at an HOA Pool Party and he accused them of having a BOD Meeting.

Anyone that thinks the hubby and wifey (or most BOD Members for that matter) do not discuss BOD business outside of the BOD is at best being naïve.

What counts are motions made, seconded, and voted on. Other then that, it is all chit chat.

Dave

In my HOA when more then one person owns the unit (let us say hubby and wifey), one must be designated as the owner and only the designated owner can vote and/or serve on the BOD.

Sounds simple does it not? In a prior HOA, a hubby and wifey (co-owners) going through a divorce both came to the annual meeting and claimed owner/voting rights. We said only one. They could not agree which one, so we disqualified them both.

Same as when multiple owners (such as a corporation) own the unit, one of the owners must be declared the voting member.

One vote per unit. You all wrestle it out......LOL

All,
Thanks for your views and suggestions. The answer could be as simple as '1 vote per unit' but it is posing a bit of a problem for our HOA as we are a small 15 unit community and with a voting % of 75% requirement to amend CC&Rs the 2 votes from the same household makes a big difference. BTW, both units are rentals so the owners do not live on the property. Moreover one of the amendments we are trying to address is Rental restrictions so you can see how this would be a problem!

So what is the difference if one person owns two or three properties and rents them? Answer? None.

One vote per unit is how many HOAs are structured. It's no different than one vote per share in a stock corporation. That's the way things are. You need to get used to it and move on.

Would your problem be any different if these two owners were completely unrelated and each rented? Doesn't seem like it.

Right. And for all we know, the husband and wife might be on opposite sides of the issues at hand and someone else will "mess things up" when it comes to a vote