Amendment Ballot

We are about to vote on some amendments to the CCR's and wanted to thoughts on what worked for anyone who has been down this path. We formed a committee to canvased the HOA to get input from everyone. No one but the committee gave their two cents, and we have a laundry list of 30 or items. Personally that is too long of a list and doomed ahead of schedule. We need 90% to say yes which most of us feel will not happen, but we will forge ahead.

One board member feels we should pair down that list for a better chance, that the board should vote on each one themselves as to whether or not it should be included, (such as allowing AC's in windows, yikes!) But another one feels that we should put every one of them up for a vote, and let the HOA decide, it's not the boards duty. We will see what the third one says at tonight's meeting.

Some of the items just call for clearer language such as spelling it all out, word for word. (You know how these docs are written) And a few others just require specific "structures" to be added to the appropriate section. Then there are the ones that add to the restrictions.

Should the ballot/proxy would you have both, the original verbage and the new or should we come up with just one or two sentences, purely a yes or no question?

Any help is appreciated!

Jok2, based on our experience helping HOAs it can be very difficult to get sufficient approvals in order to amend the CC&Rs for even 1 or 2 items when 2/3 of all home owners must approve. At 90% in the past we have seen an HOA try unsuccessfully for 3 years to amend only the roofing section. So I strongly suggest trying to amend only the most critical items. Provide written information on why each of those items need to be approved. Mail to all owners with a ballot to vote separately for each item, sign, date, and return in a stamped self addressed envelope provided by the HOA.

Yes, it will be tough, JoK2. but are you certain that all of the 30 items need to be in the CC&Rs. Can some be in your Rules & Regulations instead? Or in your Architectural Guidelines?

The other thing is, does MD have a way that you can appeal to the courts to have the amendments made after your tried really diligently to get owners to restate them. In, CA, for instance, we can go to the courts and need just 50% approval to do so.

JoK

Basically Rules & Regulations (R&R's) are made by and can be modified by the BOD. They do not need owner approval to do so.

The tricky part is an R&R can not modify, override, eliminate, etc. Covenants nor Bylaws. This is one area many BOD's get in trouble by trying to do such.

An example. If the docs say the swimming pool will be open for owner use an R&R cannot permanently close the pool but it could dictate what hours the pool is open.

An example. The docs say overnight street parking is not allowed. The BOD could not pass an R&R saying overnight street parking is allowed.

Usually when one does not like an R&R they will rally people to request the BOD change it. Also many recalls and/or attempts to try and keep some from getting elected to the BOD center around R&R's people do not like and the BOD refuses to change.

R&R's are critical to fine tuning the operation of an association but they can also be easily abused.

I've been down this road before. Took us nearly 3 years and about $3K for lawyers/filing fees. Yes, it will cost you money to file your CC&R's. It can be a few hundred dollars. So be aware of additional costs involved. You all may want to provide new copies to owners. Which copy fees have to be factored in. These are just a few examples of expenses you all may incur in pursuit of these changes. It's NOT all lawyer bills... It's stamps and notifications costs too.

A suggestion is that there may be some OTC help available at an office supply store. They have "Do it yourself" documents. Look in the area of "Rental agreements" and such. They may not have them on the shelf but you can look them up online if need be. The cost is minimal around $20 or less. It depends if you want a disc or not. Not all your issues will be covered but maybe certain areas of incorporation.

Keep in mind your CC&R's are DEED restrictions and go with the deed of everyone's house. They are a basic OUTLINE of your restrictions. It is the By-laws that are the actual "fillers" of that outline and may offer more details. They are not typically required to be filed anywhere and take less votes to pass changes. I've had lawyers tell me it can as little as putting something in the meeting notes for certain changes to official votes of just the board or general membership. Something that should be in your documents. You may also need to update your Articles of Incorporation at the same time you do your CC&R's. They are tied together and they take a State filing.

Our CC&R's require a special meeting of the general members to gather the 90% vote needed to change the CC&R's. It's 75% for the by-laws/Articles of incorporation. However, we were able to by-pass the special meeting requirement by signing an agreement to NOT attend the meeting to gather our votes. Which was done at the same time we took the vote. This allowed us to take the votes door to door or when we could contact people. Our lawyer drafted that up for us. Giving up the right to attend a special meeting to cast your vote doesn't null and void your vote. Just where you take it.

Hope some of this helped. It's a long process and it takes time. It's good to have a committee but you need a good contracts lawyer NOT a Real estate one. This is a contract and they may offer the best advice.

Thanks for the help! Tim that is an excellent suggestion on changing the proxy for future votes. After we voted on the "laundry list" of items to add etc, I put them to task with the CCR's and it was pretty simple changes. Adding specific words to existing ones and removing one section all together will do the job. So if they pass, it shouldn't take our attorney much to make the language legal etc. The changes don't seem to require any research for applicable state or federal laws, they are all esthetic.

thanks again for the advice from everyone!