Request to examine records

Heidi ya'll again

Our ByLaws give any member in good standing the right to inspect the books and records of the association, ergo the BOD has to keep its acts and corporate affairs available for inspection at the offices of the association.

Is the property manager required to receive authorization from the BOD to allow inspection by a member? It is not stipulated in the ByLaws.

Our BOD president repeatedly denies owner's request to inspections.

Two property managers have tendered their resignation, which is highly unusual to say the least.
Our president refuses to divulge the content of their letters, and the new property manager goes along albeit knowing that only very few association records cannot be disclosed.

Can one bring a class action (lis pendens) against the board certified property manager for dereliction of her fiduciary obligation?

With a lawsuit against the BOD, members pay both sides of the equation!

You say?

John, SC

John

Once again, SC Title 33

SECTION 33-31-1602. Inspection of records by members.

(a) Subject to subsection (e) and Section 33-31-1603(c), a member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in Section 33-31-1601(e) if the member gives the corporation written notice or a written demand at least five business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy.

It goes on from there.

John H,

Because state law seems to require disclosure, you can bring a lawsuit to obtain an injunction to compel the board to produce the records. This is not a class action lawsuit nor does it have anything to do with lis pendens.

As to who pays, a judge may find that the board members were in a willful breach of their duties and hold them personally liable for all the costs of litigation. More likely you are going to have to foot your own bills.

Might this be a labor issue (which may or may not bring up another set of questions?) I’m not an attorney either, so take the following for what’s it worth: it sounds like your association hired a property management company to handle daily operations, and the company then hired a property manager and assigns him/her to your community.
If that’s the case, the resignation may be more of an issue between the property manager and its employee, not the Association. Personnel issues may be off limits to the Association or its members unless the Association hired the manager directly.

You may want to find out the answer to this first and then read the rest of SC title 33-31-1602 and 33-31-1601(e) to see exactly which records you’re entitled to read – employee records may be exempt. Talk to your attorney if you have further questions or need clarification. Then try to send a written request quoting the law (assuming you would have access to this letter) or have your attorney do it for you.

By the way, when this gets resolved, your Board really needs to set up some sort of document request policy posthaste – but you already know that. It seems to me that’s the heart of this issue and if the property manager is following the board’s direction (as he/she should), your beef is with the Board and you need to take this up with them.

As far as the resignations themselves are concerned, it does seem unusual on its face, but you didn’t see how soon these resignations occurred – if they’re a year or more apart, that doesn’t seem strange to me. Assignments do change, people do quit jobs for a variety of reasons,, but if this happened, say, within a month’s time, there may be something else going on (maybe your board/homeowners are difficult to work with and everyone’s quitting in frustration or disgust????)