HOA and Management Issues – California

I am currently having multiple issues with my HOA & Management. I called management to report a vehicle that was parked on our property with expired tags and asked that it be removed from the property as our ByLaws state that vehicles with expired tags are prohibited from parking on the property. The vehicle belongs to the HOA president and the president has a history of parking such vehicles on the property. The vehicle was parked on our property in “short term parking” and 10 minutes after I made the phone call to management, the vehicle was moved to an assigned parking spot. I called management back and left a VM informing her that the vehicle had been moved to an assigned spot but that it was still on the property so it should still be removed as vehicles with expired tags are prohibited from parking anywhere on the property. I called several more times over the course of the day as the vehicle was still parked on the property and management did not answer or return any of my calls. I also emailed several times and none of my emails were returned. Several days later and the vehicle is still parked on the property. It’s clear that as soon as I reported the vehicle to management, they immediately contacted the president. My issue is that management “warned” the president and won’t enforce the parking bylaws simply because the vehicle belongs to a board member. Management has removed vehicles from the property in the past and has enforced the parking rules but management won’t enforce when the vehicle belongs to the president.
The contact person for our management company is the owner so I can’t contact anyone else from the management company to discuss as they are the only employee.

An additional issue I am having with management and the HOA board is that quarterly board meetings are not being posted. Information regarding the time, date & location of board meetings are only being distributed to board members. The property has less than 10 units and 3 board members. Most of my neighbors show little interest in participating in the meetings so no one else has complained. There have been multiple heated email exchanges between myself and the president. The president emailed me directly and stated board meeting were for board members only so I was not to attend. I forwarded her email to the rest of the board and to management and stated that she was wrong and association members had the right to attend board meetings and that I felt her direct emails were a tactic designed to intimate me. The thing is that since our property is so small and we don’t have a recreational room, board meetings are held in the president’s condo. I’ve emailed the board and management and stated that I am not comfortable with attending meetings on her property since she has sent me harassing and intimidating emails. The response was that 2 of the 3 board meetings agreed to continue to have the board meetings in the president's personal residence and they have since held multiple board meetings (once again without posting location, date or time) in the president’s personal residence. Is there anything I can do to change the location of the meetings since I don’t have the support of the board or management?

Any suggestions or help in handling these issues would be greatly appreciated.

Sizie

The Board of Directors is the authority for running the Association, not the management company. Since the president is the offending party, and unless you can get the two other Board members on the same page as you, then nothing we be done.

If nothing happens, you have elections.

Suzie,

Welcome to the forum. I understand from your posting that you are having the following issues:

1) The Association is not utilizing the towing policy fairly (towing some but not others).
2) Notification of Board meetings are not being posted to the membership.
3) There are conflicts between you and the individual serving as the President of the Association making it uncomfortable to attend Board meetings when they are held in their residence.

It should also be noted that it appears you live within a condominium development.

Please be aware that I am not an attorney and I do not work in the legal profession. I offer advice based on what is in your posting, personal experiences and any research that I may do. If any of those things change, then the advice may change. I'd like to offer the following:

1)As Richard pointed out, the Management company (MC) takes direction from the Board. If the Board says to not tow a vehicle, then the MC will not tow. I, like you and others on this site, agree that it is improper for the Board to selectively enforce the rules of the Association. When a Board does selectively enforce, the options are limited to correct and will unlikely have you make new friends. The options are:

a) Attend a meeting and ask why the Board is making decisions that may open the Association up to litigation based on selective enforcement? It is possible that the other Board members are unaware of this issue and they should be given an opportunity to correct it internally. However, to use this option, emotions need to stay out of the debate. Who owns the vehicle needs to stay out of the debate. Stick to the facts and let the facts speak for themselves. Have documentation - e-mail correspondence, pictures with a time/date stamp, etc. NOTE: Since you have indicated that the vehicle belongs to a Board member, you better have your act together. That is to say, your property and parking better be in compliance with the governing documents. I say this because Board members are human and some humans will (they shouldn't but they will) retaliate. In HOA/COAs, this means reporting every little, tiny violation you have (I'm just trying to make you aware of an unintended consequence of this action).

b) Gather support and either recall or simply not reelect those who are currently serving on the Board. Then replace them with those who will enforce equally. Perhaps you will serve.

c) If you have evidence, and if your vehicle is towed, you could consider bringing legal action. For that, you would need to consult a local attorney to see what your legal options would be.

2) As you are aware, notifications of meetings to the members is indeed a requirement in CA. See Davis-Stirlings meeting notice page for more information. The fix for this is simple, send a letter to the MC with a copy to every board member and the registered agent, that, in accordance with CA Civil Code §4045, and §4040, you are requesting to be notified of all meetings of the Board via e-mail. If they refuse, or fail to inform you you may then make a complaint against the MC license (if they are required to be licensed by the State).

3) You have no say where the Board will hold their meetings. However, you do have a right to attend. It's going to be easier said then done, but don't feel uncomfortable in the President's home. It will likely make the President more uncomfortable then you. To feel better, you could always bring other members with you. However, please remember that when you do attend meetings of the Board, you are an observer. You may only speak when invited to do so (which will likely be during the open forum section of the meeting). Be polite, take notes and observe.

No. He was simply outvoted.

Has he offered to host the meetings?


Every Board is different. However, there is typically one or two individuals that are identified as the liaison between the MC and the Board. Typically these are the Treasurer (for financial issues) and the President. Therefore, it could be that the MC took the issue to the President and the President failed to bring it to the Board. All you really know is that your Husband wasn't informed.

Of course, since you made the complaint, it could be argued that your Husband was informed of the issue.


I believe everyone agrees with you. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be what happened (or the MC did advise that and the President ignored it). The best way to resolve those type of issues is to remove the individual from authority by:

1) The Board removing the individual from the Office (they would still be a Director but not an Officer).
2) The members removing the individual from the Board either by recall or simply not reelecting.
3) Members attend the meetings in force asking why things are being done the way they are (sort of peer pressure).
4) Legal action against the Board (which is typically a lose/lose situation and should only be done as a last resort.