Old Board won't relinquish documents

Hi, The old Board was voted out and we are trying to get any or old documents concerning this HOA. The Treasurer has been contacted many times but has yet to contact any of the other newly created members. We have called, sent emails, and have mailed a certified letter requesting the documents. What recourse does this new board have?

Do your governing documents say anything about records and cement "turnover," when there's a big change such as you just experienced?

Often it's the secretary who'd be responsible for maintaining files, etc. But I assume you contacted the treasurer for financial records??

Check your bylaws to see which officer is responsible for which records. Your former sec'y, for example, probably was responsible for keeping & storing board meeting meeting minutes. You've probably seen the minutes for your open meet ins, but you also want to see the minutes form executive session for info about fines, contact bids, potential lawsuits.

If your HOA has had one or more audits done, that firm can send you certain financial records.

Meantime, I'd send registered letters to all former board members with your request. It's possible, for example, that the former president kept track of violations and how they were resolved.

Just as background, how many homes or condos in your HOA? How many were/are on your Board? Do you have no committees who might have records? An architectural change committee, for example?

It doesn't sound like you have a property mgr. Is that correct?

If everything fails, I assume you can hire an attorney as a last result to demand the records.

Not a big fan of curbside visits. Check whether your state's law creates some form of personal Director-specific penalty for failing to maintain "adequate records".

The remedy may require several stages. Typically wanting its own forensics to be protected, for inadequate records ( among others ) our jurisdiction empowers respective personal/corporate fines by the jurisdiction itself, limited to $25K individuals & $100K corporations. But imagine the shock/cynicism several years ago when a nosy researcher pried out the bureaucrat admission that over many decades NO ONE had ever been so fined nor was there any investigation underway. All window dressing. Maybe yours is different, and could motivate a transfer of what belongs to the corporation & owners generally, not merely the ex-Directors.

If there also has been a change of PMC, such may be part of the Black Hole, if that is what it is.

Unfortunately this may be our only option.

“Check whether your state's law creates some form of personal Director-specific penalty for failing to maintain "adequate records".
- “I’'ve never seen this in any of the statutes I've researched.”

There was nothing worth missing, apparently.

This notorious window-dressing section 137 - introduced here in 1998 - is one of eight or nine distinct consumer-protection / rights protection remedies – some effective - including “oppression relief”.

( The 4 main "targets" ( ?) of the section 137 window dressing are : Declarant mis-disclosuring, integrity of condo corporation funds, political canvassing access, and corporation records including inadequacy under prior versions of the Act . Please note window-dressing section 137's twice- entrenched hurdle of proving “knowingly “ – as part of blameworthy mental scenario not too short of criminal “mens rea”, seen by many condo law critics here as a huge barrier to prosecution ) :

The Condominium Act 1998 S.O. 1998 ch 19
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_98c19_e.htm

Window-dressing section 137 : (Provincial) Offences
includes as target wrongdoing :
“Subsection 55(1) Records
The corporation shall keep adequate records including the following records . . .”

Well can you just carry on without the documents? If you have access to the bank statements through the bank, that should help gather back most of the documents. The IRS only go back a few years, so rebuilding the records does not need to go back to creation. Possibly if this person sees you are capable of rebuilding and not needing the documents, they will turn them over. Right now they know they have the HOA by the nads. Cut them off and begin again.