One (Wo)Man Show

Your homeowners need to learn about receivership and what that means for their home and community because that’s where they’re heading if they don’t wake up. Receivership is when a HOA asks a judge to appoint someone to run the association because there is no Board of Directors. The receiver only answers to the judge, so the homeowners will have NO SAY on anything – including assessments. They will have to pay the receiver, and I’ve heard those costs can start at $200 an hour. If people are mumbling because a $40 a month assessment (which I’m sure is far too low, even without a property manager) may rise to $200 a month, just wait until you throw a receiver in the mix. That’ll do wonders for property values, I’m sure (let’s see them try to sell and explain why they did nothing while one person just took over the checkbook).

This is a 36 unit association, so there are at least 36 owners, so begin by calling a special meeting to discuss the community’s finances. Remind everyone what the assessments pay for and tell the treasurer she needs to prepare some reports that detail where the money’s been going for the last five years. If she can’t or won’t do that, the homeowners need to demand answers and if they don’t get them, they need to be willing to vote her out (she can’t steamroll over 36 people).

To be blunt, the housekeeping may also include you stepping down (or being voted out) because it would appear you’ve been on the board (such as it is/was) for 2 years, haven’t had any meetings and have only received one treasurer’s report in the last five – what on earth have YOU been doing???? And it isn’t just you – your neighbors are even more responsible for this mess because they’re the ones who allowed this to happen and now seem to expect you to do everything. You need to speak truth to power and tell them you can’t/won’t do this without help – THEY will have to step up.

Clearly, you need people to serve on the board and all of you need to get some training on how to run a HOA – see if there’s a local chapter of the Community Associations Institute in your area and if they have any seminars available. Or talk to your association attorney who might be able to put something together.

Back to the treasurer – she needs to cough up the Association’s books and you’ll probably need to get them audited to check for funny business. Yep, that’ll cost money and you may need a special assessment to pay for it, depending on how much is in the bank. Oh, and I wouldn't rule out pursuing civil and possibly criminal charges against her if there has been any fraud on her part. .
While checking the books, the new board will need to consider what needs to be done to run the Association and what it would like a property manager to do, then start soliciting bids, checking references and all that stuff. If hiring a company is too expensive, your community will have to be self-managed and as you've probably guessed, there’s a lot to that and not everyone has the time or talent to do it right.

Good luck to you – you’ll need it (not to mention a dose of prayer!)

Absolutely nothing wrong with going door to door. Your first order of business is to find like minded people who are willing to sit on the board with you. Once you have willing participants, the next step is to have her removed. This can be done via a special meeting where the membership can vote her out and the new directors in.

One way or another, you need to find the support from your community.

Michelle,

First thing to do is, as others have said, is to gather support of individuals willing to serve on the Board. Once you have appointed these individuals to the Board, the board can remove the other person as treasurer. That individual will still be on the Board as a Director, but officers serve at the pleasure of the Board.

Things to ask your Treasurer:

1) status of payments (run down of how many, not who, but how many are behind in payments)
2) Have taxes been filed (they are due March 15th), and ask for a copy.
3) Who is on the signature card at the bank (it should be more than the treasurer) - if you are not on it, get on it (it will likely require the treasurer to be with you to say it's ok).
4) What is the status of the Reserves (i.e. how much do you have and is it fully funded)

Things to check on:

1) Review your contracts to see when they end. When contracts are ending, it's always best to solicit bids even if you are happy with the work being done. This ensures that you are getting a comparable price for the work performed. Keep in mind you don't need to go with the lowest bid. Your goal is the get the best service for the amount of funds you desire to spend.
2) Do you have a reserve study and when was it last done. If you don't have one done, get one done. Here is a link to a thread on this forum to help understand Reserve Studies: Subject: Reserve Studies/Funds 101
3) If you are incorporated, most associations are but check to be sure, check on the status with the State corporation commission. Often this can be done online. I see that you are in PA. Here is a link to the PA Dept. of State Corporation Search page.

Things to get done:
1) Read your governing documents.
2) Read your States applicable statutes: Since you said 36-unit, I suspect that you are in a condominium and not in a single family Home HOA. Here is a link to PA Condominium law (start with subpart b)
If you are incorporated as a non-profit (most are but check to be sure) here is a link to:

NOTE Don't try and do everything at once. You will simply get burned out. In addition to gathering support, I would make sure that your name is on the bank's signature cards. This will give you access to the bank accounts and, if needed, the ability to recreate most of the financial records.

The biggest issue is that you are in a small Association. With only 36 units, it will be very difficult to locate volunteers. However, explaining that the other options to assist the Association perform it's function (Independent contractors to help with things like bookkeeping, management companies, property manager, or (worst case) receivership, will result in a significantly increase in assessments may help get others to step up. If they don't step up, do what you need to do and move forward.

Treasurer does take a lot of time. As a 130 lot Association, we have paid $350 a month for an independent contractor to collect the mail, disperse the mail, make deposits, keep the ledgers, send out initial letters of delinquency and make delinquency reports to the Treasurer. Our Treasurer still paid the bills and made the reports. You may want to consider this as an option.

Hope this helps,

Tim