Can HOA force a member to only communicate by US Mail?

Can HOA force a member to only communicate by US Mail?

- In Michigan. Can HOA force a member to only communicate with HOA by US Mail, while HOA communicates with other members by email also? While it is not listed in ByLaws.

Please advise.

As has been stated, it will depend on the language used in your applicable State laws and governing documents.

Personally, if you are having issues with your Association, it may be best to only communicate via U.S. Mail. In fact, you may even want to send the letter via certified mail through the Associations registered agent, as this can provide a paper trail and documentation if your issue escalates.

Additionally, if the Association doesn't maintain e-mail accounts (that is to say that the Board members are utilizing their personal e-mail accounts for Association business) you likely can't force someone to use their personal account to communicate with you.

We had a similar discussion a few years ago and came upon this conclusion: our CCR's say all notices are by USPS. State law allows electronic communications which supercede our docs. But since both of them do not specifically say one or the other, we decided to continue with snail mail for everything and we send some things via email as well, to whomever asks. Even then the contact list for the emails are only as good as the people giving us updated addresses. So with neither one of those being 100% accurate we decided to best stick to our documents to prevent liabilities.

I'm sure in some large HOA's that email would be a huge cost savings, but emails get lost just as easily as mail, at least in our previous state. Good Luck!

Our bylaws state annual and special meeting notices have to be mailed, but that's as far as it goes. We do permit emails, but whether it comes via US or electronically, homeowners are told their question/complaint/ comment may need to be reviewed by the entire board at an open meeting before they receive a response and all correspondence is property of the association. Personally, I like written documentation because it creates a paper trail.

The issue you're writing about might also come into play. For example, if it's concerning your assessments and there's an issue as to whether you paid, it's probably best to use "snail mail" because you can send it via certified mail. If you sent it via email, the message could get lost or perhaps read by an unauthorized person.

Go to the next board meeting and ask them to clarify email vs. snail mail - everyone should have to comply with the same policy. In fact, your association may want to establish an email policy to cover things like disclosing them to other homeowners (because they could be considered Association records at that point) - they can talk to the Association attorney for further guidance.

User69U,

YES

... you will be thankful later