Conflict of Interest?

I thought master association boards were typically composed of representatives from each of the subassociation boards. To have non-board members of the subassociations serve on the master board seems wrong. I'd have a close look at all the documents to see if that's really working as designed. How many sit on the master association's board? With 13 subassociations it seems really strange that there aren't enough board members willing to serve on the master board.

My other thought is that the master and sub association rights and responsibilities shouldn't overlap to the extent yours seem to. If the subassociation docs give it the authority to deal with a nuiscance then asking the other 12 subs to foot part of the bill for you seems wrong, too. There should be a clear line dividing the responsibilities of the subs from those of the master.

The governing documents form a contract. Do the governing documents between the master and the subs also form a contract? Are all these contracts self-contradictory? It sounds like they might be. As a homeowner there I would want to know exactly what contractual rights existed between myself, my subassociation, and the master association. I'd be damned if I owed the same duty under more than one contract and, likewise, if I had to seek redress for something I would want it clear that there was one - and only one - party that I needed to pursue for that redress.

So to answer your question, I would tell the subassociation to handle their own problems and pay for their own legal expenses and keep your hands out of my pockets, thank you very much. Then get to work changing the master association covenants and other documents that delineate who is exactly responsible for what.

There are 5 board members on the master assoc. board, voted in by the greater community of 1,000+ homeowners. The fact that there are two board members from the same community is only because those board members were voted in at the last annual meeting.

The master association has enforced the CC&R's once regarding political signs, but only after the sub association wrote and asked that their issue be included on the master association agenda. Otherwise, compliance has always been left up to the sub associations.

Each sub association uses their own lawyer. The master association has been very careful to pick independent legal council that does not represent any of the subassociation.

The pressure is coming from the master board president and vice president. They both live in the same sub association community and want the master board to spend money to enforce deed restrictions on a foreclosed home. There are 5 on the master board; 3 live in the same community - and 2 of them want to go forward with a vote to engage a lawyer at the master association expense via a vote by email.