Requesting a HOA Member Meeting

Started by ScottA4 • 6 replies • 1257 views

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ScottA4 (North Carolina)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Question 1:
Our HOA bylaws state the following:

"Section 2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Members may be called at any time by the president or by the Board of Directors, or upon written request of the Members who are entitled to cast at least one fourth (1/4) of all votes of the membership."

Assuming yes, then question 2:
I interpret this to mean that 25% of the membership would need to be included in a written request for a meeting - am I understanding this correctly? We have 147 Members and 37 of us (25.1%) are requesting a meeting. Who would we address the written request to - the Board of Directors c/o our HOA management company?

Thanks!!

ScottA4 (North Carolina)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Whoops, I structured that wrong. Should be:

Question 1:
Our HOA bylaws state the following:

"Section 2. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the Members may be called at any time by the president or by the Board of Directors, or upon written request of the Members who are entitled to cast at least one fourth (1/4) of all votes of the membership."

I interpret this to mean that 25% of the membership would need to be included in a written request for a meeting - am I understanding this correctly?

Assuming yes, then Question 2:
We have 147 Members and 37 of us (25.1%) are requesting a meeting. Who would we address the written request to - the Board of Directors c/o our HOA management company?

Thanks!!

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Numbers aside, typically a Special Meeting has to have defined/specific reason to be called such as we are going to recall BOD Member Mary Smith and replace her with John Jones. It cannot be called to "discuss" Mary Smith nor can it be just a general bytching session.

Also even though 25% may call it, any other quorum requirements such as say 66% of ALL owners to change a Bylaw must still be met.

You must be more specific.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Scott,

Question 1:

You are partially correct (it depends on your development). You need 1/4 of the available votes. Typically if all lots are sold, there is 1 vote per lot. If this is the case, you are correct. However, if the Declarant/developer is still in the picture, they typically get more votes per lots which can change what is needed.

Examples:

A) 100 lots, all sold by developer, 1 vote per lot.
100 lots x 1 vote = 100 possible votes
25% of 100 = 25 lots.

B) 100 lots, 80 sold by developer, 1 vote per lot sold, 5 votes per lot under developer control
(80 lots x 1 vote) + (20 lots x 5 votes) = 180 possible votes
25% of 180 = 45
So the developer could call a special meeting or 45 owners of the sold lots could call the meeting.

Question 2:

If each lot has 1 vote, then 25% of 147 = 36.75 hence, you are correct, you will need 37 signatures.

Petitions should be specific and addressed to the Board.
I would send the original to the registered agent of the Association via certified mail and a copy to each Board member and management company via first class mail. Remember to keep a copy yourself.

Here is a link to a petition example in CA. It is pretty good, simply change the references to cite your own applicable laws and governing documents:

http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/SamplePetition/tabid/1866/Default.aspx

Note: I strongly encourage you to have more than enough signatures to ensure that you still have enough to call a special meeting if some signatures are disqualified. An example of possible disqualification is: spouse signs petition but is not on deed - hence not a member and had no right to call a meeting.

ScottA4 (North Carolina)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By JohnC46 on 01/27/2016 6:38 PM
Numbers aside, typically a Special Meeting has to have defined/specific reason to be called such as we are going to recall BOD Member Mary Smith and replace her with John Jones. It cannot be called to "discuss" Mary Smith nor can it be just a general bytching session.

Also even though 25% may call it, any other quorum requirements such as say 66% of ALL owners to change a Bylaw must still be met.

You must be more specific.

All I asked was if I was reading it correctly in that 25% of us must request the meeting. I know how quorums work. Nothing in the bylaws says we have to have a specific reason but we do have one so that's fine. Thanks.

ScottA4 (North Carolina)
Posts: 4

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By TimB4 on 01/27/2016 6:50 PM
Scott,

Question 1:

You are partially correct (it depends on your development). You need 1/4 of the available votes. Typically if all lots are sold, there is 1 vote per lot. If this is the case, you are correct. However, if the Declarant/developer is still in the picture, they typically get more votes per lots which can change what is needed.

Examples:

A) 100 lots, all sold by developer, 1 vote per lot.
100 lots x 1 vote = 100 possible votes
25% of 100 = 25 lots.

B) 100 lots, 80 sold by developer, 1 vote per lot sold, 5 votes per lot under developer control
(80 lots x 1 vote) + (20 lots x 5 votes) = 180 possible votes
25% of 180 = 45
So the developer could call a special meeting or 45 owners of the sold lots could call the meeting.

Question 2:

If each lot has 1 vote, then 25% of 147 = 36.75 hence, you are correct, you will need 37 signatures.

Petitions should be specific and addressed to the Board.
I would send the original to the registered agent of the Association via certified mail and a copy to each Board member and management company via first class mail. Remember to keep a copy yourself.

Here is a link to a petition example in CA. It is pretty good, simply change the references to cite your own applicable laws and governing documents:

http://www.davis-stirling.com/MainIndex/SamplePetition/tabid/1866/Default.aspx

Note: I strongly encourage you to have more than enough signatures to ensure that you still have enough to call a special meeting if some signatures are disqualified. An example of possible disqualification is: spouse signs petition but is not on deed - hence not a member and had no right to call a meeting.

Thank you this is very helpful. At this point if the board attempts to disqualify signatures they would only be sealing their own fate. It is ridiculous that we're to the point where we're having to do this. Neighborhood is 20 years old, no more developer Members so numbers are all good. Everything you provide here is very helpful, thank you.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Scott,

The Board may also try to disqualify signatures saying that they are not members in good standing and have had their voting privileges suspended. This can work for your favor as well as against you.

Since your documents specify 25% of available votes, if 10 lots are not in good standing (typically behind on assessments) then you would only need 35 signatures (147 lots - 10 not in good standing = 137 25% of 137 = 34.25 or 35 signatures). However, if those 10 all signed your petition, you would only still be short if you only got the minimum you thought you needed.

Hope this helps,

Tim

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