Having Property Issues Reported Directly to an HOA Board v. Management Co.

I am a new owner in a 100 unit condo in Denver, and I have recently become a board member, which is new experience for me.

We have a contract with a management company, and we work with a property manager from that company.

Right now, standard protocol is that when an owner wants to report an issue, they contact our property manager.

As I've gotten to know other owners in my building, I keep hearing them say that when they reach out to our property manager, they do not hear back from the property manager. And one owner told me that he feels that it's more of the management company that runs the show around here, rather that the board. Also, I find our property manager to be not as responsive as I would like to my questions.

At the moment, I'm wondering if we, as the board, should change the current way of doing things by telling the owners to report issues directly the board, rather than the property manager. And then we tell the management company what to do. But I don't want to suggest this before I do my homework, and learn about the advantages and disadvantages of this.

So my question is, is having the owners report problems to the board rather than the management company a bad idea, and if so, why?

Also, if this is a good idea, can anyone recommend a way to do this? For example, should I have people email me directly (not my personal email), or maybe set up a separate email account, where all of us board members periodically check for any emails sent.

*Note: many of us on the board are new, and we are looking into possibly getting a new management company. And I also understand that having issues reported directly to us could be time consuming - but we have quite a few new and eager board members that I think are capable of handling the workload.

Kudos for your willingness to serve, Rob. How many directors are there?

Are your condos all in one building? Is is an elevator building? Are there boilers sand/or other b pumps & motors that need much attention?

Do you each have individual HVAC (AC& Heat) units? Or is there a central system?

What kinds of amenities do you have?

How many hours is the PM on your premises, if any? Is there a MC website where residents can send in work orders?

What does your HOA's contract with the MC say about their duties? It's possible that your board needs to meet with the MC to clarify the PM's duties.

Seems like a lot of questions, I know, but I'm trying to understand your HOA and maybe its needs. We're two condo towers & have a PM onsite 5 days a week because we're pretty complicated. But maybe your community doesn't have a lot of needs that you'd want a PM to attend to.

Being in the property management business, and having read your post, I would need to know how many directors or what your amenities are, or any of the other items brought up. You summed it up in your first sentence and that this was a new experience for you.

My suggestion is that the seven board members have an orientation meeting with your management company and your manager, either on-site or at their office. This meeting should educate the board, as many are new, to what their roles are, how the interaction between all parties works, owners, board and management. The meeting should discuss what the manager expects from the board and what the board should expect from the manager and its agents.

I could give you a whole list of items, but I believe it would be in yours and the board's best interest to sit down with all parties involved to fully understand what is expected from each.

The owners should be reporting to the management company (that's what you hired them for) - otherwise the board will be swamped with all sorts of questions and confusion can arise if one person reports a problem to you, and then someone reports the same problem to someone else. More confusion may arise when the property manager gets multiple requests from multiple board members, and that can extend to the service provider, possibly increasing repair costs.

What you may need is a new property manager, as it would appear this one has a communication problem. On the other hand, are the owners giving the property manager enough time to respond? If that manager has several communities to handle, it might take a little time before you get a response. Emergencies should get a quick response, of course, but just because you don't hear something a few hours after calling or emailing doesn't you're being ignored.

So, start with having a sit down with your property manager and get his/her side. This is a good time to manage expectation and remind homeowners what the manager can handle vs. the board, and you can inform the homeowners accordingly. It's OK for homeowners to copy an email to the board - set up a separate email account for the board for this. This will give you a good way to track how quickly the property manager responds. Be sure to remind homeowners of what issues should be brought to the board - they should be able to send you an email. For people who may not have email (there are a few people left!), consider putting a lockbox somewhere on the property where people can drop off letters.

If you have a newsletter or website (preferably both), post some sort of resource page where people should call for specific issues. For example, maintenance requests go the property manager, crime issues to local police or security officer if you have one (if calling the cops, use the non-emergency number instead of 911), association issues, such as the date of the next board meeting should go to the board.

If you're setting up an email account for the board, don't forget to put some sort of formal policy on storage, anonymous complaints, etc. For example, all board members need to be copied if one board member responds to a homeowner, absolutely no email voting on issues that should be discussed in open board meetings, etc. This sites has all sorts of discussions on emails, so you may want to see what other communities are doing and if there are best practices you might adopt. And run the email communications through your association attorney as well so you don't run into any conflicts with state law or your governing documents.

One thing our property manager does is to combine small maintenance requests before sending out the contractor - this way, everything gets done in one trip rather than multiple trips. You may want to consider doing this as well.

Finally, if you find you really need a new property manager, you might want to check out the CAI website (community associations institute), which has education materials on what to consider when hiring a company. Or just Google selecting a HOA property manager and see what comes up - good luck!

This is the type of feedback I was looking for - thank you!!

.... the pigs have now actually flown

Rob,

It's wise to allow HOA residents to report issues through the management company, which then can distribute those concerns equally, or appropriately, to the HOA board. It's also a good firewall to prevent board members from being swamped w/ common complaints.

That your property manager isn't replying in a timely fashion, it's wise to learn how fast the manager is responding and if there is an expectation of response for every call or email. Some complaints are made as statements....which may not yield a reply if not interpreted as requiring one.

Set expectations for communications with the Property Manager before reaching the conclusion that you're not properly managed.