Property Management Conflict of interest

Our Property Management uses the same legal council as our HOA. Recently a new member was remodeling an attic space which technically belongs to the HOA (common area,exclusie access) without the property permit or submitting an application to the Architectural Committee who an the Spokesperson (HOA designate). Because a member complained about the noise and I did not hear from this member in reasonable amount of time when I talked to his construction worker, I has the City put a stop work order on the property. This cost nothing to the HOA to perform "code enforcement". The owner has contacted me and has been reasonably cooperative. But in the mean time, our Property Management company sent out a "Cease and Desist" letter from our Legal Council which probably more than $500 from our legal council. Also the Property management immediately wanted to start a hearing process when I said "WHY!" The owner is communicating and being cooperative. There are a lot of hoops that the owner has to meet with he City to use this space. Also the City says the will not approve any construction till the HOA grant him this space.

Our Legal Council was responsible for a two year litigation that resulted in this firm walking away with $130,000 from the HOA. The “lien release and judgement satisfaction” had the homeowner only paying $20,000 which included reducing the the lien on the owner's condo which will is only be collectable when the member sells or refinances their unit. There are no other restrictions. The judgement was for "not asking for permission". No safety issue was every supported by the City and was not part of the judgement. Our HOA has been running a $70,000 or more deficit over several months mostly for legal expenses.

Now I find out that the HOA Legal Council is the same Legal Council for our Property Management company. Why could possibly go wrong? Is this a conflict of interest.

Has the board spoken to the attorney (counsel, not council) about this? It may be different attorneys for the firm handle different clients, but even if that's the case, I think there's too much potential for collusion of some sort. I would suggest you look into getting another attorney - contact the local bar association for a referral (be sure to ask for references and check them before you hire anyone. And do this right now).

I wouldn't worry about the property manager - if the owner has been cooperative, there's no need for a hearing (yet). Besides, the manager works for the association, not the other way around. If this owner wants a hearing, let him ask for it.

Regarding legal fees, there are a number of reasons why those skyrocket. People always talk about suing, but don't realize this takes time and money and the attorneys who are really good can and do charge a lot of money per hour, not to mention the court costs, preparing evidence, sending letters, phone calls, etc., etc., etc. If you decide to go with another attorney, I suggest you have a serious conversation about fees and what can be done to keep them reasonable. When I was on the board, we had an annual agreement with our former firm where we could get X number of hours covered for legal questions and simple stuff for no extra charge. To make sure we weren't running to him with all types of stuff, one person was designated the contact and the board would authorize the contact in advance.

Finally, if your current attorney has been behaving in a way that may seem unethical, there's nothing wrong with you filing a complaint with the bar association. Just be sure you get the association's files turned over to the new firm and your account cleared out before that happens