Training for New Board Members

I am trying to find a DVD set or book on how a HOA should run; we have new board members (and are a board of just 2 years) and many of us have never been part of a HOA. Any suggestions? We are looking for something that can be passed on each year to the new board members.
Thanks,
KC

I'll endorse RobertR1's suggestion. CAI's GAP publications are excellent and I've taken two of their courses. I applaud your willingness to take training. I wish my board would; my condo would be in better shape.

Gloria M
I saw your message about not letting a renter of a condo have amenties, but our BOD's, lawyer said that was not a good idea. We have a pool, which the owner's father is the renter and his kids use the pool. We pay for cable and we had that turned off, but the father had it turned back on. The owner is behind almost 6 months. The BOD is now trying to collect this debt. The owner's address is the condo's address. If we made several attemps to delivered mail there and it is accepted, then we can assume(which I don't like to use) is living there since we never received back any mail.
So we should be able to place a lein on the property.

Sorry, GloriaM, I do have to disagree with witholding the amenities from Renters if their owner's are delinquent. The HOA can NOT withold amenity use from a renter. That's because the HOA can not interfere with the "Owner/Renter" contract. The HOA can restrict the amenity access to the OWNER but not to whomever the owner rents that property to.

I had a homeowner who refused to pay dues and a special assessment for over 2 years. The former president supposedly had placed a lien on the property prior to my election. However, the homeowner STILL refused to pay the dues/special assessment. I finally decided to start foreclosure proceedings. The owner did NOT live in the HOA. She had a "Rent-to-Own" contract with the person residing in the house. (She had been charging "extra" to the renter who planned on purchasing the home). We sent certified letters to the home in the HOA. We were also able to get her "real" address from Tax records and other sources to contact. The letters of legal action should only go to the HOA home which is the legal address of the home in the HOA.

The owner stated that she was refusing to pay the dues because the lawncare people had done damage to her home. Which if it was true, should have been presented to the BOD and forwarded to the lawncare who has insurance to cover such claims. There was a special assessment she also refused to pay because it would have made her responsible for paying for her own water bill. The assessment had passed and she was the only hold out. (We used to share one water meter but had them separated). The owner was generally not a nice person to deal with and quite threatening at times.

The Renter of the home was a good person. She was getting taken advantage of by the owner unbenowst to her. Once we started the foreclosure process, the owner had to give notice to her renter. Who was none to happy to be forced to move out of her home she thought she was purchasing. She left it a mess intentionally for the owner. The owner had tried to force the Renter to pay the back dues as well. She tried to say that if the renter wanted to use the HOA's amenities she had to pay the back dues. Which is NOT true. ONLY the owner can pay the dues. The HOA can deny the owner the right to the clubhouse and pool. They can't touch the renter. Our HOA didn't even stop mowing the members yard during this whole period.

It took about 3 months to finally foreclose on the property. It turns out, that it's really irrelevant about the home address of the owner once the foreclosure or lien process begins. That's because the law requires a PUBLIC notice printed in the newspaper. Just like an unresponsive spouse when one is trying to get a divorce. Once it's printed in the newspaper that your HOA intends to file a lien or foreclosure, it's public knowledge and the owner is part of this "knowledge".

In the end, the house sold at Public auction. The HOA got it's money and got rid of the owner. (The money a few months late due to a forgetful lawyer). The house sat abandon for awhile. Unfornately, a pipe broke in the home flooding the downstairs causing several thousands dollars damage. HUD picked up the house and eventually sold it. Just recently, the former renter sued the owner for all the "extra" money she had paid for the property and won. (I testified at the trial).

What I describes was most likely the WORST case scenerio a HOA will have to face. It takes ALOT of skill, knowledge, and support to go through a foreclosure. I wouldn't suggest a newcomer to a HOA try this. Go for just liens first before you tread into the worst case scenerio of your BOD life.

Thanks for the responses. I didn't find what I was looking for, although I did find some other items of interest. I thought I had bookmarked the place that I saw this training manual and DVDs but have not seen the same since.

Thanks again.
Kelley

A question or two?

If your documents provide certain restrictions on renting property, such as notification of the rental to the Regime Office outlining who and how many people are going to be in the units and that type requirements and the owner does not follow these Rules nor is there any standard rental agreement used in the HOA or condo and no rental records are kept by the Regime; does violation of these requirements place the owner in a non compliance status and as such would not be able to rent property or his tenants allowed to use facilities???

It is evident, at least in a condo, that the inforcement of the rules has to be through the owner leaves a lot of holes and blank spaces. Believe me, if the Board refuses to acknowledge the Rental section of your documents completely or partially, and the owners are scattered all over the place, problems will arise that requires the owners living in their home to have some involvement.

There really doesn't seem to be a solution to this, as far as I can see, but it is also evident the Regime opens up the legal gates when it does not enforce their covenants. That has to be the first step in any control issues in HOA's, do you all agree?

PaulM,

As you are aware I haven’t been responding or posted to many (if any) discussions. I’m still in the process of learning the do’s and the don’ts of an HOA.

I would like to thank you and everyone whose provide excellent advice and have posted such great suggestions to HOATalk.com. I have and continue to learn so much from all of you with your informative/detailed posts.

Our elections are scheduled for September 11th (911!) I have placed my name on the elections ballot in hopes to obtain a seat as a board member, for the second straight year. I’ve always been involved in my community, but even more so with the advice shared on this HOA site has encourage me to run another year!

I’ve become consumed with bettering my HOA. Everything we (two other board members & I) have done, I feel (like many of you) that I had to run or everything we had done will go to the waste side. I certainly couldn’t allow that to happen. I feel as if I’d be letting me and my family down.

It’s sad to think, but it is unfortunately the true.

Our sub-division has come a long way and I refuse to sit by and watch it become what it once was.

I’m always reading the posts written on a majority of posts discussed.

I’ll try to keep in touch as often as possible.
Chuck W.

Hey, I didn't say I LIKED the policy. I completely 100 percent agree that the tenant should be limited from amenities if the owner is behind in dues. However, the HOA has no control over the owner/tenant agreement. That's NOT my choice. I can't force a bad renter to move out. I can ONLY contact the owner and have the owner deal with their own property. The same with a bad owner, I can't force the owner to sell their home. I can force them to pay the dues by foreclosing on them, which isn't the same as forcing them to leave. A foreclosure STOPS as soon as the owner pays what is owed. Plus they regain their right to vote if they become up to date with their dues. I now have to honor their membership rights.

In our setup, we can't deny yard mowing or garbage pickup. (We used to be able to stop the water to the house, but we got separate water meters now.) The yards are small and connected and the garbage is an open dumpster. The pool area has it's own combo lock but there's no real policy on NOT giving it to non-payers or renters. Renters are considered "Guests" of a member. The only amenity owners can't use is the clubhouse if they were behind in dues. Renters weren't allowed to rent the clubhouse at all or attend meetings. So our HOA essentially, couldn't deny many amenities. We placed liens on their property which got their attention more than amenity denial.

I would like to use this example to explain why Renter's shouldn't be denied amenities because of the owner. Let's say you rent a Cottage every summer at the beach. It's on an exclusive private beach in which residents pay for access. However, the cottage owner your renting from doesn't pay their share. You already paid your rent for a place with beach access. It's part of the contract. You arrive at the beach and are told to get out by other members. What is your reaction going to be? You paid your money for access to the beech. The owner was responsible to make sure you got it. Are you not going to say you have a right to that beach no matter what the owner did? You can't pay the owner's membership fee either. That's the scenerio renters face when their owners don't pay their dues.

In that case if I was the renter I would ask for a partial if not complete refund because the owner fraudulently rented and promised things to me that they know don't exist. The owner knows or should know the rules that if they are delinquent or don't pay that amenities are taken away. They are committing fraud if they promise those things to renters and know they are delinquent. The renter has a great case for court and the owner might want to get a haircut that goes with pinstripes or an orange jumpsuit. The HOA must protect its assests by punishing those who don't pay.