Have you used an HOA Attorney to assist with things?

Hi short of using an attorney for being sued.. Has your HOA used them for clarification and guideance? Our board recently has been consulting our HOA atty more frequently due to assumptions and off the target jumping by a few board members. While this may be a pricey approach, it seems to have stopped alot of the above... helping keeping things on track.

Do you use an HOA attorney for clarification and interpretation of your CCRS when board members can't agree or interpret the beloved CCR bible.???

We have done the same.
However, we keep this to a minimum and only when the Board agrees to seek a legal opinion.

My head is spinning with Melissa's response, once again. There has to be something in the air down there. Not sure what a specialized HOA attorney is.

I have never had a HOA have to pay for a lawyer, nor have I ever had to pay for a lawyer myself. I have done 1 set of CCRs, three Bylaws, more Rules and Regulations than I can court and about 20 Election Rules. I have a friend who I worked with and now works for a large HOA law firm. They vet the documents before going out. Knock on wood, none have ever been challenged.

I use two website for legal opinions than can guide HOA and so far than has sufficed. I have worked with about 150 HOA's in about ten years and outside of Small Claims, none have ever needed the representation of legal. Guess I have been lucky.

Yes we have and yes you should get an attorney that specializes in HOA law. Attorney's are like doctors. Would you go to a podiatrist for brain surgery? Nope. Should you hire an oil and gas attorney for HOA law? Nope.

That said, if you have a solid Management Company, you should lean on their expertise and advice. They should be able to answer a ton of legal questions for you without the need of an attorney but not all MC's are created equal. I do agree that seeking legal advice should be agreed upon by the board.

Most definitely. We had our attorney review HOA responsibility when it came to interior damages from a common element failures. We are stacked housing in NC so we are a little different than most.

We have saved more than enough money the attorney charged for the memo. It's nice having that memo to send when an owner demands that we pay because they don't have any HO-6 insurance.

Agree that you need an attorney that specializes in HOA's. One of the demands for payment we received was from another attorney. Sent them the memo and never heard from them again.

To keep costs down, always do some research and have your questions ready. Our Board approves items that are sent to the attorney and our attorney works directly with only one Board member.

When I was on the board, one person (usually the president) was designated as the person to contact the HOA attorney. It was usually done only if we voted to consult the attorney because you get charged for those responses to emails and/or phone calls. This is also why our current attorney has a set amount of time in our retainer where he or an associate will answer our questions for free - once we reach the allotted number of minutes, the toll begins to run.

Incidentally, our attorney DOES specialize in HOA law - depending on what your state has, it requires focused review and actions, and the garden variety real estate or corporate attorney may or may not be familiar with the nuances you don't see in typical real estate transactions. I believe there are only three such firms in my area and just about everyone has had or currently has dealt with one or all three.

In this case, I think you can cut down on some of these consultations by coming up with some general rules as to when the attorney should be consulted and why. You shouldn't have to call every time there's a disagreement about the CCRs - some of these questions may be due to people jumping to conclusions as to what they say or not because it's written in legalese that's hard to understand. Sometimes people read something and don't want to accept that what they're reading is exactly how it's supposed to be interpreted.

Perhaps you need to schedule a sitdown with your attorney to have some sort of CCRs 101 so you'll get a general understanding of what they're supposed to do. If your documents allow the Board to enact additional rules that don't contradict the CCRs, you may be able to do that and they'll be more user-friendly, saving the more serious issues for the attorney as they come up.

You may also be having problems because your documents are as old as time and some (most?) of it no longer works for the type of community you've become. You also have to remember there have been developments that no one thought of even 5 years ago, let along 20, 30 or however old your community is. This is why it's a good idea to review the CCRs and Bylaws every 7-10 years with your attorney to see what needs to be updated to reflect changes in state or federal law, added or dropped altogether. That can be a lengthy process so this would be a great time to charter an advisory committee of homeowners who would take a close look at them and make recommendations, then you can go through the process of educating homeowners so they can vote on any changes (the current documents should address how that's to be done)

Richard is correct, need to be very careful on the habit you create with the attorney.

Just curious about what you think should have happened in this case. I mean, the board was definitely playing fast and loose with the law and the elections. Threatening to hold as many elections, costing $5000 each, as it took to get the amendment passed was outright extortion in my mind. Then they compounded it by refusing equal access as guaranteed under the law ... what should the outcome have been?

Any thoughts of suing the firm for malpractice?

The lawsuit names as the defendant Beachwalk HOA. The boneheadedness of letting this go to court is consistent with the Board's other bone-headed moves. I see nothing to back up the contention that the Board was not calling the shots here.

I believe there are HOA attorneys and law firms that give advice that aims, either directly or indirectly, to stir up angst between HOA members and a HOA Board, leading to more billable hours for the attorneys.

But I think this situation is somewhat more complicated. I can see how having to conduct a membership vote for any, "alterations, additions, or improvements, in connection with the common areas... at a cost of more than one thousand dollars ($1000)" would slow the business of the HOA down. The covenant further states that 2/3rds of voting members must vote to approve.

If this is the "Beachwalk HOA" in Huntington Beach, California, then I think this HOA dates to 1972. A thousand dollars in 1972 equates to a little over $6000 today, using the CPI. The HOA claimed it cost $5000 to run an election. In other words, every time the Board wanted to spend over $1000 for an alteration, addition or improvement (and presumably on pretty old infrastructure), it had to win approval from the membership at a supposed cost of $5000. The math here certainly seems to support the need for a radical change to the above covenant.

Yes, the HOA was unreasonable in not following the rules for the elections. But I'd say the members opposing the amendment were unreasonable, too. Who was the worst offender? I would agree the Board and its attorneys made the bigger blunders.

Richard

I have learned things from you and I and appreciate you posting. That said, do not post a link and when replied to reply that there is a lot more to this. Stop with the teasing. Lay it out.

As a manager, I have recommended the Board consult an attorney if I am not able to answer their question, or if they want to go ahead do the thing I am advising they cannot do.

Our experience is exactly the same.