Once upon a time, a board made a "rule"

Let's pretend that a couple years ago, say 1998, an existing board made a rule that defined a fee structure for certain violations. THey may or may not have done it "properly", no one really knows, because no one was at the meeting, and those who were at the meeting are long gone. They sent out letters to all the owners at the time, and no one complained. THey might have even documented the new rule in their minutes.

Flash forward to 2006. No one knows where those minutes are: perhaps in someone's garage, perhaps lost forever. The rules were never recorded with the county, never added as an amendmant to our CC&R's, and no new homeowner who has bought property since 1998 has been told, notified, etc. of that rule/fee structure.

Can, and should, the current board try to use that structure/rule? What should be done to make such an (important) change more official in an HOA. When do such changes have the power of "rule"? Can new owners really be held liable to fees, rules, etc. that they are never shown, that aren't part of the documents given to them?

thanks. That's exactly what it feels like to me, that it would be hard to defend enforcing the rules, when people can legitimately claim they had no knowledge of it. Ingnorance of the law seems like a plausible excuse here.

i would agree, but in our case, the board simply gives every new owner a copy of the original CC&R's, and that's it. Since the penalty/fees, rule changes, etc. aren't in that original document, i think the board would have a hard time expecting an owner to know what was "passed" by the board 3 years before they bought the home, and what was outlawed seven years prior to their purchase, etc.. especially since the board can't even find their own meeting minutes.

Becky, it is nice to hear that your Board revamped document to give detailed info. This should help remove questions and complaints. Providing the HOA documents in a new homeowner package is an excellent idea. We did this until Colorado required these be provided to the buyer prior to commiting to purchase. That is an even better idea.

On October 1, 2004 the Colorado Real Estate Commission's standard contract gave buyers the OPTION to elect to receive the HOA docs prior to final commitment to buy. On January 1, 2006 the Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act was amended by Senate Bill 05-100 to REQUIRE the HOA docs be provided to the buyer prior to final commitment.

With the docs the seller provides a disclosure form which the buyer must sign. DARCO requires the title company to send us a copy of the signed form for the HOA's files. With this procedure the HOA and the Seller are protected if the Buyer later claims they were not aware of certain restrictions.