Anybody's management comapny charge for Covid?

Just wondering if anybody else got charged extra by HOA management company?
I am on the board as the treasurer and was surprised to find a charge for "Natural Disaster Response and Recovery Management" aka Covid. When asked for explanation they told me they have additional administrative costs....
Our mgmt company is really very basic. i.e. no onsite services.

With the various social distancing and stay-at-home orders issued by the government, xxxx made internal operating and technology changes to continue to provide services to the community. In this instance, we are able to charge an hourly rate for anyone having to assist with the management of your community. This, coupled with the normal additional administrative support provided by your regular support team, would result in higher variable billing charges for your Association.

Go back and read your management agreement - COVID-19 might not be mentioned specifically, but there may be language in there allowing this in case of a disaster or something similar (like a pandemic). If you can't find it, have your association attorney have a look.

That said, it would have been appropriate for the company to give you a heads up about the additional charge. Your board may have been able to do a little negotiation to suspend some services to help save money. You don't say how much the charge is, but if the additional charge comes out to a dollar or so per homeowner, it might be worth paying it to keep the services consistent. Be sure you ask specifically what they had to do, such as bump up their computer systems so people can work at home or rearrange work crews to ensure social distancing.

We posted a question a few weeks ago regarding decreasing our contract monthly flat rate charges as we reduced the level of service we provided to our clients, specifically we believed we should suspend property reviews based on the shelter in place orders of the county governments in which we operate. We received several responses with good advice.

We have since resumed full service operations, with precautions.

I cannot imagine increased costs as a result of COVID-19, for one thing our fuel costs in north Texas are in the $1.21-$1.35 range, down $0.50 a gallon or so from when this began. Our client 'touches' (email and call volumes) are significantly lower than five weeks ago. We have seen no uptick in administrative expenses, such as time spent collecting delinquent accounts.

To answer your question, no, we have not increased our charges and see no reason to do so at this time. We do have provisions in our contracts to increase charges should circumstances warrant.

I recommend you ask the President/Owner of your MC to join the Board on a conference call and explain the drivers for the increased costs.

Our current contract actually allows xxx to charge for “Any time spent on natural disaster response and recovery management” – that being said I don’t see how this applies. I do believe the intent here was different; i.e. a tornado hits a subdivision with actual work.

Some our fees are automatic (italicized in contract). However, “natural disaster” isn’t. Therefore, I assume default clause applies whereby agent has to potion board with documentation in advance. They didn't. They never do.

P.S. our management company got bought by a large national company (RealManage). Contract is still with original company. Team is still original.

There's noting wrong with charging you for extra work IF that is in their contract. If not, I would not pay it.

I don't see how this could be in a contract.. unless there is a specific provision for pandemic operations which outlines what extra services will be provided.

I don't know the specifics of your Mc does for your community or what the specifics of the contract are, but it sounds like a money grab to me..

Yes,,i've officially become suspicious of most everything to do with hoa, cai,, management companies,, business that service hoa's exclusively,, I'm continually amazed at how easily money can just be Fudged away . A line item here, a line item there. noone pays attention to 500 here or there.. it's sickening.

FirstL,

I was once on the Board of an HOA with quarterly "Annual" (actually "Membership") meetings. They took a lot of additional effort, increased the opportunities for grandstanding and complaining by the ankle biters.

We rewrote the Bylaws to go to a Board meeting system, with an Annual Meeting that elected Board members - all meetings are open - but, since there is a limited audience, and the audience is usually knowledgable, the ankle biters don't like to attend them.

This, to me, is a far simpler construct than multiple membership meetings.

I guess we are shopping for a new HOA contract. Just afraid that many companies have the same low service quality. I am surprised nobody is offer a cloud/outsourced HOA platform (managed service). i.e. call center, does billing/paperwork.

Can't really follow how this applies here. Our HOA has no direct interaction (i.e. no onsite services).The mgmt company is using an online platform that we share. I know that our agent can access and perform work from her laptop at any place. Maybe there are other employees who don't have a laptop yet? But really...

Possibly, they have higher costs. Then again it seems like they seem to be able to work form home already. Compared to most other business, they are very protected form revenue standpoint, I doubt HOA's cancelling contracts. Many other businesses have reduced revenue, higher cost and don't pass on. Bad style to pick such a moment and charge already only after two weeks into stay-at-home order.

Regarding: "There are plenty of online HOA management platforms." Very interested in exploring some. Ideally an online platform paired with somebody working behind:
1.) taking calls from homeowners as needed and enter into system
2.) collect funds, pay vendors, do accounting

thanks. Looks like there are plenty of choices. I don't know that we are ready to go back DIY. Ideally, the service woudl be paired with backed operations. Almost like an online bank. Or find a part time association manager?

meanwhile our attorney reviewed our contract and agrees that such charges are non-automatic and have to be approved. They waived the fees as a "courtesy" but tell us there is a SLA that apparently superseded our contract. No board member has seen it before or signed.