solicitation

Started by ArthurB • 5 replies • 1344 views

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ArthurB (Florida)
Posts: 1

Posted:

Our HOA has a newsletter that is self-supporting through ads. After a recent newsletter article was critical of the Board, the Board rescinded authorization of the newsletter and told the volunteer staff to discontinue the newsletter. The newsletter continued to be printed and distributed to all residents wishing it. The Board then sent a letter to the publisher stating they where in violation of the communities no solicitation rule which states "There shall be no solicitations by any person anywhere in the Community for any cause, charity or any other purpose whatsoever, unless specifically authorized by the Board of Directors". The Board believes the advertising in the newsletter constitutes solicitation.

What do you all think?

DonnaS (Tennessee)
Posts: 5,671

Posted:

ArthurB,
Who pays for the newsletter? Where is it printed? If the Association pays for it or it is printed on association paper or in their office, I would say that the Board DOES have the right to suspend it's publication. What my association does is to send the drafts for articles to the Board for review.
The purpose of these newsletters is to be a positive information sheet for the residents, to keep them posted as to what is going on in the community. I am firmly against any community publication to be used to bad mouth anyone in the membership, least of all, it's B.O.D.
Freedom of the press is one thing but this format is not where to excercise this, especially if this is a sanctioned tool of the Board.

TimH1 (Alabama)
Posts: 17

Posted:

You might also see if your HOA name and / or logo is trademarked (ours is), so use by the publisher of the name or logo of the development would have to be granted by the Board.

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Arthur, I think the Board should replace the editor of the newsletter and continue to provide it to the community. The Board can provide guidelines for the editor to follow.

JeanneK3 (Maryland)
Posts: 562

Posted:

What state are you in? Maryland has a law that allows condo homeowners to provide information on the condo to other homeowners. Thus, if you are in Maryland your newsletter is legal but you might have to pay for it yourself.

NancyD1 (Florida)
Posts: 447

Posted:

When homeowners drive down that yellow brick road to their homes at night, they are not supposed to think of anything but OZ when they return home. They have already read the local paper at work, they have enough of the world outside of the gates.

A newsletter for a HOA should be, informative of events going on in the community and A political.

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