Records Disclosure

Hello all,

Association records have been returned to New Mexico from an out-of-state 'office'.

Our BoD is trying to work their way through the obligations for 'record disclosure'.

Article 8 - 53-8-27. Books and records:

"All books and records of a corporation may be inspected by any member, or his agent or attorney, for any proper purpose at any reasonable time."

HOA ACT - SB 150 - SECTION 2 - 47-16-5 RECORD DISCLOSURE TO MEMBERS--UPDATED INFORMATION.--

A. "All financial and other records of the association shall be made available during regular business hours for examination by a lot owner within ten business days of a written request."

B. "The association shall not charge a fee for making financial and other records available for review. The association may charge a fee of not more than ten cents ($.10) per page for copies."

C. As used in this section, "financial and other records" includes (paraphrased to reduce content):
1) The Declaration
2) Designated Agent name, address, phone
3) Bylaws
4) All Association Members – names and addresses
5) Minutes of all meetings for previous 5 years
6) Operating budget for current fiscal year
7) Current assessments, including both regular &
special assessments
8) Financial statements & accts, bank acct statements, transaction registers, services &/or utility records
9) Financial audit/review, if any
10) Association’s current contracts
11) Current insurance policies
12) any electronic record of action taken by the board.

Our association's records = two cardboard file boxes. The boxes are located in the Resident Agent's personal home office.

It doesn't seem that the statutes requires the Registered Agent to hand both boxes to a Member and allow them to sift through the contents.

Could the intent of the above statutes mandate the 'purpose' be stated by the member, so that the requested documents can be secured by the Registered Agent (from the box), and only those documents put on a desk for the Member to review?

Our BoD understands that much of the information is public information, i.e. property owners name/address & Community Docs, etc. But, bank statements and check book transaction records? Is there a 'line' between physical 'examination, inspection, review' and 'copying'?

What are normal and customary practices when disclosing records to Members?

If your association has a website, are there documents that are not made available online?

Thank you for your time,
Tammy
The only way out, is through.

Seriously: Deny, delay, and force the HOA member to hire an attorney to get records to which she or he is lawfully entitled. It is highly effective at ensuring the HOA is opaque.

Lawful and reasonable practices are to require that the member not make a sweeping request. The member must indicate specific records she or he desires to see.

The HOA must ensure that the HOA member cannot steal records. Where possible, offer copies, instead of inspection of originals, at a reasonable cost.

I think the best HOAs put their governing documents on their web sites. It saves the manager a lot of trouble.

What exact records are you looking for and requesting? How far do you want them to go back? Do you have an issue with paying for copies? Do you have an issue of an arranged time to VIEW the records with the option of making your own copies?

There are some records that may only exist in the mind than reality. There are some records that are already available outside of the HOA like CC&R's and Articles of Incorporation. Those are PUBLIC documents.

So what is your scope and reason for the records? Why can't you go to a meeting?

In my rental neighborhood, I scanned every non-recorded document known and available and posted on our website where every owner had access.

I also posted every recorded document to the open side of the website.

This did not include case filings, like liens and foreclosures.

Everything was easy after that ... no complaints, and any request for docs was quickly satisfied.

Hi Melissa,

Thanks for your response. I still feel very new to the board, and am not quite comfortable leading with "I'm on the board". Apologies for confusion.

Our association's records were held out-of-state for a decade. Members had no ability to examine or review them! The long time treasurer (now removed) refused to supply bank statements for board meetings. (Now we know why!)

The new board (w/attorney help) has possession of (all?)the records. The Registered Agent and Principal Office have been changed to be complaint and perjury to the NM Secretary of State is no longer an annual event!

As a director/officer I'm trying to weed through compliance requirements. We view it as you stated:
We will allow a review *for 5 years back, we will charge $ .10 for copies, and we think you are spot on: VIEW records w/option to copy. We interpret a requirement to "view" in person.

We aren't trying to be difficult, but want to avoid any abuse by ex directors requesting we send them copies of bank statements each month or copies of the checkbook register each week.

Your response seems to indicate you interpret an 'in person' visit is required to "view" records and copies can be made.

Please correct me if I've misinterpreted.

Sincere appreciation,
Tammy

George,

Love, love, love : "no complaints, and requests for docs quickly satisfied".

Our inexpensive 'u-build-it' website doesn't offer an 'open' side and a password protected side. (It's on our wish list.)
Our annual budget is $6000.00. We are relegated to keeping things as simple as the "income" portion of our budget reflects!

Current goal: 'open' website for (public) docs, calendar/notices, communication, newsletters, etc., while saving the expense of postage, ink, paper & travel. (15 miles of bad road one way to P.O. and if it rains, you aren't going anywhere!)

Wondering:
Do you scan bank statements to website each month?
Do you scan board & annual meeting minutes to the website?

Hoping you'll see my future topic: Filing liens

This forum is a tremendous help.
Gratitude for reply.
Tammy

Thank you for the correction regarding 2019 changes to the NM HOA Act. My earlier link is wrong. Here's the version from which I am working now: https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/19%20Regular/final/SB0150.pdf . I double checked the latest version of the HOA statute at https://laws.nmonesource.com/. See 47-16-1 et seq. at the latter site. I see the statute requires the request to be in writing.

As I think you may have saw, it appears the only charge the NM HOA statute allows is ten cents a page for copies.

The current version of the NM HOA Act now states that both names and addresses of HOA members are part of HOA records that must be made available to HOA members.

I remember a former director at one of my HOAs who was 'making trouble' with records requests years ago. E.g. she would not be specific about what record she wanted. The board did not know any better. In this instance, I suggest just giving the ex-directors what they want, but requiring them to comply with the law. I see the HOA has ten days to provide the records. Just follow the law. Hopefully the ex-directors will tire of this.

Bank statements - If review is requested by out of state Member:

Large file emails are a hardship on all volunteer directors who live in the (frontier) subdivision, due to the limits on data with the available internet service providers. I made it 17 days before I was limited to a crawl, our Secretary faces the same issue, and we haven't sent one blast email, or large file.

- - Would it be normal/customary/acceptable to have a policy that requires we copy (and charge)to accommodate request and send via USPS mail?

The ten cent per copy is for inspection when someone makes an appointment during normal business hours. You could charge the out of stater ten cents per copy and have them pick it up, or ten cents per copy and mail it with postage absorbed by the out of stater.