Does the attorney of the association have the right to tell a member to contact him for information regarding the associations

Greeting,

I needed help to find out what I do when I continue to ask the board the following questions and the attorney told me not to contact the board but him.

s a member of the association, and a past board member and community manager+, I wanted to get an answer to my questions as I have tried for months to get them to answer my questions. I have asked when the next board meeting will be held and they will not answer.

1. How can the president be listed as the Onsite- Property Manage when she does not have a current real estate license? Does she hold a Community Management According to the Real Estate Commission her license expired on 1/31/2012? How can she be compensated in 2020 over 10,000.00 and still be compensated in 2021?

2. According to the By-Laws of the Association, why was our annual meeting not rescheduled?

3. Where are the agreements with the association that allow board members to be paid for services?

4. Why is the management company not offering full service to the community which they are licensed to do?

5. Why were the minutes from the annual meeting which ended up being informational not sent out as stated by CMA?

6. Why is the association being charged for a Violation Manager when payment is being paid to the on-site property manager which handles that responsibility?

7. Is the association approved for FHA and VA loans?

8. Of the board members what position do the other members hold? The only one listed is the president in her correspondence.

9. How to access the community web portal?

This is what the article state

Compensation. Directors shall not receive any compensation from the Association for acting as such. Any director may be reimbursed for expenses incurred on behalf of the Association upon approval of a majority of the other directors. Nothing herein shall prohibit the Association from compensating a director, or any entity with which a director is affiliated, for services or supplies furnished to the Association in a capacity other than as a director pursuant to a contract or agreement with the Association, provided that such director's interest was made known to the Board prior to entering into such contract and such contract was approved by a majority of the Board of Directors, excluding the interested director.

3.13. Conduct of Meetings. The President or any designee the Board approves by resolution shall preside over all Board meetings. The Secretary shall keep a minute book of Board meetings recording all Board resolutions and all transactions and proceeding S occurring at such meetings.

2.3. Annual Meetings. The first meeting of the Association, whether a regular or special meeting, shall be held within one year from the closing of the first home or when 25% of homes in the Community have been sold, whichever is later unless the Board determines that it is in the best interest of the Community to hold it earlier. Subsequent regular and annual meetings shall be set by the Board so as to occur during the third quarter of the Association's fiscal year on a date and at a time set by the Board. 2.4.

I was never able to open this and expressed it several times. Why did the secretary not transfer the recording into written form to send to the member?

This is what the attorney stated:

Going forward, you are to direct all communication through this firm. Please also be advised that we will not be responding to all of your inquiries. You appear to ask the same questions over and over again, which is both wasteful and unnecessary. As a former property manager, you are aware that the Association works on a limited budget, and has a Board comprised of volunteers who have full-time jobs and simply do not have the time or money to respond to voluminous requests.

Here are concise answers to your questions:

1) The president is not the property manager. She is being compensated pursuant to Article III(B)(3.12) of the Bylaws for duties she is performing outside the scope of her duties as a Director.

2) Annual Meeting. As you will recall, the Annual Meeting was held in February via Zoom.

3) Agreements. In accordance with the Nonprofit Corporation Code and the Association’s Bylaws, you are not entitled to inspect agreements.

4) Management. Full-service management from costs significantly more than the current arrangement. The Board determined that it was in the best interests of the community to operate the Association in this manner.

5) Annual Meeting Minutes. You are entitled to inspect the annual meeting minutes. Ms. ?? (copied) can email them to you.

6) Violation Manager. Again, the Board determined that it was in the best interests of the community to operate the Association in this manner.

7) Lending. The Association is not approved for FHA lending. I believe the Association qualifies for VA lending.

8) Board of Director Composition. The Association is having a difficult time finding volunteers to serve on the Board. At this time, the Association has two directors and two officers. If you are aware of any potential candidates, please advise,

9) Web Portal. Ms. ?? can assist in getting you access to the web portal.

This what I asked back based on his answer
1) President is not the property manager. She is being compensated pursuant to Article III(B)(3.12) of the Bylaws for duties she is performing outside the scope of her duties as a Director. Help me understand that what she has listed on her email signature states that she is the On-Site Property Manager and that it has been discovered that she does not have a valid license to be a community manager or a property manager and now she is a Liason? What is that? Also why the association needs a Historian and a Consultant?

President signs as below

President, Stonecrest Heights
Board of Directors
On-Site Property Manager,
Restoring our community to its original beauty!

After it was discovered she was not licensed as a CAM or a Realtor now she signs as a Property Manager Liason- Not sure what that means.

2) Annual Meeting. As you will recall, the Annual Meeting was held in February via Zoom. Explain to me since it was done by Zoom the By-Laws don't apply?

3) Agreements. In accordance with the Nonprofit Corporation Code and the Association’s Bylaws, you are not entitled to inspect agreements. Where are the minutes that stated that the board voted that she would hold this position and the association has a Historian and a Consultant which the other board company is being paid?

4) Management. Full-service management from costs significantly more than the current arrangement. The Board determined that it was in the best interests of the community to operate the Association in this manner. We have always had that in the past. Licensed management company to manage the association. But the general ledger shows that in 2020 we paid an Onsite Property Manager and management company. Also, the 2021 budget shows that the association is budget for the same. However, the management company is licensed. Help me understand!

5) Annual Meeting Minutes. You are entitled to inspect the annual meeting minutes. Ms. ?? (copied) can email them to you. I have been asking this for months

6) Violation Manager. Again, the Board determined that it was in the best interests of the community to operate the Association in this manner. Why are we paying a person when we have a management company and an on-site property manager? So we need a separate person to walk the property for violations?

7) Lending. The Association is not approved for FHA lending. I believe the Association qualifies for VA lending. Are you sure if we are VA-approved? Agents that list properties for the community are stating that the community is FHA and VA approved.

8) Board of Director Composition. The Association is having a difficult time finding volunteers to serve on the Board. At this time, the Association has two directors and two officers. If you are aware of any potential candidates, please advise, Board Members Expected: are Officers: This person was listed on the board minutes of the board meeting on May 19, 2021. So who are the two directors and two officers?

Since we did not have a quorum in February why was the meeting not recalled to get qualified, competent people on the board?

Thanks anyone for advise

You obviously didn't even read the first line of this novel. The OP wants to ask the board questions directly.

Sorry, it is a lot. I have tried to contact the board about the recall of our annual meeting. board members being paid as a property manager changed to a liaison when they were called out. board members acting as historian and consultant and getting paid, having a violation person being paid, the copy of the meeting of the annual meeting to show we did not have a quorum. To recall the meeting, If we are FHA/VA approved. When I sent that to the board with the question; the attorney for the association told me I had to contact him if I had any questions regarding the association.

Not sure why I have to contact the attorney when he represents the association and is not on the board?

That is it in a bottle of mess!

Thanks

First and foremost, the attorney works for the association, NOT he Board of Directors. In this instance, as the OP stated, the attorney instructed the OP to contact them directly because the Board or Board president can't be bothered even while they are being paid by the association.

HOA's are not in the lending business, therefore the process of FHA/VA approval needs to come from the lenders themselves. When HOA's were first started, they were owned by the developer and they had skin in the game to get units sold with as many lending options as possible. After turnover to owners, HOA's no longer bear that same responsibility.

Rescheduling or adjournments of annual meetings during the pandemic was tricky. Many associations just kicked the can down the road as long as the "ankle biters" didn't get in the way.

I am curious as to how large your association is. It appears from the attorney's statement that a MC would too expensive for the association to bear. The Bylaws state the annual meeting to be held in the third quarter of fiscal year, when is that?

Do property managers for HOA's in Georgia have to be licensed? I think Florida has a requirement, California doesn't.

I find it odd that questions can't be answered by the volunteer board members, because they are volunteers, hold down full time jobs, and the association can't afford a PM, BUT, the lawyer instructs the board to let him/her answer the questions on their behalf running up a tab of thousands of dollars.

loans is what I meant

The other, both the Board and the PM are in over their heads.

Works for me.

I agree.

Agree with Augie. Also think Emerald needs to better educate her/himself.

Cathy is right about FHA certification. Similarly, the Association applies for VA certification, which, I recall lasts a long time & is easier than FHA cert. We have both.

That rental percentage changed a couple times in fairly recent years. It was dropped to 25% during the Great Recession but moved to 50% when the housing market stabilized.

This was an eye-opener to communities in that 25%-50% range since they abruptly lost their certification but had no practical way to do anything about it. Amending a rental restriction may not fly, and even if it did the current tenants would almost certainly be grandfathered. At a minimum the loss of FHA certification put further downward pressure on home prices for communities whose demographic included first-time buyers, who are often less able to come up with the 20% down payment needed for a conventional loan.

Those were interesting years.

None of our clients are FHA or VA certified. I am asked occasionally by an agent representing a potential buyer if the property is FHA qualified, I respond no.

A potential buyer desired FHA financing last year. The process and paperwork, albeit electronic, were a PITA as far as we got. At some intermediate point the lender pulled the plug stating the buyer would not qualify, FHA or no, so we never finished the certification.

With respect to the original post, item 4, Management: Must HOA/Condominium type management companies be licensed in Georgia?

Regarding Augie's response to item 4: I have no knowledge of Georgia laws and do not know if full service management is required in certain circumstances or if Financials Only or Self Management are options. However, we have a client whose Declaration specifically states the Association may not be self-managed. I expect this is not the only such Association with that requirement.

Well, egg on my face. I have not read the paragraph in the Declaration on this subject since we took over management 21 months ago. The language is not as explicit as I thought it was . . .

The salient language is found in the paragraph in the Declaration which addresses Management Agreements. I have excised the usual boilerplate regarding term and termination and quoted only the sentences which pertain to self-management:

"Any decision to establish self-management by the Owners Association shall require the prior consent of Owners of Units to which at least sixty-seven percent (67%) of the votes are allocated and the approval of first mortgage holders holding mortgages on Units which have at least fifty-one percent (51%) of the votes of the Association."

Not that it justifies my misstatement, as I should have checked before posting, but the foregoing effectively quashes the self-management option as this bunch cannot agree on which day of the week it is or whether it is light or dark outside, much less agree to self manage.

Our HOA may "not hire a professional manager as an employee." The rest says something like we must have a manager who works for a management firm which has its own offsite offices. We're eliminating that restriction in our CC&Rs restatement. Often talk here about hiring a fully credentialed manager as a direct employee. Two large high rises near us have such an arrangement.

The plus seems to be they stay with the HOA for years. One just retired who's been the PM since the building opened in 2007. We, on the other hand, have had seven PMs since 2007. We have heard that the "in house" General managers are paid very, very well. One reason is those same HOAs also have engineers as direct employees.
The in-house PMs are credentialed attend CAI functions and have their own lunch group with other such PMs in our downtown area.

A former owner here ran the family property management business. Generally small commercial HOAs. She used the word "in-house management" to distinguish the arrangement from "self management," where the Board, indeed, manages everything about the HOA. Maybe she made it up, I don't know.

The reason we are FHA certified is to help older owners to "age in place." Whatever the opinions of reserve mortgages, about the only way to get them is through FHA. In the past, we have had Owners exchange their conventional loans for VA certified loans when interest rates were favorable for them to do it.

We're way off Emerald's question.

Can you please clarify: Does your HOA intend to keep the prohibition on the manager being an employee?

Interesting info you posted.

Emerald is hopefully doing homework while I wipe my own egg off my face from the FHA/VA loan topic.

Sure, Augustin. We want the option of hiring a PM as a direct employee. That restriction will be eliminated.

To be clear, Our restated CC&Rs won't require us to be FHA & VA certified. It's just something our Board voted on a few years ago at the request of a couple of vets. In the VA case, each wanted to refi at the VA interest rate.

The FHA certification also was a request from an older owner who wanted a reverse mortgage (no opinion on the needed here). Their income had inot ncreased, but our assessment and taxes had. They wanted to stay in their retirement dream home & the reverse mortgage allowed them to do that. We've had a couple of other oldsters do the same. We're not a "senior" community but have probably 70% of owners over 55.

Both are amenities.