A service of:
Community123.com
Professional websites for HOAs & condos, since 2004
🎁 1st year FREE for HOATalk members! →
← Return to Topics List

What is a "charted" POA/HOA?

Started by RogerJ1 • 7 replies • 263 views

💬 Join us to post & get advice from 50,000 HOA & Condo leaders.

Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in

RogerJ1 (Texas)
Posts: 550
Posted:
What is a "charted" POA/HOA?

I Find nothing on charted POA from searching. Then I thought it might be a typo of "chartered" but that seems to have no meaning in POA/HOA circles either. Researching chartered POAs/HOAs, all I can find related to chartered is charters/missions statements, which I assume most to all organizations would have, so that would not make much sense. One might use chartered as a synonym for incorporated, but there would be nothing special about a POA being incorporated in some form since most to all are.

Also, it could a different typo - anyone have an idea what the writer meant?

Context, someone in my subdivision who pushed for a management company a year ago, for our small, 40 to 50 home, subdivision POA, is back to try again and in her introduction to an upcoming special board meeting on management company she wrote "charted POA"

"I still firmly believe a community of any size with a charted POA or HOA should never
be self-managed. My position is rooted in my own actual home-owner experiences with
self-managed HOA and POA organizations. Remember board members come and go
yet the continuity of a POA/HOA charter remains as does the necessity for a consistent
and qualified leader for community business."
RogerJ1 (Texas)
Posts: 550
Posted:
I forgot to ask/add. Does it have anything to do with multi tenant organizations like condominium or rental properties. I wonder because I found this site* which mentions "charter" many tomes but seems to be in context of tenants/renters/shared-units:

* https://naplesrentals.net/blog/owners/why-your-coa-hoa-needs-a-reputable-local-property-management-company
AugustinD
Posts: 3,698
Posted:
-- In some circles, a HOA's or business's (for profit or not for profit) "charter" is equivalent to its "articles of incorporation."

-- I think the owner means "chartered." This furthermore means the POA is incorporated, with its charter (a.k.a. articles of incorporation) properly filed with the state. I think this owner furthermore is suggesting that, as a corporation (duly recognized by the state since the charter is on file with the state et cetera), the corporation (a.k.a. "chartered POA") should be professionally managed.
CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
FWIW, some of the regulars around here refer to self-managed HOAs as "self-mismanaged".

What the person who is pushing for a management company is saying is that your POA is a corporation/business; that board members come and go and that many of them lack the qualifications to run a corporation; and even if they are qualified many lack the time needed to effectively manage the day-to-day operations of your community. I agree with her.

Professional community managers can provide a wide range of services, and many will offer a menu of services that associations can pick and choose from depending on their needs.

One of the more important ones is collecting assessments. You don't want to have to change banks and print new coupon books every time you change Treasurers, which can happen if you handle this yourself.

Another important service a professional manager can provide is getting bids for association work. Many of the bigger management companies have experience working with and managing contracts, they know who the good ones are, and the contractors also know who the responsible managers are. So getting bids becomes easier.

Obviously smaller associations will have money constraints, so may not want full service management. Many associations outsource only the bookkeeping functions.

It's certainly worth having the discussion as a community.
MichaelH34 (North Carolina)
Posts: 179
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By CathyA3 on 11/23/2021 7:00 AM

One of the more important ones is collecting assessments. You don't want to have to change banks and print new coupon books every time you change Treasurers, which can happen if you handle this yourself.

Why would you have this situation? Any checks should be printed with the corporation name and address, not that of the treasurer, any more than it would at any "normal" corporation.

Treasurers come and go at corporations and have to be added and removed from bank access as a normal course of having a business.

What am I missing?
DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By CathyA3 on 11/23/2021 7:00 AM

One of the more important ones is collecting assessments. You don't want to have to change banks and print new coupon books every time you change Treasurers, which can happen if you handle this yourself.

Easily solved with a PO box. I certainly would not have been treasurer if my address was on checks or people were mailing their payments to my house.
Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.
CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299
Posted:
Quote:
Posted By MichaelH34 on 11/23/2021 9:40 AM
Posted By CathyA3 on 11/23/2021 7:00 AM

One of the more important ones is collecting assessments. You don't want to have to change banks and print new coupon books every time you change Treasurers, which can happen if you handle this yourself.


Why would you have this situation? Any checks should be printed with the corporation name and address, not that of the treasurer, any more than it would at any "normal" corporation.

Treasurers come and go at corporations and have to be added and removed from bank access as a normal course of having a business.

What am I missing?

I agree that this shouldn't happen and there are ways to avoid it. But crazy stuff can happen in small, self-managed associations.

I vaguely remember a poster describing the problems they had with an out-of-state director who moved the association's money and checkbook out of state and the new board couldn't pay the bills after the out-of-state director resigned (the new directors were not authorized signers on the operating account). Not sure how that was resolved...

And I agree that treasurers come and go at corporations, but the corporations have departments performing the functions of a PM who handles the HOA books. The treasurers and other officers themselves aren't physically signing checks or shlepping to the banks every year to redo signature cards, both of which can happen in self-managed associations.

Money management can be time consuming, in other words, which is why I mentioned it as another reason to employ a PM.
JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265
Posted:
The problem with being self managed is finding owners willing to do the work, especially the financial side of collection and payment. Even if when self managed, an association would be wise to hire an Accountant/Book Keeper to manage the financial side.

🎯 You've read this entire discussion

Join the conversation with 50,000 HOA & Condo Leaders:

  • ✓ Ask follow-up questions
  • ✓ Share your experience
  • ✓ Get expert advice
  • ✓ Access 350,000 discussions
Create Free Account →

⚡ Takes 30 seconds

Already a member? Log in here

Terms of Use and Privacy Statement