Who Signs the Contract?

LmT, you've been given the CA HOA lawyers website more than once to look up these very basic questions. 1. think it through: Who's responsible if something goes south with the contracted work? 2. review your contract with your management company: Does it say anything about the PM signing contracts?

3. Finally, go to trusty Davis-stirling.com, "Contracts," "Signing contracts." Please report back with your answers to these 3 questions.

Of course, Davis Stirling was the first place I went to look up 'who signs the contracts'. I also checked the manager's contract. There is nothing to indicate the management company executes contracts with vendors. Of course, I didn't think it would.

It should be pretty clear by now that we have a Manager who feels she runs our HOA and we all work for her. She takes the title 'Manager' a little too seriously. I get little support from the other members of the board, bar one. They are perfectly happy to let her carry on in her incompetent way. Like so many boards as volunteers they did not sign up for the kind of work we know it can be. We are a small HOA so we need active, involved board members - they are scarce as hen's teeth! We don't have the funds to hand over our day to day finances to a manager (competent or otherwise) so we must be very 'hands on' which has worked for us for a long time - until it didn't - a change of management 18 months ago brought us this new manager.

I would like to give her enough rope to hang herself and I am already, unofficially, seeking a new management company to represent us.

I do have plenty of experience as a board member but, Kerry, as you know California Civil Code can, on some subjects, be rather ambiguous. That's why I come here to solicit opinions from fellow California board members. That's why I asked about Max/Richard. He was grumpy but he did know his stuff.

Oh, by the way, this manager owns the company!!!!! Scary I know.

Our management company refuses to let the PM sign any contracts. They don't want the liability. That's fine with me - I would rather make sure that what we are signing is correct.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I do not think it's typical that PMs sign contracts. Maybe Tennessee is different. Tim might want to check with TN corporations codes since I think, but am not sure, he's written that his state has no HOA statutes for detached homes

Calif. Corporate codes and the opinion of the lawyers at Davis-stirling.com is that Board officers sign contracts. (The board at a meeting must first vote to approve the proposal.)

Why is it "scary" that your PM owns the MC, LmT?

There are some directors and/or presidents who are unwilling to sign a contract as they are afraid of any perceived liability.

It's probably "scary" because the property manager doesn't answer to anyone because she owns the company, it's still an excuse - no one has gone to this lady and said "please how me where it says you have tge authority to sign the association's contracts or dictate the order of agenda items ir what's listed in the agenda."

And how do you know that nobody has asked this question?

Aidyl wrote: "There are some directors and/or presidents who are unwilling to sign a contract as they are afraid of any perceived liability." But the contract already was approved by the Board in a board meeting. And whether an individual director signs/executes it or not, the Board and HOA are still liable. Please define "perceived liability."

Apparently no one has because you're the one who started this conversation! Have you even asked your colleagues? If you'd read the contract, you'd already know the answer, wouldn't you?

You can talk about the manager being incompetent if you want to, but it would appear she knows far more about your association than you do. Unfortunately for you, it would appear the rest of the board is clueless and like it that way because they think that'll let them off the hook if things go sideways.

If you want clarification on this issue, read the bloody contract and not who signed it (it had to be a board member). Hopefully that person is still around so you can get some background on how things got to this point. Then go to your association attorney with your questions-perhsos it's time your association look for another property manager.

You can't just change them on a dime - you will need to read this contract again to see what's required, find another one, and develop a transition plan with this one. if you don't know how any of that works, there are older conversations on this website that discuss what to watch out for. There are also books on the CAI website you can buy that talk about best practices on hiring, working with a property manager - and firing them. The entire board needs to agree with all this, so that's where you need to begin. Good luck to you.