Another Day - Another Find

Venting of Frustration ahead -

If you recall, I started my term serving on the board with my Association this year.

I decided to verify our records with the County.

Low and behold, other then a few mailing verification I had to do, there was one lot that the Association was naming the resident as a member and not the actual owner (who is not living at the property). The resident has been paying all the assessments from day one (20+ years ago). I found zero notations in the files about this and nothing in the records identifying the actual owner. More than likely, it's historical knowledge that nobody wrote down.

My point is, PLEASE keep accurate records for your Association.
This doesn't mean you need to keep everything.
If you're not sure, keep it.
If you are told something important, write it down and put in the file.

It will help those who come after you.

Both of you make great points. In mybiwn life I've found I've hung onto a lot of stuff I didn't need because it was outdated - and other stuff that was important. If I hadn't found it when I did, there could have been a lot of unnecessary drama and possibly cost money. I'm currentky working to organize the records of a deceased relative who kept EVERYTHING so this will be an adventure.

For HOAs I'd start with reviewing the documents - that shoukd give you a clue as to what records to keep track of. You should also review this with your association attorney and master insurance company so you'll know what should remain forever and ever vs. a year or two (yes you should establish and keep a document destruction schedule and review it before bringing the shredder).

You cannot and shouldn't let the property manager do all the thinking for you in this regard, because boards and property managers change, as Michael noted. Sure, things are OK now, but what happens five or 10 years from now when the current regime are all gone? Board members have a responsibility to try and leave things better than how they found them. Ideally, homeowners (especially the ones who will grow up to become board members) are paying attention and strive to make the system more effective rather than cheap everything out. You really do get what you pay for.

Nowadays, everything's going electronic, but you still need to consider where and how the permanent information will be stored and how to retrieve it. A good documentation policy will also address disasters - what happens if the community's heavily damaged from fire or a flood and all your files were on paper in a self storage unit or someone's garage (self managed HOAs, are you listening?)

Even with electronic storage, you have tonask about hacking, and everyone needs to address protecting private homeowner information. Finally you don't just toss the paper or the CDs in the dumpster - you need to specify when and how documents are destroyed.

There's probably a lot more to this, but as Tim said, start with hanging onto the paper UNTIL you find out if you can toss it or need to take steps to preservebit,

Regarding assessment payments, I will offer one thing I do:

On the deposit slip, include the lot number along with the name.

This way, if your records are lost or destroyed, you can easily recreate the lot file from the banks records.