HOA director terms

Started by LynneV1 • 5 replies • 264 views

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LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

Our annual election is in October, and the letter came out saying that there'll be "2" vacancies this year.
I have two issues. There should be "3" openings this year because we have staggered terms and the 1yr. term and the 2 - two yr. terms are up.
In 2022, there were all 5 openings. 1 - one year term; 2- two-year terms; and 2- three-year terms.
Last yr. 2023 - the 1 yr. term was filled.
I think they are afraid if they let three new people in that the president will get voted out.
Also on the application, they added a statement which you have to sign to apply, "If any 3 of the directors don't like you or your actions, they could vote you out."
They can't make up rules that contradict our by-laws. Our bylaws state that if the membership votes you in, only the membership can vote you out. Directors can vote you out of your position, maybe from VP or Secretary to a member- at- large, but they can't kick you off the board at their whim.
I emailed the five board of directors and the management company twice on this issue that there are three openings, and they pretend they don't understand. I clearly stated their names and their terms, and when their terms were up.
I met with the HOA president and the management company yesterday, and they said that a year ago, someone at the management company changed the 1-year term to 2 yrs. just for that person. And they're sticking with it.
Any advice. I live in South Carolina and only about 10/231 people in the HOA community care about issues.
I think, they are afraid if three new people come in, the president and vice president with the three-year terms will be out voted. Any suggestions? Any opinions?

CathyA3 (Ohio)
Posts: 6,299

Posted:

Random observations:

* The current board may be worried about new people, because they don't know what they're doing - at least as far as elections and board service go. How are they with other things? Do they do an OK job of managing the community, make smart financial decisions, etc.?

* Your bylaws, with 5 directors serving terms of varying lengths, will trip up even people who are trying to get things right. And heaven help you if a director resigns before the end of their term (which isn't an unusual occurrence). If I were in this community, I would want to simplify this.

* The only people who can remove board members/directors are the homeowners unless your community is very unusual. Other board members can remove another board members from their officer position - but that doesn't remove the person from the board.

Below is my usual response to HOA issues.

You have three options: live with it, fix it, or move.

Assuming you want to fix it, there are two options: hiring a lawyer to force a resolution via the legal system, or band together with like-minded neighbors to remove the existing board and replace them with competent directors.

In order to make this second option work, you need allies and you need to be willing to serve on the board yourself. If too few homeowners agree with you that this is a problem, then removing-and-replacing is off the table. That leaves you with the legal system. Going this route is expensive, time-consuming, and may not produce the outcome you want. In addition, your neighbors may resent you when assessments rise because the HOA had unplanned legal expenses.

After this, you can see why so many HOA residents take an "I see nothing" approach to issues like this.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

I may have you confused with someone else, but I believe you had big issues with your last HOA election?

Lynne wrote: "I met with the HOA president and the management company yesterday, and they said that a year ago, someone at the management company changed the 1-year term to 2 yrs. just for that person. And they're sticking with it."

As we all know, the management company has NO authority to change the length of directors term in general or individually. If you mgmt. co. is certified, I believe they could lose their certification for this behavior.

On the ballot on in the ballot materials, the Board had the MC s write: "If any 3 of the directors don't like you or your actions, they could vote you out." Unless your Bylaws state that directers can vote directors off th Board if elected by owners, that cannot be enforced. And again, your MC is violating their professional ethics by participating in such language.

Will you please give us the exact wording of your Bylaws on staggered terms?

With so few owners interested, I think you ned to hire an attorney t write a very strong letter to your Board AND the MC pointing our their illegal conduct and demanding that they follow your Bylaws and (probably) state laws. perhaps you can get a few of the 10 interested ownres to chip in.

LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

Yes, Kerry, I've been on here before. The management company is a choice by the current board. They haven't followed our bylaws. They said at my meeting with them, we have 53 people in arrears (out of 231) so they did not have to worry about those 53 people running for the board this year...hahaha.
Not A single lien has been filed in several yrs. against any h/o. The management company is a 2-3 person company and the manager is not a licensed real estate broker or property manager.
He probably shouldn't run a property management company, but he does manage 8-10 other HOAs in My Town. He doesn't have any licenses himself and the last two people that worked for him lost their licenses (the real estate broker and the property manager) because they got arrested for unrelated crimes.
Trust me, I'm good with the term limits. I am good with covenants and by-laws.
but no one enforces them in So. Carolina.
I don't know if I could go to a district attorney to file a complaint, or what agency I can complain to. The property manager threatens lawsuits against any of us that question him or get petitions. Now, we're not allowed to go door to door to get proxies or petitions for special meetings. We filed a petition for a special meeting in May 24 to remove the current board and they ignored it. No meeting was called.
It isn't fair that 3 or 4 of us have to hire a lawyer at our expense, and they get to use our HOA funds for their lawyers to fight us. One lawyer wants a $5,000 retainer up front. Any ideas?

LynneV1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 211

Posted:

And yes to KathyA3 -- I have tried to fix it, thought of moving, and am trying to live with it...but cannot. Rules are rules. The community is suffering as a whole. There are no drive throughs, no violation notices, the Ponds are brown and most of the fish are dead.

MichaelS56 (Minnesota)
Posts: 858

Posted:

Our Association has only three-year terms that are staggered. It takes a while for a new Board member to understand how the Association operates. It has always disappointed me to find out that many times the new Board member has not read the governing documents or the Rules and Regulations. I believe hat some states are requiring new Board members to take some basic HOA classes.

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