Background Checks Legal>???

I am a member of our HOA board and the president is now requesting that all members complete a background check. Is this legal?

The issue is our Treasurer is a parolee and the president just found this out. The guy is a pretty good guy, but I guess the president dosent want him around. There is constant conflict between the two as they both seem to have their own private adgendas.

There is no justifiable reason according to the by-laws to remove the treasurer, so the president thinks that requiring a background check will reveal he is on parole and then he can be removed.

I just dont want our BOD doing something illegal.

Has the Treasurer done anything wrong?

Dear Dan,

I will not touch this one with a ten foot stick. Sorry. If a personal vendetta or something else, I hope for your sake it will not end up in legal dispute. So crazy these days.

Your treasurer should be bonded. If this guy can pass that criteria, then let it be. If he can't he should resign.

Background checks aren't illegal.

Being on parole doesn't necessarily negate a person's fitness for board of director membership nor any office on the board.

It might not be "prudent" to put someone in the office of treasurer who in on parole for check fraud.

I personally don't see anything wrong with background checks, because it speaks volumes about the person handling MY money. In Florida the only thing that would prevent someone from serving on a board is if they are a convicted felon who has not had their voting rights restored for five years. Even if they've "served their time" and "paid their dues" if they're still not able to vote they cannot serve on the BOD. Two of our previous board members know this....which is why they're not once again running for the board. One of them stole $thousands$ of dollars from the association. (Trust me----this "glitch" in bookkeeping has been resolved.) Yet these same people are still the LOUDEST people to complain about every action this HONEST board does.

It's very, very difficult to get the information out to the general membership about their neighbors, though.

Eva,

We do not have rental applications. Our rental policy is designed primarily to ensure that members who rent their properties inform their tenants of the rules and regs of the HOA and provide them with copies of the gov docs. I've copied below our rental policy.

SECTION 8
RENTAL RULES
Preamble: The Board of Directors sets high standards for the Association's
appearance in Arrowhead Ranch Phase Ill Community Association
("Association"). The goals for the appearance of the properties are well maintained homes and common areas and to implement regulations to
secure a crime free neighborhood for families and their guests. Residents in
the Association take pride in their community. Customarily, investment
properties are less attended to than owner occupied homes. Tenants do not
always share the communities high standards created to improve and protect
property values. In an effort to maintain these standards, the Board of
Directors has implemented the following rules for rental units. Owners and
their Tenants shall also comply with all the Association's rules and other
Community Documents. The Association shall impose monetary penalties
assessed against the Owner's unit for violations of the Rules and the
Community Documents. Compliance with these Rental Rules and Community
Documents is a vital part of the Association's success as a crime free
neighborhood. Each Owner who rents a unit within the Association must
comply with the Rental Rules and assist in our goal of a crime free
neighborhood. The Association seeks everyone's cooperation in making the
community a desirable place to live.
1. To help Owners make the right decision regarding their rental applicants, all Owners are required to conduct a criminal background check on their
applicants. NOTE: This is no longer a requirement.
2. The Owner shall notify the Board of Directors ("Board") in writing within five (5)days of the effective date of executing or renewing a lease.
3. The Owner shall furnish the Board with a copy of the signed lease and any
renewals or revisions along with a copy of the results of the criminal background check within fifteen (15) days of signing the lease, renewal or revision.
4. Written leases are required.
5. All leases must restrict occupancy to no more than three unrelated persons or a single family.
6. The Owner shall furnish the Board with a Rental Control Agreement Form
certifying that the Owner has furnished the tenant with copies of the Community
Documents; that the tenant has agreed to be bound by the Community
Documents; and that the Owner accepts responsibility for the tenants' violations of the Community Documents. A copy of the Residential Control Agreement Form is included in the Rental Packet available through the Associations Management Company. The Community Documents consist of the CC&Rs,
Rules and Architectural Guidelines. The Owner may contact the Associations
Management Company for a complete Rental Packet containing these
documents.
7. Owners are required to provide the Board with a Crime Free Lease Addendum,
signed by the Owner and the tenant. A copy of the Crime Free Addendum is
included in the Rental Packet available through the Associations Management
Company.
8. In Compliance with City of Glendale, Section 21, an Owner must have a City of Glendale sales tax license for Residential Rental Properties.
9. In Compliance with the State of Arizona, Notification of Arizona Residential
Rental Property - pursuant to A.R.S. 33-1901 and 33-1902, an owner of a
residential rental property shall maintain with the Assessor in the County where the property is located the following. If the property is owned by a corporation, limited liability company,partnership, limited partnership, trust or real estate investment trust you must advise the Assessor of the name, address and telephone number of the business entity and the statutory agent, if applicable.
b. If you are an out-of-state owner of a residential property, you shall
designate and record with the County Assessor a statutory agent who
lives in this state and who will accept legal service on behalf of the
owner. Per the State of Arizona, a person who fails to comply with
any provision of this shall be assessed a civil penaltv of one
thousand dollars, plus an additional one hundred dollars for each
month after the date of the original violation until compliance
occurs.
c. The State Application for "Notification of Arizona Residential Rental
Property" is included in the Rental Packet available through the
Associations Management Company or via www.maricopa.gov.

My pleasure. :-)

Just correcting a common misconception.. a person on parole has NOT served their time or completed their sentence. Parole is part and parcel of that sentence. If i was sentenced to 10 years of prison, and serve 4 in jail and then get parole, I am still serving my sentence/paying my time to society.

Other than that, i tend to agree with a lot of what Mary says: you can only remove this guy if he has done something you have a rule against. My first thought was "so what if you find out he's a felon. Do you have a rule against a felon being a board member?" If you don't, then Mary is right, prepare for a potential suit.

I think you should solve your problems by voting the President and Treasurer both out of the officer positions.

As for legality I can ask anyone to get a background investigation. But that doesn't mean that I can force them to. Or that I can do anything about what shows up on their investigation.

In my association I could vote to remove them from an officer position. But I can't do anything about their being on the BOD. There is nothing in the bylaws providing for such.

As for the treasurer being bonded it all depends. Does the treasurer have control over the money? In our association the treasurer has no more control over money then the rest of the board. The signatures on all accounts are people who are bonded and insured by the management company. We receive a copy of the bank statement every month and have an annual audit.