Posted:
Tamara please understand that I'm not condoning this especially if one of the Board member's homes happens to receive this treatment but unless you can rally enough support from the H/O's to make the BOD rethink this; your only alternative is to file suit. Now OH changed some of the condo laws in 2004 and allowed the BOD to amend the documents to comply without an H/O vote.
Now I'm not an attorney so I don't know how these would apply if the documents were not amended but I suspect they would still apply. Most of the changes were to the By-Laws and if your clause about the H/O being responsible for the cost is in the Declarations then that should trump any provision in the By-Laws. (Usually there is a clause in the documents saying in case of a conflict Declarations trump By-Laws, By-Laws trump rules.) Below is the part section of 5311 I believe would apply, bold by me.
There is also sometimes a clause limiting the dollar amount of capital improvements without an H/O vote, our limit is $2,000.00. Since this is not a replacement of common elements but a change to the limited common elements it could be argued that this is a capital improvement, again I'm not an attorney nor do I play one on TV. If the president is acting without the authority of the BOD then the BOD needs to remove her from that position.
5311.081 Powers and duties of board of directors.
(A) Unless otherwise provided in the declaration or bylaws, the unit owners association, through the board of directors, shall do both of the following:
(1) Adopt and amend budgets for revenues, expenditures, and reserves in an amount adequate to repair and replace major capital items in the normal course of operations without the necessity of special assessments, provided that the amount set aside annually for reserves shall not be less than ten per cent of the budget for that year unless the reserve requirement is waived annually by the unit owners exercising not less than a majority of the voting power of the unit owners association;
(2) Collect assessments for common expenses from unit owners.
(B) Unless otherwise provided in the declaration, the unit owners association, through the board of directors, may exercise all powers of the association, including the power to do the following:
(1) Hire and fire managing agents, attorneys, accountants, and other independent contractors and employees that the board determines are necessary or desirable in the management of the condominium property and the association;
(2) Commence, defend, intervene in, settle, or compromise any civil, criminal, or administrative action or proceeding that is in the name of, or threatened against, the unit owners association, the board of directors, or the condominium property, or that involves two or more unit owners and relates to matters affecting the condominium property;
(3) Enter into contracts and incur liabilities relating to the operation of the condominium property;
(4) Regulate the use, maintenance, repair, replacement, modification, and appearance of the condominium property;
(5) Adopt rules that regulate the use or occupancy of units, the maintenance, repair, replacement, modification, and appearance of units, common elements, and limited common elements when the actions regulated by those rules affect common elements or other units;
(6) Cause additional improvements to be made as part of the common elements;
Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions
