A Non-Owner Being On the HOA Board?

There is a situation arising now and that is that one person who is living in a condo unit that belongs to a relative of that person. The actual owner never attends the meetings even though he lives 5 or so miles away. That person has now requested (in writing)that that relative living in his condo be allowed to represent him on all matters and that that person be given consideration to be appointed to be on the HOA Board. Several stop-gaps to that. The CC&Rs state that Board members shall consist of unit owners. That is one element of this and the second element is that that relative who wants to be on the HOA BOD is VERY VERY controversial and if the Board turns down the request of that person's relative(who is the owner of the unit)there will be considerable problems. Thirdly, we fear that if it is accepted for that relative to be on the Board (against the CC&Rs), it will open a door for anyone who is not an owner to be on the Board. Has anyone ever had a similar situation? I could find nothing in the SEARCH part.

Alex, with all due respect, if your governing documents say "only owners" can be board members, then the letter requesting that the relative "represent" the owner cannot serve to circumvent the covenant.

It is what it is, regardless of how "controversial" (or contrary or domineering) the owner is.

You cannot "waive" or "bend" the rules just to avoid conflict. The covenants exist for a reason and everyone, including the owner who wants to send in the relative, agreed to them when he took title of his unit.

Were I a member of your association, if you even contemplated "allowing" a non-owner be on the board against the covenants, I would be inciting a challenge so fast it would make your head spin.

Keep in mind, our documents allow non-owners and non-association members to be on our board of directors.

But yours does not. You have a special duty to protect the integrity of the documents.

Now, Dee had an excellent potential solution.

Write the owner back and let him know, politely, that regardless of whatever documents he provides requesting the relative be allowed to run for the board, you must respectfully decline that request, in accordance with the covenants, until such time as the document the relative presents is a Quit Claim Deed showing the relative's name on the title.

The other document you can accept would be, as Dee points out, a properly petitioned, voted on, and passed amendment that allows non-members to be on the board.

No problem there. This is just a permanent proxy appointment.


This is simple enough. A polite reply stating that the Board will annotate that this person is a proxy but per the CC&Rs (quote them) he/she can not be considered for a position on the board. However you will keep them in mind for committees.

QUESTION:

Who verifies that the people nominated for the board are actually on the Deed and thereby an owner? Many couples do not place the home in both names. If you enforce the CC&Rs [and you should] you will probably need to establish procedures to verify eligibility to be on the board.

Tim

Tim trust me there are enough busy bodies in almost any community willing to search on-line for who is on the deed, especially if the person running is not well liked.

Glen,

Sad but true.

Richard somewhere in your documents the order should be spelled out, in ours it states that if there is a conflict between the By-Laws and the Covenants the Covenants prevail.

Now this is just a WAG (wild a**ed guess) but that was more than likely put in the by-laws to cover the Declarant's Board members when it was under Declarant control unless there is a separate paragraph you didn't post exempting them.

That's it.