Delinquent HOA member voting rights

FranD,
Think about how hard it would be for a Board to decree if you owe money, you lose your right to vote. There are restrictions that the Board can do if covered in their document but I suspect not allowing them to vote is not one of them. You can vote if you are in prison in local and general elections, suppose one of your owners was delinquent and he happened to be fighting in the armed services?

This owner is still a share holder in any common property, big time in a condo, maybe a little in a HOA. Your documents list the rights of all owners, not the rights of delinquent owners. Delinquent owners may be restricted from using common property if documented, because the use of those facilities are enforced by the Board. The vote is established at purchase and is not a board decision. If the member posed a threat to the association which also means the members the Board can provide that local police carry out the law of the land.

Fran,

If it's not in your governing documents, then the individual would be allowed to vote.

My documents cover this in the Articles of Incorporation. It is also restated in a policy resolution concerning collection of assessments.

Tim

FranD - My governing documents state that only members in good standing can vote. In order to be in good standing the owner must be current in maintenance fees and given an opportunity through proper notification to pay. It is not out of the ordinary for Associations to have this kind of policy and to restrict those owners not in good standing from voting.

Fran,

Even if your docs do have that clause, it would be dependent upon how it is worded as to whether or not the member "could" vote. If it says the board "shall" suspend the member's voting rights then the voting rights MUST be suspended. If the member votes anyhow, their vote would not count. However, if it says the board "may" suspend the member's voting rights and the board does not formally do so, then the member may vote. The same would apply if there is a state law addressing this issue.

Fran,
Our CC&R's give the board the option to create rules that pertain to this issue, and we have. When we have any type of vote, we list all of the requirements, (dates to have ballots returned and so on), and the "record" date. The record date is the date we look at the accounts and determine who is eligible to vote. Deliquent members would not be allowed. IMO this would need to be made clear prior to the vote, unless you had a well established process that your members were aware of.
Also, we have an Assessment Policy that has information regarding delinquent accounts and voting rights. We have to notify our members via Certified letter, return receipt in order to take away any of thier rights.

True -- check your governing docs. -- this is covering in our docs. and we are terminating voting rights for delinquency status.

I know this post is a couple of months old, and I actually replied to it in March, however, since my reply, I have discovered a change in the Texas laws which went into effect in September of 2009 that state we are no longer allowed to prevent members from voting simply due to unpaid assessments. Due to this change in the law, we will now have to update our Bylaws and our Assessment Policy.

Thanks Mary. Our BOD can amend the bylaws w/o a vote of the members. Our CC&R's also allow an amendment without member vote ONLY to keep current with the ever changing laws. I think the bylaws should be current as people here tend to "lock in" on specifics written and argue until blue. If we update them, that is one less thing to deal with.

James,

What is stated in your bylaws is pretty much standard for most HOAs. Some assn docs also include members who are "in violation of the covenants".