Condo Association Management Blog

HOA board - car parking and towing problems

I own a condo in Tampa Florida, I have been here for 7 years and have seen one property management company come and go, this last one has gotten very strict with rules and posts them by mailboxes and such frequently, it makes me feel like a child.

My question though is considering towing and private property. I own two covered carport spots, I had to purchase them with the condo, so they are my private spots, and the board has issued a towing company to actively tow cars who have not parked in visitors spots if they do not have a decal. There are less than 2 visitor spots per building and each building has 7 units.

Now the HOA board is allowing the tow company to tow cars without decals from under the carports, so if I have a guest over they cannot park in my private car port spot, is it illegal for them to tow from my carport spot if I own it? I was under the impression that is my private property. I want to properly bring up this issue at the next board meeting how should I do that? I also wonder if the condo association is responsible for paying to have them in our complex every night of the week? If I wanted to put a stop to this active towing every night and keep it to where the residents have to call to get an illegal car towed how do I do that? I don’t know if I need to start a petition or talk to other owners first. I appreciate any help as I do not want to stir up a problem at the meeting without some sort of knowledge!

Our HOA botched assessment for replacement project. Do over?

I am the president of my HOA in California. We recently passed a special assessment to replace the siding on all our buildings. The assessment was passed by majority vote (as required by our by-laws). The assessment amount was based on a ballpark estimate from one of our contractors. Once the assessment was passed, we quickly learned that the assessment amount was too low to cover the costs for a complete siding replacement. All the bids came in much higher.

Rather than scrapping the assessment and doing another vote for a higher assessment amount (which we don't think will pass due to the tough economic conditions), the HOA Board would like to use the approved assessment amount to replace the siding on the back of the buildings only (which is in worse condition than the front). We would like to know if this is legally permissible. The original intent of the assessment was to replace all the siding, not just partial.

Is window and trim replacement the resposponsibility of the HOA?

Our HOA bylaws say that windows are the responsibility of the home owner. I questioned this before I purchased my condo and was told if the windows had to be changed, I would be responsible for payment of the brand new window and that was all. I was told the installation and trim would be the responsibility of the HOA. Are skylights part of the roof or do they also go under windows as mentioned in the bylaws? I wish they made a comment about skylights in the bylaws but it is not there. The bylaws says the roof is not the responsibility of the condo owner.

My neighbor needs the trim that goes around the window on the siding replaced and was told that goes with the windows and I truly think that is wrong but our property management company would have us do everything and just collect our monthly fee if they could. Can anyone answer these questions for me. Greatly appreciated

How can we remove uninformed and potentially corrupt HOA board?

I would like to see the whole HOA board removed as I believe there has been some corruption going on with replacing items that do not need to be replaced and not doing what needs to be done and not allowing the condo owners to have a say in the color of a new roof, replacing skylights that they have to pay for that was put in by an inexperience roofer who damaged all 7 of mine while installing.

At the present time we have 3 appointed people on the board and they are all on the side of the HOA without knowing anything about this place and what the HOA has done.

• How long can someone stay in office when appointed by the HOA because someone resigned?
• When do we get a chance to vote for someone new for the position vacated that someone was appointed to by the HOA?
• Do we have to wait until the term is up for the original board member that resigned before we can vote someone we want to fill that position or do we have to wait and accept the appointed person for the rest of someone's term which may be almost 3 years?

Any help would be appreciated. We only have 90 units and I want to get the board off now before they do something else and charge everyone another $1,000 assessment but everyone here thinks it is not easy to do that but now we will have 3 appointed members.

Is HOA responsible for financially compensating woman in wheelchair?

I live in a condo with my Mom who is in a wheelchair. The elevator is down for repairs for one month. What are the responsibilities of the HOA to accommodate my mother. I cannot get insurance to pay this time. They did on a claim last year but are now saying they will not. What can I do to make the HOA pay for us to stay in a hotel or to get in and out of the condo? We are on the second floor. Thank you.

HOA board terrorized by "hard to handle" delinquent owner

I am the president of my condo association, and am dealing with a difficult situation. Our condo association has a high delinquency rate. We are a 150-unit property with over 40 homeowners behind in assessments. In total, in arrears is about $100,000. Earlier this year, the board voted to reassign the delinquent owners' spaces to visitors spaces, per our a provision in our bylaws. Residents can still park in front of their homes, but being that their spaces are now marked "Visitor", their spaces are fair game. This action lit a fire under some homeowners to start working out payment arrangements. Per our bylaws, once a delinquent homeowner has paid at least 50% of the amount owned, his/her parking assignment(s) will be restored. Most homeowners, while upset about this, respect the rules and regulations and are working on paying down their delinquencies.

However, we have one owner -- an incredibly rude and defiant woman -- who owes over $8,000 (the most of any owner) and she refuses to abide by the rules. We've had her space spray painted at least three times because she goes and spray paints it back. When we talk to her about it, she lashes out with all kinds of irrational talk and profanity. She said she's not working and is on disability and she knows we can't do anything to her, so she feels she is justified in taking her space back. Yet those who owe less than her are forced to deal with the situation. This woman comes to board meetings terrorizing us with all kinds of demands for work she says needs to be done in and around her unit. Yet we haven't see a payment from her since 2005. We got a judgment against her last year. And when we attempted to file a lien against her, she scrambled to make an effort to pay. We were fooled. The condo attorney is slow-moving on this issue and just refiled the lien 2 months ago. There was a "show cause" hearing last week, and the woman claimed she is on disability and babysits occasionally. Meanwhile, she drives a 2008 Lexus. She's living off of something, but what we don't know. We feel like our hands are tied and this woman is holding us hostage. She said she knows we can't do anything to her because we can't garnish her disability payment. We are looking at possibly pursuing a bank garnishment or putting a lien on her car. She volunteered that someone else already has a lien on her car; apparently she was thinking ahead.

My questions are: (1) what can we do to enforce the parking? The county police said since we are private property they can't enforce. Is there some sort of foolproof paint we can use on her space? and (2) what remedies could we pursue to collect payment?

I cannot fathom the association having to foot the bill for work needing to be done to her unit all the while she's sitting around carefree with no intentions of even trying to pay a dollar towards the thousands that she owes us? We are hesitant to foreclose as we might not be able to resell her unit in this economy. Please help. Thanks.

Looking for condo association sample meeting minutes, please post

Question about minutes: I would like give everyone not only on this blog but on other blogs a sample of my condo association board's minutes. The board does publish minutes but no mention in those minutes of costs or plans or contracts accepted or any business information. The minutes contain more what I would call social topics like we will be having picnic and other newsletter type subjects. What would be helpful to me is to publish these minutes and get comments.

Can minutes be published with names omitted? I would like to see examples of other community association minutes. Because my board and the associations professional manager are playing fast a loose with our minutes, by publishing minutes with no information about the business of the association. There is no effort on the part of my board to learn how to run a meetings and the professional manager is just dreadful and that is giving him a compliment.

If you have sample condo association board meeting minutes, please post here.

How to calculate condo association fees - garages included?

I live in a condominium in Louisville, KY and my question is on calculating condo association fees. These condos consist of 4 to 6 units a building much like patio homes. Some units have attached garages. It cost additional money for condo association insurance & repairs on the garages. I am trying to find out if there is a rule in Kentucky on how association fees are calculated. If the condo association bylaws state by square footage does this include the garages?

What happens to condo owners when the State and IRS issue liens?

I own a unit in a 182 unit condo in Florida. The State of Florida has a tax lien of $11,000 on the Condo Association and the IRS is going to lien for in excess of $98,000.  The Condo Association does not have the money to pay the back taxes and penalties and interest. What happens to the owners in this situation?

Is it discriminatory to make HOA owner get rid of pet bird?

If a condo HOA allows pets in a few buildings but not in others, is this legal or discriminatory? Our building allows pets and a neighboring building neighbor wants a house pet that does not go outside a canary in a cage. Can they make her get rid of the bird?