Condo Association Management Blog

Living with a board that are great people but zero experience in the real world, is to convicne unit owners to nominate and elect people who have owned and operated their own business' or have had managerable experience.

The board of directors is the governing body for the condominium. It establishes policies, adopts budgets, sets assessments, and in all instances should have sole signature on the Reserve Account. (In addition, it should have signature on the Operating Account or the condo has no legal rights to the bank account.)  
 
The board adopts a budget and monitors the financial affairs of the condo. The financials should be updated monthly as actual expenses are reported and adjustments made in the future expenses for the year. Usually the board relies on management and accepts recommendations. When an expense is outside the normal range of projected budget items, then the board needs to determine how the funds will be reallocated for the remainder of the year. If a maintenance item is left uncorrected, then the board should receive (require) an explanation from the mgr.  
A recent situation is a condo with storm damage to the roof - turned out that the shingles were no longer available and the entire roof had to be replaced. Materials for 2 bldgs took longer to obtain. Reasonable explanation when board finally heard the report.  
 
When reserve funds are to be expended, the board should record a motion in the minutes to move XX amount of funds to Operating to cover the expense of The Contractor to repair The Item. This is the only way an auditor can confirm that Reserve funds are properly being spent.  
A member of any association should give careful consideration to the directors being elected and should support continuing education in the Operating Budget for the assoc. Elections are too often a formality with little consideration to the responsibilities and obligations of the directors serving. 
Good luck.  

We are about to set up our Board. However several items re our new Building are not completed to our satisfaction. The Building owner/developer owns 2/3 of the units as yet unsold. We own 1/3 units. Has anyone experienced this type of situation? What action can we take to enforce that items are completed and to bring about a more equitable balance of power. Please share your experiences and advice.

Grace, have you read your governing documents about Directors and/or Officers ?? Your developer may still have full control of the association with 2/3 of units sold and no real transition has taken place. Developers have the prerogative to appoint 1 or 2 owners to the board but developer also may have the legal right to change/amend anyting he wants until full transition of power to the association has taken place and this document has been recorded with the county/state public records.

oops! I meant to say 2/3 of units UNSOLD quoting Grace.

Thanks Susana...our Condominium Property Act for our province in Canada is not very helpful for condo owners... the Developer can get an extension of time for his completion of Building if he applies to the government. This does have to be passed first by the Board but when the Developer has 2/3 of the units he has all the voting power... this is our dilemma!