Condo Association Management Blog

This is really interesting. At some time in the past members of your association changed the rate of assessment. You assert that the change was not recorded with the State. Further, you remark that you were not informed of the rate being used by the association but, rather you were given the a schedule showing the original rate.  
- 
You have a few courses of action:  
1. Do nothing.Is the difference de minimus? Pay the new, changed rate.  
2. Take action against the seller and the broker who misinformed you. Expensive.  
3. Speak to the Board, perhaps with legal representation.  
 
Perhaps you could let us know the two rates -- in percentages and in dollars.

We have the same problem here with our 84 unit condo complex. For us, all 1-1 units are being overcharged by a whopping 82% per month v. the Master Deed Percentages. 
 
It is just one of a half dozen major issues where the general manager and board have ignored both Tennessee state law and our Master Deed and Bylaws. 
 
We believe this an obscene abuse of power by the board and have filed a $3 million lawsuit against the HOA, the general manager and the individual board members. Full details are at our web page http://DeerRidgeOwners.com  
 
We also have 15 videos on this HOA Board Abuse, including a video about the same issue as your posting, at our YouTube Channel DeerRidgeOwners (the link to the YouTube Channel is http://youtu.be/HowZ9Fg8uc8?hd=1 ) 
 
Good luck with you quest for justice.

This is what happens when members are apathetic! In the OP's HOA for 20 years 14 property owners have lived with blinders on while the BOD has violated the gov. docs resulting in overcharging for assessments. IMO, it's high time someone lets the cat out of the bag. The other property owners need to be informed of what's going on. If the majority agree that they are OK with the rate of assessment then the CCRs need to be changed. Otherwise the rate of assessment must be changed to correspond to what the CCRs say.

How could a majority of owners legally change the assessment rates of a minority without the assent of that minority? Even if 99 members wanted to change the rate for one member it seems to me that it would be illegal.

The board should legalize the newer rates but since there are only 14 units it seems they don't want to spend the money to amend the bylaws.  
 
Have you talked to other owners about this issue? 
 
Vic

This happens all the time- neglegent management years ago enters the percent ownerships into their spreadsheet or software, makes mistakes, no one notices. Then when the management changes hands, the new company just inputs the data from previous budgets, not from the table of concordance directly.  
 
It's going to take a lot of effort to unravel what happened and who is at fault. What works the best is just to table it for the annual general meeting and get a resolution passed to return to the correct percentages.  

Our by-laws clearly state the length of terms for the Board members. This has not been adhered to since there had been no volunteers for many years. This past year we had co-owners volunteer to become members of the Board. The present Board President, who has served for many years, sent out a memo with proxy statements at the bottom. All statements gave her the co-owners' proxy to vote. Some co-owners simply marked one of the options so the present Board president voted in the same Board members. We also had not had a quorum for many years, so some of the present Board members were never voted into office. Is there any way to enforce the term limits of Board members without going through the courts or arbitration? Has any Michigan co-owners associations/co-owners attempted to get better Michigan laws enacted to regulate condominium associations which has become a large real estate population since the development act was passed in l978 regarding these types of developments?

We have a similar problem as the first one listed here. We are in a condo association. When we bought in here 9 yrs ago and we signed our papers, the dues for common expenses were split evenly between 16 units which were voted on and agreed to with 100% vote 15 years prior to us being here. Then 4 years ago one of the owners realized that they could not do that because the developer had percentages in the bylaws that were established when the condos were built. Unfortunately when the owners had voted 15 yrs ago to make the dues equal they did not file the amendment with the county records so they were forced to revert back to the original docs which were 30 years old. Now I have to pay $300 more per month because the developer had it broken down by equity percentage of ownership in common elements which included all the common expenses as well. We already had 2 units foreclosed on because they could not afford the high dues. Also all the units square footage filed in the county records is the same except for two units which are 200 sq ft larger. but yet the developer made the percentages all different and no one can figure out how he came to that figure. Yet none of the units that pay the least want to go to square footage to make the dues equitable to everyone and now we may lose another into foreclosure. Now I am paying one of the highest percentages for dues plus I am being charge the highest percentage for the foreclosed units as well. How can I get out of this. Can I sue the realtor or seller because I bought with the idea the the dues was equal and had been for 15 years. Or can we file the amendment that was approved for equal dues 15 years ago and will it be legal???

our board of directors and managment co.interped the rules to fit thier needs, when confronted, they never answer or correct the situation. What can be done or who should we complain to