Condo Association Management Blog

The way to ensure a reply is send a certified letter - if they do not answer within 30 days then they are in violation of the Florida Statue

You are certainly due a response. There may be an agency to assist you get that response. In Florida there is the dbpr and bureau of Condos. 
 
The Board may have had good reason such as an insurance policy - but you are due a response.

There appears to be two different issues in the question raised.  
 
First, even a one-time payment may be an item included in the association's budget for the year. So clarification as to the exact expense as understood by the submitter is a starting point.  
 
It is unusual for any condo or HOA (keep in mind separate types of associations with separate state laws usually applying) to have a meeting of members called to vote on each and every expenditure above $1,000. This could cost almost as much to hold a special meeting as the expense item itself and certainly the time commitment would become burdensome to board members. 
 
Often, documents will state that any agreement with a managing agent must restrict the agent to a dollar limit in expenditures without prior authorization of the board - again, unless that item is included in the approved budget.  
 
States may have legislation governing condominiums and may never have addressed HOAs. Michigan and DC come immediately to mind. Perhaps it would be helpful in this forum to identify those states lacking legislation for HOAs.  
 
The second item is the issue of responding to the owner. Again, most state legislation addresses open records of the condominium and requires that the membership be able to request time to review the records including financials (not always individual's assessment records) and to copy those. A charge is usually permitted for the time required by mgmt staff.  
The management company may have forwarded the request to the board and no response has been received. (This may be a requirement by the board, even perhaps included in the mgmt agreement.) 
Has the member attended a board meeting to become familiar with ongoing planned expenses for maintenance or for emergency repairs?  
 
All members of a community need to consider that this is a multi-player team that should work together to achieve the primary goal of the association - to maintain property. And it is incumbent on all members to become knowledgeable about the ongoing operation - by reading materials sent out and by attending meetings, always the annual meeting and periodically a board meeting.  
 
 

I hope everything is on the up & up but if you find that it is not, it will be very hard to get anything done about it.  
 
Members are lazy. Getting them to do anything or even help you do all the work will be like pulling teeth. please keep us informed about how you deal with this. I am interested.

If your bylaws have that requirement -- just as you've stated it, then, IMO, it needs to be changed -- immediately. If my bylaws said that then the members would have to vote each month as our payment to our landscaper and manager, not to mention some utility bills exceed $1,000. We have 1702 members and the cost to send a notice for a meeting each month to pay these bills would be cost prohibitive. Usually these requirements are for capital expenditures, not for all expenditures exceeded a certain dollar amount. If you look at a copy of the financial statement for the month the expenditure was made you may be able to see what account it was charged to. BTW, how did you find out about the expenditure?

The $19,000 bill was for converting our grass over to rock landscaping. A (1) one time billing. The By-laws state any $1,000.00 expenditure must have the approval of the Association Members. It's as plain as it can be. They have failed to abide to our BY-Laws. The letter I sent was addressed to the President of th Board of Directors In-care of the Management company. The Management co. location is just across the street from our townhouses. I don't want to personally go across the street and ask them why they haven't answered my letter because I want their answer to be in writing. I don't want to send another letter since I hand delivered the second one. They have it but for some reason they are stalling. I want the hear what their reason is so I can I can distribute a letter to each townhouse owner advising them of the circumstances. There are only 55 members and I want to let them know exactly what has happened and leave it up to them as to what action should be taken. But to fail to abide by our By-Laws and not explain why is not acceptable as far as I'm concerned.

It sounds as though you know what the money was for. Are you questioning the amount as fair and reasonable for the work done? We've just had a similar problem, not resolved yet. The Board president and vice president constructed a deck adjacent to our clubhouse. It's a capital expense for a new project, and they are supposed to at least get a vote for it. Also, I don't think they pulled permits for the work. I'm fine with the deck, but they are doing that and neglecting maintenance (no one is taking care of the landscaping, gutters and downspouts are full of debris and have not been cleaned in a year, gutter above us is twisted, and when it rains we have a little waterfall on our porch). I say all this because as frustrating as it is to deal with Boards, that's just the nature of the beast. Condo boards are usually staffed with people who need a power rush, and they love to wield it. It's not fair, it's not right, but your only option is legal remedy, which means you are also suing your neighbors and the condo association gets their attorney's fees covered with your dues. Get the drift? At best it's socialism with a benevolent dictator.

Linda, 
 
 
 
And the best part about it is that you agreed to live in that dictatorship! So why not move? Or better yet, seek a position on the board. Oh I know, you have a million reasons why you can't do either and it's really much better to just sit back and complain and do nothing to remedy the situation. And besides, if you were on the board you might find out the board members aren't "benevolent dictators" but just regular folks not breaking any laws and doing the best they can to manage the assn.

Our by laws state that ANY ONE (1) TIME EXPENDITURE OVER &1,000.00 REQUIRES A VOTE BY THE MEMBERSHIP. tHIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ROUTINE MONTHLY BILLS SUCH A S LANDSCAPING ETC. AS I stated above, the $19,000.00 bill was for payment to change our grass landscape to roch. 
 
 
 
I WANT THE BOARD TO PUT THEIR REASON FOR NOT ABIDING BY OUR BY-LAWS, IN WRITING. There was no approval requested for the change-over from the membership as required. Period

Linda, I was the 1st. Pres. of the Board after tasking over from the builder developer. I've held most all positions on the Board. The problem we're now experiencing is that the management team thinks they can do whatever they want to do.I worked on the by-laws and revised the CC&R's and hand book. I know what the Board should do and I want to make sure that they do or they will have to answer for it. I'm also 88 years old and I don't intend to let a wise guy for the management team run rough shod over our 55 members. We have a Board that allows them a free hand . A Board that doesn't want to do anything since we our paying a management team and too many members that do not want to get involved.But as long as I'm still here I will continue to monitor what they do and make an issue when ever they screw up.. Eventuallyour members will wake up and get rid of the Board and elect people that will get involved and follow the By-laws ans CC&R's. I'll keep you informed as to how this plays out.