Condo Association Management Blog

Number one: Put aside all your fears and superstitions. Get an accountant to come in and re-organize the books. The members of the association will have to pay for the accountant's time. After the books are put into shape you will be able to see if anything is amiss. That would be time to call a lawyer. It's the accountant that you need.

You must first get a copy of your bylaws. If they cann ot be fiound gi tio the ckerk of yourn ciunty court where they shiould have been registered, This this was done yoy will be able to get copy. Bust I suspect they were never filed which means your HOA is not legally cionstituted. If that be the case you will need a lawyer to help ypu syraighten out this mess. If,however you do get an copy then reaed those portions relating to board of directprs and how they are elected.That should permit you to elect a Board and once the board is chosen they uin turn elect their president.

As Judy mentions, you first need to get a handle on the books. Unless there has been some theft by the person paying the bills and running the show, you probably don't need a lawyer. 
 
Living in a small self-managed condo myself, I can tell you that she probably ended up in this situation by default. It is likely that over the years no one would step up to the plate. I can tell you from my own experience that other unit owners see themselves as too busy to be bothered. From personal experience, I can tell quite frankly, making sure the property is maintained and the bills get paid is a pain in the a**. No one wants the responsibility, but the work needs to get done. 
 
We finally hired a company to take on the financial management. Costs $30 per unit per month. They pay all the bills and do an annual budget and meeting with us. The expense is soooo worth it. 
 
Clearly, if she's been running the show since 2000 until now, you have one of the associations. No one else cares enough to bother involving themselves to make sure the association is well-run. 
 
Unless she's a control freak, she might love to turn all this responsibility over to someone else. She's also probably never received a single acknowledgment for the time and effort she puts in on everyone else's behalf.  
 
You seem to have an interest in making sure your biggest investment gets the attention it needs and deserves. If so, Bravo! Step up, get involved. Better yet, sell and buy in our association. I'd really appreciate having an owner like you!

Leslie's remarks are right on the button! Since there are only 3 units in your assn, Iimagine there hasn't been that awful much work involved in running the assn. The other 2 owners apparently haven't been concerned with this lady doing all the work and acting as Pres. Aren't there any other officers or is she acting alone? With only 3 owners, I should think everyone should be a board member. IMO, that would be the best way to run this assn -- with involvement from everyone. Why not organize a meeting and get everything out in the open? At that time you could discuss hiring an attorney to audit the books. Even with all 3 owners involved inrunning the assn, unless someone has accounting/bookkeeping experience you may want to hire an accounting firm or bookkeeping service (much cheaper) to take care of the financial obligations.

In our county in MN, By-laws do not have to be registered at the court house. We have to have the Condo Declaration which was filed by the developers of the building filed and then any amendments that are made to it. So for that reason the answser that said that if the By-laws aren't filed they aren't legal isn't true. Check with your county to find out what is or what has to be filed.

Every time I read this Blog I realize how many helpful people there are. There is so much good advice. Accountant first, then, only if problems are found a lawyer. But, you don;t need to hear that from me. There's plenty of other good advice.

I, too, think this happened by default because no one else would take the responsibility. You shoukdnt complain if you aren't ready to be the president yourself and do all the work of a president.be careful what you wish for and what you criticize. You might wind up holding the bag.  
 
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Watch out for that. I also think that things might be innocent.

With this same problem occuring at my complex of 150 units in Texas, I am also going to propose at our annual meeting in January we call in an independent accounant to go over our books. We also don't know if our "board" is legal as they keep electing themselves due to lack of a quorum at the annual meeting. I had to request the "audited" annual statements that are required to to be sent to owners, but never were, numerous times, only to have to go and sit in the management office and "demand" they be given to me. After review by me, I see some real irregulatities, but without the backup detail I really can't tell. 
 
 
 
As was discussed in an earlier blog, do not involve the services of an attorney. I have consulted one at $200 per hour, only to find I know more about what to do then he did and he was considered Houston's best in condo association law. The only way they give you specific advice is if there is "big bucks" in a potential case. Sometimes the advise is "bad" so the case will evolve and they get the business. With only three units, it should be easy to make a change and involve all the owners into the daily managment decisions. 
 
 
 
Legally, the burden of proof would be on you to prove the owner was not president. Ignorance of the fact on your part would probably be a good defense for her as she was doing the job without protest from the other two owners. As a degreed accountant, a word of caution for the future is to require two singnatures on all checks and all deposits are varified to two individuals.

Nancy, 
 
 
 
With regard to you wondering if your board is "legal" because they keep "electing" themselves due to a lack of quorum at the annual meeting. Legality does not enter into it. If there is no quorum there can be no meeting. Most boards have the authority to appoint members to fill open positions; therefore this is most likely what your board is doing. Don't fault your board or think they are not a "legal" board. The blame rests with the members of your assn for not attending the meeting or sending in a ballot or proxie (if allowed) -- a mailed in ballot or proxie would also count toward the quorum. Also, some state statutes require the board members to stay in office until someone is elected to take their place.  
 
BTW, what are the "irregularities" you see in the financial statements? Do your gov docs or state law require the board to provide records upon request? If so, why not request the backup material that would allow you to check out these irregularities?