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Property managers refuse owners request for condo financial records

Posted on Sat, Dec 24, 2011 @ 08:07 AM
  
  
  
  
  
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Somebody is telling a lie! The New Jersey Condominium Act, N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g) states that the association, acting through its officers or governing board, shall be responsible for the "maintenance of accounting records in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, open to inspection by unit owners at reasonable times". These accounting records shall include (1) a record of all receipts and expenditures; and (2) an account for each unit setting forth any shares of common expenses or o thr charges due, the due dates thereof, the present balance due, and any interest in common surplus. Further, 46:8B-16(d) states in part that "Upon investigation, the commissioner shall have the power to order the compliance of the association with such a request."

As a unit owner, I have asked the Board's management company and the Association's attorney an opportunity to inspect these records. The Property Management Company from direction of the Board has refused me an opportunity to inspect those records. When I turn to the association's attorney has also refused me an opportunity to inspect those records. When I asked the state to investigate this issue they advised me that based on their investigation the property manager and the association attorney have advised that they have provided me with an opportunity to few those records. That is not true and the State of NJ has advised me that since an attorney would not lie to the state and a property manager also would not lie to the state because both could lose their licenses. The State has advised me my case is closed since of the three entities one of them is lying and it must me me. I have not seen or had the opportunity to review those records per NJ State Law, but State refuses to help me. Other than litigation how to I get a view of these financials? Thank you. N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g)

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Comments

So sorry you are dealing with a bunch of bums....only thing you can do is file an action! And do go after the lying attorneys!
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:26 AM by Ruth O'Loughlin
The following is a letter from the State of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and is a public record and can be distributed in accordance to the New Jersey State Open Public Records Act. (OPRA) 
 
 
 
'As of December 15, 2011 it appears that as previously indicated, this office has no reason to disbelieve that (your) Association has been acting in good faith and providing you with access to accounting records as required by law'. 
 
 
 
'As our office has stated in prior letters to you, the New Jersey Condominium Act, N.J.S.A. 46:8B-14(g) states that the association, acting through its officers or governing board, shall be responsible for "the maintenance of accounting records in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, open to inspection by unit owners at reasonable times". These accounting records shall include (1) a record of all receipts and expenditures; and (2) an account for each unit setting forth any shares of common expenses or other charges due, the due dates thereof, the present balance due, and any interest in common surplus. Further, 46:8B-16(d) states in part that "Upon investigation, the commissioner shall have the power to order the compliance of the association with such a request." Based on the investigation by the Association Regulation Unit it appears that the property manager and the associaiton attorney, have represented that they have provided you with the accounting records as required by law'. 
 
 
 
Signed: 
 
 
 
Director 
 
Division of Codes and Standards 
 
Department of Community Affairs 
 
State of New Jersey
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:37 AM by Brent Cutler
Did the State provide you anything in writing that the request was closed?, if not I would request it. Your Association is responsible for "maintenance of accounting records" but I do not think you would be permitted to inspect the records of the individual owners in your Association due to an unwarranted invasion of their privacy. Our Association has a "Requests for Records" formal policy and form owners complete when they want information. You can confirm if they maintain delinquency records by unit but they can't post the amounts. Do you attend meeting? What is discussed at the meeting? I would requests to see the Y-T-D financial report which would show expenses and revenues for the year. You may also have to pay for requested documents so be prepared. Your documents may also require your Asociation to provide a copy of the budget (at this point 2012) before any fee increase if you have them.  
 
I would write a formal letter to the Property Management company, the Association Board of Managers and the Attorney for the Association and send it certified return receipt requested asking for the information. You may have to go to legal aid because it sounds like they will not repond with out otherwise.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:47 AM by Kathy
Do you know one of your state representatives? If it were me, I would be contacting my state senator or rep and asking him/her to look into the matter. Also, do you have copies of your requests and also of the denials received from the board and the mgr? That would be your proof that they have lied to the commissioner.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:50 AM by mary
Have you shared this information with other owners? Is anyone else as upset (justifiably so) as you are about this? If so, you may have the ability to bring some peer pressure to the board. 
 
Why do you want to inspect the records: just for general information and knowledge, or do you believe there is wrongdoing taking place?
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 8:59 AM by Larry Davis
There is a complaint form with the state real estate developement you can file. File a complaint.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 9:03 AM by ladypf
What a shame, you have my symphathy. Bad laws allow these boards to get away with secrecy about financial records. Litigation can be costly, time consuming, and of uncertain outcome. I suspect fraud. The law should be written to give copies to owners of bank statements monthly, showing to whom, and amounts of checks cashed. This would go a long way of protecting condo owners interests. You may have to go to a watchdog group,or even the press, that might be able to help. Your board and their attorney are outrageous.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 9:03 AM by serola
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: 
 
 
 
I AM VERY FAMILIAR WITH THIS CASE AND BELIEVE ME, THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN GIVEN EVERYTHING THEY HAVE REQUESTED AND THEN SOME. STOP WASTING EVERYONE'S TIME AND MAKING YOURSELF LOOK CRAZY AS YOU HAVE FOR THE PAST 16 MONTHS WITH ALL OF YOUR LIES.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 9:27 AM by LTZ
Why does the original questioner believe that he has not been given the materials that he has asked for?  
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Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 10:00 AM by brenda FH briggs
I own 2 units in a condo complex in Hawaii. The BOD has illegaly signed a bulk cable contract of $1m escalating over 10 years. Per our Bylaws they cannot do this without a 75% approval of the members. I beleive a big kickback was paid by the cable company. (This is a national problem). I gathered a petition for a special meeting to address this, and other illict actions of the BOD president. I delieverd more signatures than required for the petition. The BOD has claimed the petition is invalid and will therefore not call the meeting. They sent all members defamatory letters about me and requested people withdraw their signatures. The BOD then told me enough people had withdrawn to invalidate the petition. However, they will give no proof of member's requests to withdraw. 
 
The petitioners can call the meeting themselves but the BOD has stated they will sue me (the spokesperson) if I do. 
 
Can a petition be altered, without or without, proof to the petitioners? 
 
The BOD is doing everything they can to get out of the special meeting because they have acted illegally and they don't want to be accountable.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 3:18 PM by ali blackmore
From the New Jersey Cooperator Gary Rosen tells his clients to remember. "The statement belongs to the client." His job, as he sees it, is to "take the statements down to a lay person's understanding so that the board canh read the footnotes-the roadmap for understanding financial statements." But, it is ultimately the board members on whom the fiduciary responsibility for the HOA rests. So, it is wise to heed a piece of advice echoed by mjany pros in the finance field: Use your accountant well. Make it a point to talk frequently, ask questions when they arise, and solicit advice and opinions. It is in the best interest of every community for the board to develop a cordial partnership with their financial advisors above and beyond an annual delivery of paperwork. It can be one of the best links to financial health that a board has acces to. As many trusting individuals have found out the hard way, leaving the financial responsibility in the hands of a single individual can be a recipe for disater. It keeps someone's high-priced friend from being rewarded each and every contract when other comparable firms might provide the same services at substantially less cost.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 3:32 PM by Gary Rosen
Ali Blackmore: Do you have proof that a kickback was paid? Believing something to be true is not proof. 
 
If you do not have proof then it is you who is doing the "defaming."  
 
You and I can sit in our condos and speculate about the actions of the Board or our wives or the beautiful wife of our neighbor who goes out every night after ten pm, but until we have proof we're just blowing smoke rings.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 4:55 PM by Vikki Violet
Ali, 
 
 
 
You need to get more of the members involved. You acting alone has resulted in the BOD naming you a PITA (pain in the a$$) and disregarding all of your complaints. There is power in numbers. If a large contingency of members presented themselves b/4 the board and demanded a special meeting they would stupid not to comply.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 5:16 PM by mary
I only need to read the original post to know that the poster is fabricating most of the story. How do you get an association board, the property manager, the board attorney and the State of NJ to collude on a dishonest act all at one time. Souncs like you are suffering from paranoia. I'll bet the board has bent over backwards to accomodate you but you are looking for something they cannot provide because the request is too unreasonable. Why are you contacting the association's attorney? That person is not your personal attorney and you need to get your own outside legal advise. If that attorney can prove the board, et al have acted illegally then you can recover your expenses. What you are doing now is just running up the association's legal expenses.  
 
Ruth O., you are a bum to condemn a board without hearing their side of the story first.
Posted @ Saturday, December 24, 2011 10:00 PM by renee
State of New York Law: 
 
 
 
§ 339-w. Books of receipts and expenditures; availability for examination. The manager or board of managers, as the case may be, shall keep detailed, accurate records, in chronological order, of the receipts and expenditures arising from the operation of the property. Such records and the vouchers authorizing the payments shall be available for 
 
examination by the unit owners at convenient hours of weekdays. A written report summarizing such receipts and expenditures shall be rendered by the board of managers to all unit owners at least once annually. 
 
 
 
Posted @ Sunday, December 25, 2011 8:01 AM by Morio Yesto, Esq.
I have asked a treasurer at another condo where they had the same problem and got a quote from two plumbing companies and there is no way that this work [carried out in his/her condo] could have cost us over $60,000. Around $35,000 would have been more like it. That's only one example of the excessive amounts of money that our manager/board say we need to pay. I know for a fact that they never tender these new jobs and this is worrisome because our condo is less than10 years old and our fees are going up over 10% each year, or 50% in 5 years. So I wrote the board and asked to be allowed to see the quotes for the last job. Within one week, without their being in touch with me themselves, I received a letter from [name omitted], the condo's attorney, where he told me to stop "harassing" the board and if I continue he would take me to court. Then I was billed $650 for this letter and now this same lawyer just put a lien on my unit because I refused to pay for the letter. 
 
 
 
Julia McCracklin
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 7:16 AM by Julia McCracklin
Julia, 
 
 
 
This is what happens when you don't pay fines, or as in this case attorney's fees. Although I do believe the assn was remiss in billing these attorney's fees to you. The board should have warned you that a letter would be forthcoming from their attorney if you did not stop your "harassment". If you did not stop once warned then they would have been justified in billing you the attorney fees. I'm not saying you did harass the board only relating how this should have been handled.  
 
I would suggest paying the attorney's fees and making certain they release the lien. Then you can state your objection to these fees being billed to you and ask for a refund. If the board does not comply you will have no alternative than to take them to court unless your state has an agency that will handle HOA disputes. If the board is allowed to get away with this there's no telling what they will do in the future.
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 12:26 PM by mary
Words such "harassing" and "defaming" are used very liberally by vindictive and small-minded boards and managers. They are meant to scare owners who "bother" them, especially when they are not doing their job properly. Other such words are "this is a serious allegation." 
 
 
 
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 6:01 PM by Mary
A lawyer who is told by a president or a manager that an owner is "defaming" them or "harassing" them should be able to recognize a red flag and ask to see what the owner wrote. He or she should suggest to the board to talk to the owner first. The lawyer should use his sense of ethics and verify if indeed an owner is "defaming" or "harassing" board and management before setting forth with a letter. Complaining to a board does not constitute harassment. Most owners just can't afford to pay for unfair legal letters. 
 
 
 
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 6:05 PM by Mary
Mary, 
 
 
 
Sadly, most attorney's aren't able to rationalize beyond the dollar mark!!
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 8:04 PM by mary
We wish that we had time and the money to go to NJ and evaluate the Board's take on Julia and to evaluate Julia's claim. Mary is right when she describes the use of words like harass and defame; and there's too much of that going on.
Posted @ Monday, December 26, 2011 9:43 PM by Boris & Charlie
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