Keeping Watch Over The Condo Developer Transition
As part of their transition preparations, the advisory committee should track the decisions of the developer and the developer-controlled board. They should attend condo board meetings, if possible, review the minutes of board meetings, monitor the pace and progress of ongoing construction, pay attention to condo association finances, condo fees and begin identifying potential condo management and construction-related concerns.
Even if the condo committee lacks the formal blessing of the condo developer, as condo owners, condo committee members are entitled to review the condo association's records, including its condo association financial records. They have a right to look over the developer's shoulder and to question condo management decisions they don't like or don't understand. The developer still controls the condo association at this point, but owners have a vested and long term interest in the community's future.
The condo committee should be able to gauge early on how much or how little cooperation condo owners can expect from the developer. If the relationship is positive, with good communication and give-and-take on both sides, the condo association committee should arrange to meet periodically with the condo developer and begin creating a mutually agreeable "punch list" of construction issues and condo association management problems for the developer to address before the transition.
One of the major concerns for a new condo association is the possibility that home owners will discover serious construction defects that need to be resolved. If the condo developer is less than cooperative during the developer transition period - if he resists requests to correct even minor problems -- it is probably reasonable to assume that he will not become more cooperative after relinquishing control. Cond boards confronting this situation may want to consider hiring an construction defect litigation attorney to represent them before the developer transition. This is especially true if there are reasons to suspect that the condo developer is mismanaging condo association reserve funds, or if it appears likely that condo owners will want to pursue a construction defect claim. The condo developer at this point still controls the condo association's finances and is unlikely to allocate funds for an attorney who may eventually represent the owners in a suit against him. So condo owners would have to pay any pre-transition legal costs out-of-pocket, but depending on the situation, that may be money well spent.
