Blog for HOA & Condo Association Owners

New Hampshire condo board does not announce when the board is meeting only invites owners to annual meeting. One of the board members actually works for one of the association contractors. I have requested meeting minutes in writing to the office manager and they have not responded. What is my recourse here?

What are all the documents a condo association or HOA should have on file and hand out to owners?  Which ones should be drafted by a lawyer and which ones should be created by the association themselves?

We have a very small above ground pool in our condo development. I'm guessing 18x18 or smaller. Only the condo owners that choose to use the pool are charged a yearly fee to cover the chemicals and maintenance of it. No mention of the pool is in our bylaws. There is not a problem with adults accompanying children, usually. The problem is, the accompanying adult is often not even a condo owner! This development is too small to hire someone to check passes nor do we offer any type of passes. After I come home from a hard days work, or my only day off, I would like to enjoy the benefit of having a pool. The minute I jump in, here comes a trail of 6-8 screaming kids with 4 or 5 adults that do not even live here! Seldom is there ever a condo owner in site but they say they are related in some way or a friend of one of the condo owners. So I lay on my raft hanging on to the sides so I don't float over to interrupt their playing, splashing and yes screaming too! Eventually I give up my struggle to enjoy myself and pack my belongings and leave in hopes to come back after they are done. So, I see them finally leave and go back but the same cycle with a different bunch starts all over again! This happens year after year and seems to just be a free for all. If I say anything I would end up being the bad guy. Suggestion?

Our VP has hired her unemployed son, which is nothing more than a renter to monitor our security footage. Now she is using members' money to buy tools so he can work here. He has failed on several jobs he had done already. This sounds like a conflict of interest to me? Advice please. thank you all.

I am on a condo board and we made a ruling of no kids under four years old in the pool. Are we allowed to do that? Because the last two years we had to empty the pool and there is only one family with kids one is four and the new baby is about six or seven month old. But alot of grandkids come over.

This is more of a gripe and a report. A person who resigned as the treasurer of our local condo association reports that two persons on the board of the master association are paying themselves 100 dollars a month "for doing the job". Possible Fraud? 

It has recently been brought to the attention of the board of our condo association located in Michigan, of which I serve as secretary, that there are at least 10 units that have non-family or extended family living with them that the board has no written "permission" for in their document files.
We are trying to understand our Bylaws regarding people living with co-owners who are not immediate family; one is an adult grandchild living with a grandparent, another is a cousin living with co-owner, another is a friend living with co-owner (paying room and board) but several are single mom's with an adult child, spouse and baby living with her. Our Bylaws read: No condo unit shall be used for other than single family residential purposes... A family shall mean one person or a group of two or more persons related by bonds of consanguinity, marriage, or legal adoption or a functional family which means a group of two or more people having a relationship which is functionally equivalent to a family. Functional family does not include a group of individuals where the common living arrangement or basis for the establishment of the housekeeping unit is temporary.
Our Bylaws allow for leasing/ renting a unit, if the board is given notice of such a desire 10 days before presenting a lease form to a potential lessee. No member shall lease less than an entire unit in the condo and no tennant of a unit shall be permitted to occupy a unit, except under written lease.
Previous boards have ignored this and when I checked one unit's files, I see that co-owner sent written permission to the board asking to have a friend of her adult daughter move in with them. There was no response that I could find in the minutes of board meetings for the timeframe of the letter and when I asked several former board members if they recalled how the request was responded to, nobody seems to remember. The only notation I see is one reference that the question was "tabled" for further investigation.
The majority of these co-owners live responsibly and you wouldn't even know they had someone living with them, but there are two co-owners who continually violate bylaws and resolutions and the board is afraid if we call them out on having non family living with them, they will bring up the fact that there are others who have non-family living with them! Any suggestions or direction would be greatly appreciated!

This is in Texas. I bought my unit 3 months ago, and found out all source of fishy things going on, from she took some unit for herself ( for all the things she has done) to giving away units to a member of the board to keep he's mouth shut! There are no weekly meeting. No monthly meetings. No annual meetings. she don't answer the phone, the secretary doesn't answer the phone (she was charged with theft) They shut the water off at least 2 times a week with out notice. No maintenance what so ever.  Where can a complaint ? She's been the president for the last 6 years. I would like to know where to ask for audits without me paying out of my pocket. HELP!!!

Can a HOA Board approve a loan for millions of dollars in purchasing the Clubhouse from the developer by themselves without going to the membership for approval.

We have a 26 unit condo in PA. Five of the units are owned by non-resident owners. The board would like to amend the bylaw to prevent any new investment/rental properties in the building. Do we need an attorney for this? Is it costly? Any suggestions? When parents buy a condo they put it in their son/daughter's name. They cannot serve on a board and it is difficult enough to find people to serve. Will additional units with owners who do not live in the building lower our property value? Thank you for your help.