florida hoa when board ignored covenant violation

#Florida hoa when board ignored covenant violation series#

'If you're ignored, you should continue to document as many examples of your concerns as you can,' adds Drewes. You may get a response, or the majority may in effect cut their own throats by taking a cavalier response to your concerns. So the minority has already tried the first step, which is taking your concerns to your colleagues and saying, 'What's going on? Do you think we should be doing this?' Try to keep those concerns professional. 'In this scenario, the majority is just disregarding the concerns expressed by the minority members. 'They're going to have to gather evidence and prepare themselves to take the dispute to the next level,' says Drewes. 'The other members don't necessarily have a lot they can do to have an immediate impact. Drewes, a partner at Thomsen & Nybeck PA in Edina, Minn., who represents associations. 'This is a very difficult situation because the people accused of wrongdoing are the majority,' says Matthew A. The more thorny issue is the majority's disregard for their own governing documents. Lozell, CPM, director of condominium management at Seneca Real Estate Advisors, a Chicago startup company that manages less than 100 units so far at Lozell's prior firm, he managed as many as 1,000 units. 'We like to say, 'fire, flood or blood'' says Brian F. Calling it an emergency isn't going to change that. Unless some crisis befell this association, two days' notice for a meeting is inadequate. Here we offer this reader tips for slowing down a majority hell-bent on pursuing an agenda, seemingly at the expense of the association's own rules and governing documents.įirst, let's touch on the reader's question about emergency meetings. Again, how can we stop the train, and is there any guidance on what constitutes an 'emergency' in the HOA world?' Also I have been responsible for posting all messages on our community board, so when I went up to post the next meeting date, my key no longer works-so over the weekend they also changed the lock. I would like to be able to invalidate the meeting and anything decided. The management company thinks they considered it an 'emergency' meeting, and if so, they didn't violate the governing documents. 'I proposed to our management company that it was a special meeting and that they violated notification requirements. Just the three of them met and we have no idea what they held the meeting for and they won't tell us. I didn't check my email until Sunday and by that time I missed the meeting.

The president sent out an email on Friday morning for a meeting on Sunday (Father's Day). Just last week they called a meeting in between our regular monthly meetings, the first such meeting ever. 'Certainly, it isn't a surprise that one of their relatives gets compensated for a lot of the work, and though I proposed that we adopt a formal bid process executed by the management company, they refused to consider it, suggesting corruption in all management companies. How can we stop the train? They won't take any advice from our management company, decide on their own that things 'need' to be done, solicit their own proposals, then spring them on us at the meetings and then by majority 3-2 just roll along. They have another neighbor/friend in their pocket-so in a five-member board, they railroad their agenda. If you have a question you need answered, post it on the message board.Īn reader asks, 'Our president and VP, next door neighbors and friends forever, have taken over the board.

#Florida hoa when board ignored covenant violation series#

This article is part of an ongoing series in which we'll take your questions from the discussion forum and get you the answers you need from experts who specialize in association management. Tags: Conflict of Interest, Avoiding Personal Liability, Recalls