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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Board Schedules.
Traditionally, our board meetings are on Saturdays. A new member of
the board observes Sabbath on Saturdays. Are the remaining directors required to
adjust the meeting day to accommodate the new director?
ANSWER: Boards can set their own meeting dates and times, but must reasonably
accommodate the schedules of its directors. Accommodating a director's Wednesday
night poker game would not qualify; accommodating a
well-recognized religious schedule (Sunday mornings church services and Saturday
Sabbath) would
qualify.
Eliminating Security Gates. Can the
board eliminate a costly amenity such as an electronic vehicle gate or man-made
stream, due to high maintenance costs?
ANSWER:
Assuming the CC&Rs do not mandate the particular amenities, the board can
eliminate the amenity, but it does so with some risk. Owners who use the
amenity will argue that they bought into the development because of the
particular amenity, whether it be security, streams, equestrian trails,
tennis courts, etc.
Accordingly, eliminating significant amenities and/or services
without membership approval could lead to litigation. It is better to put
such issues to a vote of the membership. If the members vote to eliminate
the amenity, it minimizes potential litigation.
Due Process. I was told we had to follow
due process before levying a fine. What is due process?
ANSWER.
Due process means giving the accused homeowner (i) notice of an alleged violation,
(ii) a
hearing where he/she has an opportunity to see/hear the evidence and (iii)
an opportunity to present
a defense. For more information, see
due process.
Disruptive Owners. In the past two months,
a few owners have continually shouted and screamed in board meetings about the association's parking procedures, which
99% of the owners support. Requests that the
screamers sit down and act in a civil manner does no good, resulting in the
meeting getting out of control and non-productive. What can the board do?
ANSWER:
Your remedies include fining owners for disruptive behavior, ejecting them from
the meeting, calling the police if they refuse to leave, or moving the meeting to a member's unit
(if disruptive owners force their way into the unit, it would
be trespassing). Before levying fines, the board should adopt rules
against such behavior. See our
sample agenda for rules you might wish to adopt.
Potential Buyers. If someone "might" buy a unit, do
they have a right to the association's books and records? Then anyone could look
at our books, no?
ANSWER:
Potential buyers do not have a right to review and copy the associations books and
records. Only if the person is actually in escrow can he/she
request documents.
Unfortunately, sellers can get around this by requesting
records for themselves and then giving them to the potential buyer.
 Buddhist Prayer Flags. My
board has
directed me to write to a homeowner to remove a string of old and faded flags
she has hanging in the front of the unit. From what we have been told, they are
probably Buddhist prayer flags. Is there any restriction about enforcing a
architectural rule because it might be a religious symbol?
ANSWER.
The right to display a flag only applies to
U.S. flags.
However, if the flags are small and innocuous, boards could choose to allow
the display--much like allowing
Mezuzahs to be displayed on door posts.
Japanese Delegation on Condos. Joan
Urbaniac, Executive Director of the Los Angeles chapter of CAI, Lynne Collmann,
manager of the Savoy Community Association, Mark O'Brien, an attorney in my
office who is fluent in Japanese and has worked in Japan, and I recently met
with representatives of the Japanese government.
We met with the Senior Deputy
Director, Land Policy Division of Japan, the Director of Japan's Housing
Division, and the Consulate General of Japan for Tourism, Transport,
Infrastructure and Environmental Affairs. They were on a fact finding mission
from Japan. They were most interested in how to set up educational and
regulatory structures for the growing condominium industry in Japan.
Japan does not have comparable professional
organizations such as the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the
California Association of Community Managers (CACM) and is weighing governmental
controls versus encouraging voluntary organizations. They had questions about
CAI and CACM, about professional designations such as PCAM, CCAM, and AMS, and
about how California regulated common interest developments.
COMMENT.
I spoke on the benefits of voluntary organizations versus the problems of
excessive governmental intrusion. The meeting was testament to the fact that
California is in the forefront of issues involving the community association
industry.
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Sincerely
yours,
Adrian
J. Adams, Esq.
ADAMS & KESSLER LLP |
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