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How to deal with my condo association board abuse of power?

  
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How to deal with my condo association board abuse of power?

Postby banys » Tue May 22, 2012 12:05 pm

I bought my condo in about 10 years ago. Then I got married and had a child. It finally got to the point that my condo is too small to my family. Before we found a new home, we tried to sell this condo for 1 year. However, because of the economy, no one wanted to buy it. We then changed our plan by rented it out and bought and moved to a house.
Right after we moved out, our condo association run by 5 members board of senior citizens tried to pass an regulation amendment to limit the rental rate to under 10%. Currently, the rental rate is about 25%. The new amendment needs 2/3 of unit owners vote yes to pass it. If the amendment passes, anyone who wants to rent his unit will be put into waiting list for that 10%. If the current tenant moves out, the unit will be put in the waiting list too. Therefore, it will cause a lot of empty units there waiting for the turn by only paying tax and assement. The price of condo will drop because no investor will buy it. The vote ended up not passed.
However, after several month, the board worked with the management company rolled out a new regulation to put the 10% rental limit policy in not as amendment, but as "resolution". And the board refuse to answer any question or provide any detail of how this "resolution" is made.
This board is made of 5 people who want to die in their condos. They seem not to care about other owners' interest. They kept saying that they are elected to represent us but they actually got less than 30% of vote in total because people don't normally vote.
Does anyone know if their behavior is against the law? I know they are working together with a very bad management company -- Lieberman Management. We suspect there is something going on underneath.

Can someone provide some help?

Thanks,
banys
 
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How to deal with my condo association board abuse of power?

Postby edmondo93 » Tue May 22, 2012 12:10 pm

I bought my condo in about 10 years ago. Then I got married and had a child. It finally got to the point that my condo is too small to my family. Before we found a new home, we tried to sell this condo for 1 year. However, because of the economy, no one wanted to buy it. We then changed our plan by rented it out and bought and moved to a house.
Right after we moved out, our condo association run by 5 members board of senior citizens tried to pass an regulation amendment to limit the rental rate to under 10%. Currently, the rental rate is about 25%. The new amendment needs 2/3 of unit owners vote yes to pass it. If the amendment passes, anyone who wants to rent his unit will be put into waiting list for that 10%. If the current tenant moves out, the unit will be put in the waiting list too. Therefore, it will cause a lot of empty units there waiting for the turn by only paying tax and assement. The price of condo will drop because no investor will buy it. The vote ended up not passed.
However, after several month, the board worked with the management company rolled out a new regulation to put the 10% rental limit policy in not as amendment, but as "resolution". And the board refuse to answer any question or provide any detail of how this "resolution" is made.
This board is made of 5 people who want to die in their condos. They seem not to care about other owners' interest. They kept saying that they are elected to represent us but they actually got less than 30% of vote in total because people don't normally vote.
Does anyone know if their behavior is against the law? I know they are working together with a very bad management company -- Lieberman Management. We suspect there is something going on underneath.

Can someone provide some help?

Thanks,
The only person who can answer your question is an attorney familiar with the real estate laws of your state. The laws concerning what a Home Owners Association (includes Condo's) can or can not do is different in each state.

Generally, there must be a vote of the association to pass an amendment allowing the board to create and enforce resolutions. If this amendment is not included in the HOA charter / by laws, generally generally, resolutions are not enforceable.

Spend a little money on a consultation with an attorney now, to save a lot of lost rent in the future.
edmondo93
 
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How to deal with my condo association board abuse of power?

Postby hackett » Tue May 22, 2012 12:19 pm

When you purchased your condo you should have been given a copy of the condo rules and regulations which spell out the responsibilities of your condo board and individual owners. This document also must adhere to state law. In it, it will define whether or not what the condo board did was legal. If you don't have a copy ask the president or neighbor to copy their copy

As an owner you have the right to review a copy of the past meeting minutes and will thus find the details as to how the resolution was made. I wonder if the management company is limiting its role to over see only 10% of the rentals, such that you could continue to rent, but not use the management company as an agent of the landlord.

Also as an owner you have every reason to attend these meetings to make sure your interests are being protected. And if you don't like the way things are being run, have the same opportunity to be elected to the board and play an active role.
hackett
 
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