Escaping condo jail
Realty Times
Written by: Benny L. Kass
15 August 2017
Question:
The president of our condominium association acts alone and has
previous members of the board on the bank account of the Association.
He has been on the board for over 3 years. He harassed all the
secretaries and treasurers that had been elected by the unit owners.
The President doesn't have meetings with the board or include them in
any decisions for different projects, nor does he let the treasurer
handle the money. He decides what projects he wants to do and he works
on the projects than he pays himself. He also is a custodian/ janitor
and he pays himself a $800 per month.
Please we need help. Where should we report, without hiring an
Attorney. I am the current secretary for the association but the
President doesn't even talk to us. He buys apartments from owners that
are behind with the Association dues, he owns five apartments in a 20
unit building and he comes at the meetings with his votes plus with
proxy votes from the unit owners that are renting their units.
Answer:
My first reaction was: You gotta be kidding; this was a
‘false news' email. But then I remembered reading "Escaping Condo
Jail", by Sara Benson and Don DeBat, so my next reaction was "welcome
to the wonderful world of condo living".
Are you the only one concerned about this? Have you talked with other
owners to see if you could mobilize a group that would start to
challenge the President? Have you advised the absentee owners of these
problems so they would no longer give the President their proxy?
The best approach, in my opinion, is to try to "throw the rascal" out
of office. Your Bylaws contains the procedure for recalling an elected
board member. Keep in mind that the board can terminate an officer but
only the unit owners — in the percentage of vote required by your legal
documents—can remove a director.
If you can prove even only half of the facts in your question, there is
a strong case that the President is breaching his fiduciary duty to the
association.
So why don't you want to get an attorney? A lawyer can help, and I
suspect that most lawyers would relish filing a suit against the
President.
Contact the Community Association Institute (caionline.org). That's a
national association that represents community associations all over
the country. There are local chapters, and you will get some names of
local attorneys who practice community association law. I strongly
recommend you talk to a lawyer as soon as possible.
You are the secretary of the board. You also have a fiduciary duty to
the association, and in my opinion, that duty requires you to take
immediate appropriate action to remove the President—either by vote of
the membership or by court order.
Benny L. Kass
Author of the weekly Housing Counsel
column with The Washington Post for nearly 30 years, Benny Kass is the
senior partner with the Washington, DC law firm of Kass, Mitek &
Kass, PLLC and a specialist in such real estate legal areas as
commercial and residential financing, closings, foreclosures and
workouts.
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