POA Boards, Don't Let Rulemaking Frenzy Drive Future Buyers Away

POA Boards, Don't Let Rulemaking Frenzy Drive Future Buyers Away

Every once in awhile a client who has purchased a condo or townhome calls me to complain about their Property Owners' Association (POA) or Homeowners' Association (HOA).  Most of the frustration appears to be caused by a few folks on the Board who have decided to use the Association as a means of pursuing their own personal grudges against an owner or group of owners.

It doesn't take much of this sort of thing to really make life miserable for a resident.  One of my clients showed me a set of "New Rules" which seem to be aimed at punishing or obstructing condo residents who wish to remodel their units.  My client tells me these rules have become more and more arbitrary and discriminatory over the past couple years.    

POAs and HOAs can also subject themselves to litigation when they allow a few Board members to play games with the rules.  And increasingly arbitrary, even capricious rules make it harder for owners to sell when they need to do so. 

Too many of these Associations fail to review local or state laws (even Fair Housing Laws) before they pass new, more stringent rules or amend their bylaws.  Many also fail to seek the advice of an attorney before they rewrite Association rules.

The long-range result of allowing a handful of demigods on an Association Board to veer off course is to damage property values and to make resale difficult. No buyer will want to be governed by an association that is run without regard to fairness or respect for others.

Some of the proper duties of a POA or HOA, in addition to managing the day-to-day business of the Association, include:

- Protecting property values within the Association community

- Uniformly and fairly governing the community under the governance of the Association

- Encouraging and allowing participation in Association governance by each of its members over time

The last of the above duties is often ignored or obstructed by "perennial" Association Board members, who are overtly reluctant to allow the participation of new property owners.  One of the tactics most often used is to create a nominating committee that not only nominates Board candidates but also has the power to exclude those who are nominated ad hoc or by popular demand on the part of residents.  Using a nominating committee to filter and control the composition of POA/HOA Boards is a thinly-disguised effort to exclude members from governance.  An HOA or POA Board is not meant to become a country club.