Associations Should Retain Proof of Amendments to Bylaws
Dave's earlier post on an Appellate Court's recent ruling regarding the amendment of association bylaws reminds me of a matter that our firm handled a few years ago. At the time, two of our attorneys were representing a client in a personal injury suit against an age-restricted community. The community had based its defense on the tort immunity statute.
Once I knew what the community's attorneys were basing their defense on, I suggested we file a motion requiring the community to prove it had gone through the required statutory steps to have the tort immunity amendment adopted. This meant proving to the Court that it held a validly announced meeting, and had in its possession all of the ballots that had been cast in that vote. When the community was unable to produce this documentation, the Judge found in favor of our client.
Community associations need to be aware that it is just as important when adopting the tort immunity amendment that the ballots and all of the other documentation of the vote are maintained and accessible in the event proof of their existence and or validity in needed in the future. In addition to tort immunity amendments, associations must expand their review in determining what documents it will keep and for what period of time, in the event it is ever needed.
are there any laws or boards that govern
property managers? Are property managers allowed to actively campaign and participate in elections when they are named as the proxy on the ballot or are they a neutral party to just collect the ballots?
Hi Mary-
Right now, there are not any laws governing the conduct of managers other than that found in common law (case law) as they are essentially the "agent" of the Board and work on behalf of the whole association. There is pending legislation that would require managers to go through a certification process that will be overseen by a Board, so that may address one of your issues.
As for the manager being involved int eh election and actively campaigning, if a particular client of mine asked my opinion on that, I would advise that the manager needs to stay out of actively campaigning for/against various members as that is not the manager's role. The manager is hired to work for the whole community, and is not there to work just for various individuals.
I Hope this addressees your inquiry. If you have more questions, feel free to call me at 609-895-7335.
Thanks for contacting us.
A. Christopher Florio, Esq.
my master deed states
limited common area maintenace (balcony)
is at the expense of unit holder that uses it.
5 out of 4 board members want to power wash and seal all balconies and use the
the group funds. but two units do not have balconies and deem this request to be unfair. Two of the four board memers want to compensate the other units without balconies. The other two on the four said "it could legally change the by-law with 2/3 of the units votes, but that would only cost the unit all (which they would probably receive because only 2 of 16 units don't have a balcony.) but that would only cost all unit holders more money in legal fees.
why questions
Could a by-law be changed if it wasn't in affect when I purchased (ex if i have a dog can they tell to get rid of it after 10 years and the by-law said I coul have pets?
Could they change the law but reimburse the two units because the law was not in
affect at the time they were purchased
if the offer to reimburse without changin the law, would it be wise to accept.
also I thought their was a new jersey law
that stated that work on limited common area was to be paid only by the persons who benefit from it.
thanking you in advance for your help