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PRIVATE INFORMATION, WHY CAN THEY HAVE MINE? AND NOT GIVE THEIRS?

Few people these days want to give out personal information. It is no different in HOAs. For California HOAs, the Board does have access to names and addresses of owners and they get this information through whatever proof of ownership a new owner provides.

So what are owners to do if the Board asks for telephone numbers and email addresses? Owners do not have to give this information - there is no law. However, if the HOA is attempting to set up a telephone or email communication line, or emergency telephone tree for calling residents in the event of an emergency, it becomes impossible if owners are not willing to provide direct contact information for themselves or their tenants. So, when the "big one" happens, do not be surprised if you do not get a call.

Some HOAs encourage owners to communicate and email is a common form, perhaps more common these days than by phone. This can be good, and this can be bad. If a board does not have the sense to ask owners if they want their phone numbers or email addresses distributed to other owners or residents ... BEFORE THEY DO IT. it can lead to complaints, even possibly serious charges.

And then there are the owners who may resent having to give this information, or who are okay with the Board having it but not okay distributing it to others. But do they bother to tell the Board? Not usually. People presume all kinds of things, such as "everyone else must think like me and can read my mind, so they will know what uses should be made of the information and what limitations should be placed on its distribution." A BIG NOT ...... who can read anyone else's mind? Both sides should be clear about what the expectations are in giving this information out.

And, some owners get mad when the Board does not reciprocate with its own information, A reader recently lamented that the Board should be called to the carpet because although it (the Board) had asked for and published the owners telephone numbers and emails, the directors were unwilling to give their own telephone numbers and emails out.

Well, as usual, there are two sides to this point. If the Board members have been harassed at home, bothered with excessive emails, or felt that they were unable to separate their home life with the association business, it might be understandable, right? After all, the board members are volunteers, and people can get unreasonably demanding or pesky. Am I right?

So what should happen, you ask. Here is what I think.

If you want more informatioon on what California law requires, take a look at the explanations on my website at http://www.californiacondoguru.com on the main page with a link to AB 1098 - Records Inspections Law. If you want to look up the statute, then go to the Resources page on that website and click on THE DAVIS STIRLING ACT, and pull up statute Civil Code 1365.2, and read it.

Short of doing that work, if you want the answers,

The Board should ask for owners contact information, so they can be contacted in the event of an emergency. But the Board should also ask if they want their phone numbers and email addresses published so other owners can communicate with them. If they say no, then the Board should heed that. The Board should also ask of they want to "opt out" of having their name and address provided at an owner's request. If an owner says yes, the Board should heed that.

However, this does not mean that owners can avoid ever hearing from neighbors. Per California law, if an owner asks for information on members so he or she can communicate with fellow members or residents, the Board is required (unless an alternative is offered) to release the names and addresses of owners and their voting rights, BUT NOT THEIR TELEPHONE NUMBERS OR EMAIL ADDRESSES! Thus, the Board may be called on the carpet for giving out this personal information. In fact Boards should really be asking owners if they want to opt out of having their names and addresses provided to members. This is because if an owner asks for information on other owners, the Board should not be providing information for owners who have "opted out"? But how will the owners know they can do this unless the Board tells them?

As parting thoughts, if a Board offers an alternative means of communicating with owners, when an owner wants to do that, it can avoid giving out the membership list altogether - by offering the owner who wants to communicate with other members the option of preparing their communication, and having it sent out by the Board (or as many Boards use, a mailing house that gets the owners' labels, slaps them on the envelope, and sends out the communication).

The bottom line is that a member in an HOA has a right to communicate with other members in California, so long as they ask in writing and state their purpose in wanting the membership list. And the Board can offer an alternative - which embodies mailing out the owners communication - at their expense.

Last, but not least, if the Board distributes personal information about an owner which it is not by law required to do, it may find itself facing a breach of privacy or other type of legal claim. In these days of identify theft, that can become a BIG DEAL, so JUST SAY NO - and do not do it!!

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on August 30, 2008 (boomark / email).