Real Estate & Property Law

How Do You Diffuse the Power of A Director Who is Misusing it?

I have seen documents called a "Code of Conduct" or "Code of Ethics" for HOA and Condo Association directors and I have crafted my own, from those ideas and through my own experiences.

I want to share my document and believe if more HOAs and Condo Associations used it, more board members would have a sense of what is expected of them. It is posted on my website at www.bgcondolaw.com in the "forms" link. There is also a Primer available that discusses what is expected of Boards (Board Basics I Primer in the webstore).

And if the form I suggest which is more or less an "agreement" and "acknowledgement" of obligations and conduct was utilized to its full extent, it could serve other purposes as well, such as serving as a basis for disciplinary action if needed.

Failure to honor it might serve as a basis for taking action to form an executive committee of the board to deal with board member confidence breaches. If a board member is doing things that are detrimental to the association and cannot be removed by the Board, there are ways to diffuse their powers and abilities or keep them out of meetings where confidential information that might be improperly disclosed is discussed.

One way is properly seating an "executive committee" of all "disinterested" board members that can meet in executive session - the purpose which would be to be able to discuss matters that if disclosed to the actual problem board member, could result in detriment to the HOA or Condo Association.

It is not meant for board members to come up with a way to "disinclude" certain board members with opposing views from discussions, or as a substitute for a preliminary meeting where all board members are invited to come and discuss their concerns with each other and with the board member dubbed the "problem" board member.

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).