Real Estate & Property Law

Too Many Chiefs and Not Enough Indians in an HOA or Condo Association

Here are a couple of innocent questions about "who's on first" (or, namely, on the Board).

Question: " We have a small HOA Board consisting of three members at this moment, designated as the "Board of Directors." With a relatively small condominium complex in a small city, would it not be more appropriate to call ourselves the "HOA Committee" in lieu of "Board of Directors," which seems somewhat 'formal' in a way. I did notice that our management representative referred to us as the "Board of Managers" in a recent set of minutes, but I failed to ask about it, having noticed the term after the meeting. What, in your view, would be viable?"

Answer: Look at the association bylaws and see what they call "it". That would be the right name. If you change it, people may well miss the connection when trying to determine rights, authority and responsibilities.

Question: "We are a very small association, only 10 units/members. Is there a reason we cannot just deem ourselves the board and vote on everything?"

Answer: Have you ever heard the saying: "Too many chiefs and not enough indians?" Everything may be fine as long as everything is agreeable, or the silent members remain silent. It seems to work for some HOAs and Condos until someone disagrees with the group, or members stop attending meetings and then claim it has always been the policy of "the board" to put everything to a vote of the members, or one or more owners starts violating the rules and there is no identifiable board to make decisions as to how to proceed.

Structure is best. If you wonder why, read the blog from a couple of days ago (How Would You Like This Job?) that speaks of the importance of setting "boundaries".

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on July 27, 2009 (boomark / email).