Real Estate & Property Law

How Big Should The Meeting Room for An HOA or Condo Meeting Be?

An owner has a question about meeting room size. It seems this reader might have known that a number of owners were coming to a board meeting and wanted to make sure there was enough room for those attending. Perhaps he or she was an instigator in revving up other owners about a pending association hotbutton issue.

Email note to me: "I asked for a larger meeting room for tonight and got the following response from [the management company] - the company that our Association pays $_______ a year to."

[The answer] "The hotel does not have a bigger room. We can get 20 folks in seats if needed
and any other will need to stand. If needed, we will check to assure they are homeowners and not renters etc. Budget approval is a board process and NOT a open session or free for all. We will go through the budget line items and modify or approve. Then we will vote to approve the budget as an entire package. It is not up for debate with homeowners and board member will not solicit comments from the homeowners. We have 11 line items on the budget that really have limited flexibility on possible changes and really only one for any lengthy discussion, bad debt. We have all had sufficient time to digest this so tonight will be discussion, adjustments as needed and approved and motions to approve overall budget."

First I will say that apathy is a common problem for HOAs and Condo Associations. So, it is not surprising when a board opts on the small side in obtaining a room for the board meetings. Owners do not characteristically attend "en masse." And it is not illegal to use too small a room and stick with the usual plan. And it is hard to change locations sometimes. And board members are volunteers and do not really like to be challenged or confronted, as a rule.

That said, if a board knows that more owners than usual plan to attend a board meeting and it is possible to get a larger, more comfortable room there are good reasons to do so. First, when the "natives" are restless about something that is going on, or an expenditure, special assessment, or something involving money (which tends to bring them out in larger numbers), discomfort and inconvenience only exacerbate the situation. And any suppression of any of the owners' rights to "address the board" at an open board meeting (which should occur when the budget is being discussed) can lead to more trouble, and could be illegal if it falls outside what Boards can do. Boards have a right to limit the time owners can talk (meaning duration of remarks or time the homeowner forum is to occur). This meeting sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

And as for mentioning what is paid to management per year, I am not sure what if anything that has to do with it (other than purposes of venting maybe?).

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on April 17, 2010 (boomark / email).