Real Estate & Property Law

Holding HOA Meetings On Time is Important

A reader recently wrote in and asked about what happens when the HOA meetings schedule gets all off kilter. Here is his email message:

"Thank you for allowing me to subscribe to your newsletter. I am enjoying reading the articles.

I do have one question. When an HOA's annual meeting gets thrown off schedule due to management change or whatever, so the annual meeting actually takes place in April instead of December, and a whole new Board of Directors is elected into office(because no election had taken place in 5 years) to serve 2 or 1 year terms, do you fix the scheduling by having another annual meeting where you put 2 Board Members up for re-election just 7 months later thereby cutting short the term of 2 of the Directors or do you make April your new annual meeting month?

Thank you for everything you do in helping HOAs."

My answer is "sounds reasonable". No matter what answer I give it is likely to be inconsistent with what the documents require because the meeting was held so late. And I will not even try to guess why there was not an election for 5 years prior.

But it sounds reasonable to me that the Board either holds the next meeting in the coming December, or maybe even the following December, if that is the month the bylaws provide the annual meeting is to be held, or as what may be a better alternative, puts out an amendment to owners for voting that amends the bylaws and moves the annual meeting to April the following year and thereafter to coincide with the terms of the newly elected board members. If there is a meeting in December then it sounds reasonable that, assuming the bylaws provide for the staggered one-year, two-year terms, that the one year term holders would come up for election first. I suppose it is too much to hope that the board had the foresight to mention this possibility when the election was held in April.

Alot depends on the amiability of the board members and membership. This could all be cleaned up amicably or it could become a hornet's nest. If the board holds another election in December, and in December thereafter, neither the one year or two year terms that were to begin in April are going to be fully satisfied. If it waits until the following December to hold the next election, each director will have 7 months added to his or her term.

If all board members are okay with either choice, AND if no owners object to the plan to get back on track, either could work.

It is a mess for sure. But the board/association could get back on track using either method proposed (holding the annual meetings in December here on out or amending the governing documents with the requisite approval of members to change the annual meetings to April).

Full post as published by California Condo & HOA Law on October 24, 2010 (boomark / email).