Favoritism

Facts. The documents required the consent of the first floor unit owner if the second floor unit owner wanted to erect a terrace above a first floor unit.  When the first floor unit owner refused to give consent, the Board waived the consent requirement and allowed the second floor unit owner to construct a terrace, after determining that it would have no impact on the value of the first floor unit.  The first floor unit owner sued to annul the board’s decision. Continue Reading Who Says the Board Can’t Favor Resident Owners?

Smoking

A unit owner, who is also an attorney, was renting his unit to his mother and believed that the condominium association board, the association, the property manager and the association’s attorney didn’t like him because of his Russian nationality. His mother, who allegedly had asthma and could not tolerate smoking, was upset because her Armenian neighbor would smoke inside her own unit and on her limited common element patio and the smoke would seep through the mother’s open windows. The unit owner demanded that the association board prohibit smoking inside of all of the units. When the board refused, he brought a 200-paragraph lawsuit alleging seven various causes of action, including discrimination, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of various alleged laws. Continue Reading Smoking and the Unreasonable Unit Owner Attorney

Money Faucet

Our long-time client, a condominium association in Milwaukee that historically faced heavy delinquency issues, was unable to fund its expenses due to very heavy delinquency rates. Among the expenses the association could not fund were its legal expenses. The association owed more than $30,000 in legal fees and costs, but had twice that in collections. The association was unable to make regular payments on their expenses due to a lack of cash flow. Continue Reading What to do When Heavy Delinquency Impacts Cash Flow

Teamwork

Time and time again we hear that one of the biggest challenges in conducting annual Association meetings is simply achieving a quorum (in other words, getting enough butts in the seats). Without a quorum, business cannot be conducted, votes cannot be taken, and the Association’s operations are virtually stymied. The Association is forced to adjourn the meeting, and start the painful process of going door-to-door and begging for proxies all over again. Continue Reading Conducting a Successful Annual Meeting (Through Creative Use of Proxies, and Other Ideas…)

Tricky Businessman

Yes, developers can be lazy, greedy good for nothing con-artists. Developers can also adversely affect the rights of an association by simply doing nothing.  Specifically, a developer (owner of the property and declarant of the association) with knowledge of construction defects can prevent the association and/or unit owners, after turnover, from potentially suing the contractor and/or engineer for construction defects. Continue Reading After Turnover Do a Developer’s Actions (or Inaction) Affect an Association’s Construction Defect Claims? YES

Bank

An association in southeastern Wisconsin is made up of condominiums that are also rented out for the owners (condotels). In this particular case, a unit owner, who lived in Illinois, was in financial difficulty and wanted to file bankruptcy and turn their condominium over to their bank.  The bank’s attorney prepared a deed in lieu and sent it to the unit owner, which the unit owner then had recorded.  The bank became the owner and was responsible for not only the dues from that date forward, but also what was owed by the unit owner.  The bank did not want to acknowledge this. Continue Reading Banks & a Deed in Lieu

Dead Piggy Bank

A Milwaukee association took possession of a unit through foreclosure, but could not rent out the unit because of its condition and could not sell it because of a large mortgage. After the property is vacant for several months and the lender did not start a foreclosure, The Husch Blackwell Condominium & HOA Law Team brought a quiet title action against the lender. The purpose of this is to either get the lender to take a deed for the property or have the court order the mortgage to be quieted (wiped out) on the title. Continue Reading Quiet Title Actions