What you need to know:
Where the governing documents or the statute place the authority to interpret the governing documents with the board, the board’s interpretation will be binding unless unreasonable. However, if a director has a conflict of interest, the director can’t be part of the decision making process or the vote and must recuse herself/himself.
Continue Reading Conflicts of Interest and The Boards Power to Interpret the Governing Documents
What you need to know:
Whether you are a buyer or seller when it comes to real estate contracts, you must strictly follow the statutes.
Hollar v. MarketPro South, Inc., 2023 WL 157643 Slip Opinion (U.S. Dis. Ct. Utah 1/11/2023)
Continue Reading Cancellation of an Offer to Purchase – Strictly Follow the Statute
Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team on February 5, 2021, as we outline the NEW 2020 Robert’s Rules, how parliamentary procedure should be used to run meetings more efficiently, some case examples of fine issues that arise and how to solve them, some basic collection reminders relating to death, trusts and mortgages and why your Rules matter more than you think. We hope this will be both interactive and fun while we share the latest information that homeowner associations (HOAs), condo boards and managers need to know. Looking forward to 2021 and making things as straightforward as possible.
Continue Reading Association Academy: Your Rules, Robert’s NEW Rules and Court Rules Relating to Fines
Thank you to all who attended our FIRST EVER virtual Association Academy! We had record-breaking attendance by property managers and board members. If you missed it, don’t fret, we recorded it for you, and you can access at any time.
To view the recording click HERE. We reveal the 10 commandments of what association
On September 1, 2020, Wisconsin’s WB-14 form become the standard form used by real estate brokers on behalf of their clients to purchase condominiums. As drafted, it is a trap for the Seller, and any Broker using it should, at a minimum, cross out lines 158-160. Although this new form offer may make the broker’s job easier, it puts Sellers (but not real estate brokers) at significant risk for no particular reason.
Specifically, WB-14 includes on lines 149-166 a “Contingency for Additional Condominium Information”. If checked, which it likely always will be, it requires the Seller to deliver to Buyer at Seller’s expense, within 10 days of acceptance, if they exist, the following:
Continue Reading Wisconsin’s WB-14 Residential Condominium Offer to Purchase (CONDO SELLERS BEWARE)
Please join Husch Blackwell’s Condominium & HOA Law Team as we reveal the 10 commandments of what association management “Shalt Not” do while governing. Together, we’ll cover the basics of what homeowner associations (HOAs), condo boards and managers need to know. We’ll also dive into the nitty gritty of assessment collections.
Presenters
Lydia Chartre, Partner, CCAL
Dan Miske, Partner, CCAL
Ketajh Brown, Attorney
Sandra Chapman, Senior Paralegal
Billie Fatheree, Paralegal
Continue Reading Association Academy: The 10 Commandments of Association Management – September 25, 2020
A condominium association in the Milwaukee area was owed more than $2,000 in fines by one unit owner. For more than a year, the unit owner had been fined numerous times due to the same violations of the bylaws which the unit owner refused to correct. While the unit owner paid assessments monthly, the unit owner ignored the fines and the association’s attempts to demand that the unit owner correct the violations.
Continue Reading Unit Owner Bad Behavior – When Fines are Ignored
A condominium association had an owner that was uncooperative, didn’t like following rules and paid assessments on her own timeframe for more than 10 years. In the spring of 2009, another law firm started collection against the unit owner for unpaid assessments by filing a lien on the property. During the next year and a half, the lien was foreclosed and judgment entered. In November 2011, the property went to sheriff’s sale. At the sheriff’s sale the attorney for the association opened the bidding at $1 and the property was purchased by a third party for $2. When the third party spoke with the unit owner, he felt sorry for her and sold the property back to her. Although the association’s attorney sought and was granted a deficiency judgment, the judgment was not collectible because the unit owner was retired and had no assets. As a result, the association’s debt had increased to more than $22,000, which the association lost due to the purchase of the unit by the third party for $2.
Continue Reading Why Hire an Attorney Who Specializes in Condominium & HOA Law
I have written before on the subject of associations’ continuing struggle to convince enough unit owners to attend owner meetings in order to meet quorum requirements, and otherwise to simply get business done. Recognizing that not every condominium association may be ready to take the step to convert to “E-voting,” another way to ease the burden of low-owner attendance at meetings is the proper use of directed proxies or absentee ballots. While similar in concept, the two are legally distinct and it is important for associations to understand the differences to determine which process they can use.
Continue Reading Directed Proxies vs. Absentee Ballots: What is the Difference and Can Our Association Use Them?
First mortgage holders continue to be the largest impediment to Association collections, once unit owners fail to pay. This arises because the bank’s lien is superior to the association’s and therefore most associations decide not to proceed with a foreclosure if the bank has begun its foreclosure. This is true even though banks frequently file foreclosures and then don’t proceed to the sheriff sale, adjourn the case indefinitely or very SLOWLY, or never seek to confirm the sale. Accordingly, Associations must have a strategy to combat these issues.
Continue Reading Combating First Mortgages