[WSBARP] condo without a board

Mon Feb 18 09:38:37 PST 2019

This is excellent advice. I have been through this a number of times and am going through it now with a client. Be sure to be very careful to not miss anything in the governing documents, in the early condo act, then the possibility of  voting to come under the new statute.

If there is an obstreperous member, in addition to the apathetic ones, a sometimes useful strategy, when the issues are not really all that substantial or debatable, is to show respect and ask what she or he can suggest. Make it sincere and genuine, and listen with an open mind to the responses. If it is just personal, or attitudinal, then you won't get much in the way of constructive suggestions, but a part of the strategy is to get the majority who are opposed to the one obstreperous member to actually try to put their feelings aside and listen. Successful grownups sooner or later have to learn to compromise with the long view in mind.  

The thought to use a third party neutral is a great idea, but the selection of the neutral is difficult. So many aspects of a condo management can't be just mediated away by agreement, so you need someone who can grasp those issues. This is one where you can't just sign up for a mediation with the local DRC and hope for someone who can work at this level.

Rob 

Robert D. Wilson-Hoss 
Hoss & Wilson-Hoss, LLP 
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From: wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com [mailto:wsbarp-bounces at lists.wsbarppt.com] On Behalf Of Roger Moss
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2019 6:13 PM
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv
Subject: Re: [WSBARP] condo without a board

It’s my experience that corrective action is best pursued when the lack of HOA leadership causes actual harm to individual owners’ interests in their home. For example, if accumulated deferred maintenance causes waste to HOA property or individual residences. Failure to pay HOA property taxes, or ignoring hazards in HOA areas are other examples. 

If the total development is small, there may be little HOA property. But there are likely systems to maintain that serve everyone. Failure to properly tend to those things hurts everyone now. 

I’m mediating a situation like this in San Francisco. The board is AWOL, and massive deferred maintenance is damaging individual homes. It’s a ridiculous self-created disaster. We recommended individual members obtain legal counsel to make claims against the HOA, while trying to get a conversation going among other residents who are in deep denial. 

A professional neutral may be able to reframe things. Not in a one-off meeting, but through a series of contacts over time. 

Your client needs patience, tenacity, and must be prepared to invest properly to change things. Hopefully there are a couple other residents who will engage with her.

Roger A. Moss
Mediation Counsel
415.371.9724 San Francisco
206.790.1971 Seattle
www.rogeramoss.com <http://www.rogeramoss.com/>  

via mobile contact

On Feb 15, 2019, at 5:18 PM, <joyce at schwensenlaw.com> <joyce at schwensenlaw.com> wrote:

Greetings,

I have a client who owns a unit in a small condo that was created prior to July 1, 1990. The Declaration calls for a Board of Directors, but currently no homeowners are volunteering to serve. The client wants to know what happens if there is no Board of Directors. 

My initial thought is that the homeowners themselves end up managing the condo, but the Declaration requires 50% of the homeowners at any meeting in order to have a quorum. It seems unlikely that 50% of the homeowners will show up for meetings to manage the condo if they can’t even get three homeowners to be on the Board. 

Have any of you dealt with issues such as this before?

Thanks, Joyce

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