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If Nobody Will Serve
June 1, 2009 • By Kelly G. Richardson
Dear Kelly:
I hope someone else will take some responsibility on the Board of our HOA. As with many such organizations, I'm sure, relatively few actually do the work.
Our complex has 13 units - 6 owner-occupied, 6 tenant-occupied, and one in flux. The Board is made up of owners who occupy their units and have served many years. Our absentee owners do little or nothing and have no concept of the time and energy required to operate this association.
I have been president for three years, and on the Board for 5, and I plan to resign shortly. My question about what happens if no one will serve is not entirely academic, but I want to know what the alternatives are, should no one be willing to serve on the Board.
B.R.,
Dear B.R.:
I am sorry to report this is a common question I receive from clients, readers, and seminar attendees. The operation of common interest developments becomes more complex each year, and the law requires of small self-managed associations the same technical compliance as that of the 600 home project with a full on-site staff and a budget for legal and accounting support.
If nobody steps forward to govern, the association may ultimately be placed in a court-supervised receivership. In that unhappy circumstance, a judge will hire a professional caretaker, called a “receiver”, who will manage the property. The receiver will charge for his or her time, and will hire a lawyer and any other professionals as the receiver deems necessary to manage the property. This will cost a relatively huge amount for a small association such as yours, and frankly should be avoided at all costs. Find someone who will step up and take a turn.
If you hire professional management that cost may go up slightly, but it may convince members that Board service will not be quite as hard in the future.
Good luck,
Kelly G. Richardson
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