Q&A: Regulating Risk
Q. During the warmer months, owners in our condominium building have noticed a few e-bikes/scooters with lithium batteries around our community. At night these e- bikes/scooters seem to be housed in...
View ArticleHolding Orderly, Efficient Annual Meetings – It’s Not as Hard as It Seems!
Talk to anyone familiar with common-interest community governance anywhere in the country, and they will tell you the same thing: apathy is rampant among residents of co-ops, condos, and HOAs. Not only...
View ArticleBoards & Boundaries: How ‘Available’ Should You Be?
In multifamily residential communities, where neighbors share common space, amenities, and maintenance—if not actual walls—establishing and maintaining boundaries can be a bit tricky……Non-physical...
View ArticleTree Care & Maintenance: Keeping Your Biggest Landscaping Elements Healthy
Trees provide us with many benefits, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious. Whether your community is an urban high-rise surrounded by hundreds of others, or a sprawling suburban development with...
View ArticleAesthetic Rules Balancing Community Value with Individual Rights
In the world of single-family homes, property owners can do pretty much whatever they want when it comes to the look of their place. They can paint their house bright purple, for instance. Or display...
View ArticleThe Finer Points of Fining Condominium Owners
Condo association rules provide a behavioral road map for owners, explaining what they are allowed and not allowed to do. But creating effective rules is only half the challenge for boards; enforcing...
View ArticleReplacing Board Members
Problem: One member of our seven-member board has resigned, leaving us with only six members. The association’s documents require a seven-member board, but the next election, at which a new board...
View ArticleRoof Replacement 101: A Project Too Vital to Put Off
Nothing lasts forever, not even your roof. While roofs have a relatively long life compared to other building systems and components, at some point they will need either partial or full replacement....
View ArticleTree Care & Maintenance: Keeping Your Biggest Landscaping Elements Healthy
Trees provide us with many benefits, from the obvious to the not-so-obvious. Whether your community is an urban high-rise surrounded by hundreds of others, or a sprawling suburban development with...
View ArticleHolding Orderly, Efficient Annual Meetings – It’s Not as Hard as It Seems!
Talk to anyone familiar with common-interest community governance anywhere in the country, and they will tell you the same thing: apathy is rampant among residents of co-ops, condos, and HOAs. Not only...
View ArticleBoards & Boundaries: How ‘Available’ Should You Be?
In multifamily residential communities, where neighbors share common space, amenities, and maintenance—if not actual walls—establishing and maintaining boundaries can be a bit tricky. Read the...
View ArticleEmergency Preparedness in the Era of Climate Change: Preparing for the...
The acceleration of global warming and the accompanying climate crisis is affecting shared-interest residential communities all over the United States and around the world. This past September was the...
View ArticlePowering E-Devices Safely: There Are Fires … And There Are E-Device Fires
All over the news, from coast to coast, reports of fires and explosions caused by lithium-ion batteries describe blazes that are out of control, difficult to extinguish, and excessively smokey....
View ArticleHolding Elections: Every Board’s Duty
Shared residential communities such as condos, co-ops, and HOAs are modern examples of classic Athenian democracy: citizens governing themselves through active participation in governance. The key to...
View ArticleMaintaining Your Elevators: Regular Care Can Help Avoid Huge Replacement Costs
The elevator is one of those inventions—along with running hot and cold water and indoor plumbing—that have been around for so long we take it for granted. But elevators obviously weren’t always a part...
View ArticleEffective Committees: Maximizing Use of Community Volunteers
In a typical condo, co-op, or homeowners association, residents have a lot to say about how their building or community is or should be functioning … but few actually step up to run for and serve on...
View ArticleAmending Your Governing Documents – Why, When, & How to Make Changes
In addition to their boards, common interest communities are governed by a set of foundational documents. In a condominium, those documents are the declaration and bylaws; co-ops also have bylaws, as...
View ArticleLitigation in Your Community – Lawsuits Can Have Long-Term Impacts
When seeking a place to call home, potential co-op and condo buyers are seeking a place of peace and quiet. No one wants to live in the midst of a tempest. And peace and quiet can be both literal and...
View ArticleResources for Multifamily Boards Where Communities Go to Stay in the Know
The Community Associations Network (www.communityassociations.net) is an online resource that aggregates news and information related to co-ops, condos, and HOAs. There, boards and service...
View ArticleWebsite Accessibility: The ADA and FHA
In recent years, and trending more frequently as of late, we have heard about businesses, big and small, receiving demand letters related to their website accessibility, alleging ADA noncompliance, and...
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