DRAFT - 1984: Good year for hair bands, but too long to wait for new HOA rules.
Melissa Smith is a public relations professional at Weber State University. Before coming to Weber State in 2014, Smith worked as a communications specialist for county government, office administrator for a Harvard Medical School principal investigator, and a retail-sales associate. Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Utah State University and will complete a Master of Professional Communication in December 2018. In her not-so-spare time, she serves as the president of the Mount Ogden Park Condominium Association.
I can just picture it. Mr. Adams and the Lunts are sitting at a kitchen table while their teenage kids are off in some corner of the house watching the premier of "Thriller" on MTV. Who could resist zombified Michael Jackson dancing away in that red-leather getup?
While the kids are watching TV, The parents are putting their soon-to-be empty nester plans in process. They're gathered around an electric typewriter pecking out the declaration and bylaws for the soon-to-constructed Mount Ogden Park Condominiums, replacing ink ribbon after ink ribbon. It's almost 1984 there's a bit of a housing flurry in and around the nuns of St. Benedict's Hospital former quarters. They're getting in on the action.
It's now 34 years later. Mr. Adams and the Lunts are long gone, but the legacy they left with that declaration and those bylaws lives on. Mainly because they have not been updated since that time. I currently sit wondering how people ever managed lengthy documents before word-processing computer programs because I'm transcribing those documents from 1984 into a Google Doc. Fortunately I don't have to use Wite Out.
As the Mount Ogden Park Condominium Association president, I've learned a thing or two about the application of bylaws and declarations. Some residents adhere to and others don't know they exist. The residents who have been here since the units were built are the ones who know them like the back of their hands. The others haven't felt the need to read through the 50+ page document.
Here are a number of things I've learned while serving as the president of the Mount Ogden Park Condominium Association:
-Assets are more important than feelings of entitlement. Do your residents a favor. Don't automatically pay for issues supposedly caused by the HOA. This may seem a bit crooked and cruel, but in long run it will benefit your residents. Make sure you investigate the claim first. If it's legitimate, solve the issue, but make sure the resident files any claims with their homeowner's insurance company first. Then have their insurance company work out any additional claims with the HOA's insurance company. If you do this, the HOA's insurance, which protects other residents, will not be maxed out or dropped.
-Keep the monthly fees as low as possible. If you yourself can handle the landscaping, don't hire someone else to do it. If the grates over the basement windows need a new coat of spray paint, get our there and do it. Get the other management committee members actively involved in your efforts. The residents will appreciate your efforts.
-Don't be available 24/7. Of course I don't mean you should delay addressing the sewage back up in unit 1, but make sure your residents know that you cannot address non-emergency issues at a moment's notice. Address them within a day or so but having a bit of a delay will give both you and the resident time to consider the true nature of the issue and the best way to handle it. Most residents will be willing to work with you if they understand you are on a schedule.
-Encourage the landlord in your condos to learn all they can about city rental codes and regulations. This will help them understand how to interact with you and their tenants.
In Ogden City, landlords are required to have a business license to operate rental properties. Inform them about the Good Landlord Program offered by the city. There are certain financial incentives for landlords who complete this program.
-Keep it clean. Cleanliness increases your and your residents' property value.
I've learned a few things about writing declarations and bylaws during this process. Here are 10 of them.
1. Point of Origin. Make sure you know what's in the original declaration and bylaw documents before you try to rewrite them. They may be old, but that's most likely the document your residents were given before they moved in.
2. Know Your Subject. Research HOA laws and regulations. There might be a few things that you would like to change, but make sure you have legal grounds to do so. You might not like the fact that your neighbors wants a comfort animal, but check with your state and city laws before you tell her she can't have it.
3. Comfort Animals. As mentioned in the previous statement, some residents want pets, even if the condo regulations specifically state they cannot have them. In most states, you cannot deny the resident this request if s/he has the proper documentation. However, do not mention this exception in your updated bylaws. Let the resident know you are holding them to the rules set in the bylaws and declaration until they produce the proper documentation.
4. Penalties. When you set up a rule, make sure you set up a clear penalty for breaking said rule. Otherwise the resident has no motivation for keeping the rules. For example, my condo association has a "no pets" rule. However, there are not penalties or repercussions stated in the declaration or bylaws. Because of this, there have been multiple cats and dogs in the condo.
5. Don't do it alone. You have a management committee in place for a reason. They are there to help. Get the members' input and ask for suggestions. Have them help you do the rewrites.
6. Feelings aren't equal to finances.
7. Lawyer Up.
8. Be specific.
9. Love they neighbor, but protect thyself.
10. Get help from others.
