Proposed Condo Law Would Cost You Money
By Gail Egan
A proposed bill that would increase the costs for Connecticut condo owners has been proposed by Kim Rose, Democratic House Legislator representing the 118th House District in Milford.
The idea of proposed Bill No. 5528 is to require HOAs and self-managed communities to provide detailed expenditure notices to the unit owners of any personnel hired by the association including, but not limited to consultants, contractors, maintenance personnel, accountants or other individuals hired by the board to perform tasks on behalf of the association.
Associations make new contracts many times a year: for example, CPA, snow removal, garbage removal and landscaping. These notices would have to be mailed to unit owners at an expense that could rise to thousands of dollars for larger HOAs.
- A Common Interest Community / Self-Managed with 100 owners
Example: three contracts voted /approved 3 separate meeting would cost association 300 letters @ $.50 postage = $299 for postage.
- A Common Interest Community / Property Manager
Example: management companies charge for paper copies and postage and sometimes administrative time. Three contracts, as above, $2.50 for 1 copy plus postage = $750 total.
“There will be a significant fiscal burden on the associations passed through, in the form of common fees, to unit owners,” says Richard Maloney, CCOC consultant and former top Consumer Protection Department official.
Presently, the State of Connecticut struggles to enforce current statutory laws that property managers violate with the exception of the most egregious and criminal.
“This legislation is ill-conceived. As proposed, there is no mechanism to enforce this requirement upon associations and no clear purpose,” said Maloney.
FIND
YOUR LEGISLATOR
http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/cgafindleg.asp
CALL THEM – LET THEM KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.
Our appreciation to Glastonbury Attorney Pat Ayers, legal adviser to CCOC Board of Directors who contributed to this article.
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2 Responses to Proposed Condo Law Would Cost You Money
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Concerned Connecticut Condo Owner says:
March 15, 2019 at 4:22 pm (Edit)
Come on CCOC Board of Directors… I dont feel the current CCOC Board
represents the majority of original CCOC members. More transparency is
needed! No one surveyed CCOC unit owners to see how they feel about this
proposed bill. Detailed expenditure notices to the unit owners of any
personnel hired by the association could be sent to the majority of unit
owners by EMAIL and posted online for unit owner viewing at virtually
NO COST.
Reply
- Ronald Hills says: March 16, 2019 at 11:03 am (Edit) I am A unit owner in a condo complex. I like the idea of the Board and its property managers keeping unit owners informed. I agree this info in todays word can reach most unit owners via email. We currently communicate with 90% of our unit owners via email. Unit owners are most often kept in the dark on such issues. Reply
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- April 30, 2015 By George Gombossy IMPORTANT LINKS Chapter 828 Common Interest Ownership Act http://www.cga.ct.gov/2011/pub/chap828.htm Chapter 825 Condominium Act http://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_825.htm FIND YOUR LEGISLATOR http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/cgafindleg.asp Department Of Read More »
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Our condo emails correspondence to owners with their permission. Only a small group of owners receive correspondence by mail. That said it is a small expense and letting owners know what vendors and contractors are costing is, in my opinion, a good thing.
When does this legislative madness ever stop? All of the information is available anytime by asking the board or manager. We would never deny a unit owner from seeing a contractor or contractor invoices. Why does everybody feel better when there is a law. It is hard enough to be a board member without being asked to do more useless work.
The only people who oppose this bill are people and boards that are trying to hide something. The current CIOA does NOT require self managed boards to reveal their salaries. Some board members that I know of, get paid three and four times a month. Release this information! Its not useless..Do your job.
Yes. Online or by email. I agree for transparency. At my condo we never see any of the contracts for management or contractors but fees and salaries keep increasing.
I reached out to both of my representatives and was just notified by my Senator that this bill “was not raised or is likely not going forward in committee since it was proposed in January.”
Adding this expense to condo budgets that continue to rise is not necessary. Appreciate the information so I could contact my representatives.
We agree with the above poster. For many years we have been trying to get the financials AND even after filing a complaint with the State STILL do not have them. The State told us the only recourse is to sue the Association in Civil Court. There has been no transparency and the Board is doing a terrible job, from selectively trying to enforce the By-Laws against Unit Owner they don’t like, to these Board Members vandalizing others property and even calling Unit Owners derogatory names – all while they are violating many rules and By-Laws. There is no accountability at all. They have a terrible Attorney (Michael Alexander) at every meeting who is wasting all our money.
I agree, constant mailings to owners are expensive and not read. Information is available online or owners can go to meetings for complete meeting minutes.
Current law is clear on when communication is required and. Boards should be following laws.
Owners do not like increased costs for readily available information.
We owners that are not on our board of directors, know nothing. Our board hides everything despite pleas and requests. Our condo complex has lost its curbside appeal through projects left ignored for years.
Currently, our owner ratio has dropped significantly. The tenants are mostly people working businesses out of the units. The garages and units are being used to house these businesses. We no longer have a family style atmosphere. Buildings are run down and in desperate need of repairs, even lack of just adequate paint jobs.
As owners, do we have any recourse? Our president is also the treasurer. Jobs never go out for a bid. He has his favorites. Owners are not apprised of when board members are up for election. Everything is secretive and manipulated. With mostly tenants we don’t have enough votes to help correct these problems. This board also has an attorney to represent them and run the only meeting we ever get – the annual meeting and, we owners are paying him to insult us.
I am on the BOD of my condo. I stead of bringing it to the unit owners. Have the information available at the board meetings.. The unit owners can ask. What I’ve learned. All these unit owners don’t want to get on the board but they want all the say of what we do. Not fare to all the boards out there. We put much time and effort. All a unit owner has to do is ask. That’s in the declaration. If they don’t receive then its a problem.
TMHO