What To Do When Boards and Property Managers Abuse A Law Allowing Decisions By Consent Without A Meeting
It is CCOC’s hope that this article will answer questions you may have regarding the ability of a board of directors to vote without conducting a board meeting .
Effective October 1, 2015, Section 47-250 (b)(9) of the Common Interest Ownership Act was amended to allow executive boards to act by not less than two-thirds consent of all executive board members. Prior law required unanimous consent if the board did not meet.
The intent of this change was to assist executive board members to carry out their duties and subsequently meet the burden of time sensitive issues that require immediate action by an executive board benefiting either the common interest community or a specific unit owner.
Reasons offered in support of this change included:
- Some board members never vote by email, even if they are away on vacation or an even longer absence, and thus the board could not get unanimous consents until the board member returned.
- Calling special executive board meeting imposes undue costs to the association for copies and postage
- A special meeting may be outside of a management contract thereby incurring an additional cost for a manager’s time.
However, the law remains clear that the unanimous consent must be documented in a record authenticated by executive board members noting the consent or non-consent of each executive board member. The law continues to require that the board secretary promptly give notice to all unit owners of any action taken by consent .
While the intent of this change was to benefit the board as well as unit owners, unfortunately many unit owners are being harmed because some boards and property managers are not complying with the law’s requirements concerning documentation and notice to unit owners.
For example, in one condominium, unit owners were not notified of actions the board took without conducting a board meeting. Instead the property manager stated that a record of the vote was kept in the manager’s office. In order to learn about the board’s actions and to learn how board members voted, unit owners are required to request this record and pay for copies and administrative time. Instead of automatically getting notice of board actions the burden falls on the unit owner to request it and to pay for it, which is contrary the letter and spirit of the law.
Another problem with this new law is that some property managers and boards are interpreting this law as an excuse to decrease the numbers of board meetings they conduct during the year and thereby the need for their time and presence at a board meeting. When boards make decisions by consent instead of by vote at a meeting, unit owners are deprived of prior notice and an opportunity to object or provide information to the board that might affect the board’s decision. And when property managers and boards refused to comply with the law’s requirements for notifying unit owners what action the board took by consent and which board members consented and which did not, unit owners are deprived of knowing what’s going on in their common interest community and which board members were responsible.
As stated in a recent article, “the implementation of this new law was not an invitation for executive boards to avoid conducting meetings by acting outside of such meetings at all times and yet that is exactly what some boards and property managers are doing. This allows board members to in essence act in secret with no accountability and no opportunity for unit owners to object or provide valuable information to assist the board in making decisions in the best interest of all unit owners.
Property managers especially as licensed professionals should and must know better and should ensure the law is complied with and not ignored or circumvented by setting up expensive and unnecessary barriers for unit owner who simply want to be informed about what the board is considering doing and what the board has done and how individual board members have voted.
What can unit owners do to try to make sure property managers and boards are complying with the law?
First, Any communication with a property manager should be well documented. Telephone conversations cannot be used to document your query of suspected wrong-doing.
Second, unit owners should file a complaint with the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP)and provide information the department might need to handle the complaint including any relevant dates, the issue, and your communications with the property manager. Remember DCP has regulatory authority only over property managers and not over self managed common interest communities. This agency is extremely busy, but will investigate each complaint filed.
Third, send a copy of your complaint filed with DCP to your local legislators. As one unit owner cited in a letter sent to DCP, hiring an attorney would cost between $5,000 and $10,000. If your legislators do not know that the law is not working as it was intended, how can they be expected to fix it? Please let your legislator know every time a property manager or board is breaking the law.
CCOC is continuing to fight to get the legislature to amend the law to provide an inexpensive and expeditious forum, which could force boards and property managers to obey the law. Legislators need to be aware of the problems that plague unit owners in common interest communities. The best way for legislators to know of unit owners problems is to hear it directly from their own constituents.
I contacted DCP. They were of NO help AT ALL!
So now I am left on my own, to attempt to excise the Management Company.
We have a self-renewing contract they won’t let us see or know when it renews,
they won’t provide us with a copy of the Master Insurace Policy or Declarations page.
We have a lame duck board of very naive people that will vote yes on what you put in front
of them. There is money missing AND I have proof that I have made the attempt to right wrongs, and that by-laws only apply to certain people at certain times.
A Draft of our new Bylaws and Declaration will be sent to unit owners for comments. Will unit owners have the right to vote on it’s final approval? Our 1983 Bylaws provided for unit owner’s approval with a vote.
I have read a number of times that Department of Consumer Protection provides little help to unit owners. Likewise, the Attorney General’s Office provides no help to unit owners. While there may be condominium laws in Connecticut, there is no enforcement of those laws short of going to court. As the article points out, many unit owners cannot afford to hire an attorney.
The article states, “CCOC is continuing to fight to get the legislature to amend the law to provide an inexpensive and expeditious forum, which could force boards and property managers to obey the law.”
Establishing an Office of Condominium Ombudsman, an idea proposed by former Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, a consumer advocate and current U.S. Senator for our state, would be helpful to unit owners in need. Costs to run such and office could be kept to a minimum with the help of volunteers, who could be comprised of unit owners, property managers, attorneys and others.
We have the same problem in my association, which happens to be self managed and the president is using his seat for the benefit of his unit in detriment of the common property. The other Board memebres remain quiet to complaints, either for complicity or negligence. If the government only protects associations managed by companies, where do self managed associations go for support and help?
unfortunately you have to organize and remove the president
All issues within these articles ai am experiencing with no help from any one I contacted including my own hired atty and a mediation meeting, solved nothing, the board does not enforce. Carry out. Follow the governing rules and has created Selective Enforcement as to early rentals. Allows occupants to reside in units without their names on the deeds and mowho can help me. Living in Florida
Myhanks
We are self managed & our President seems to make decisions as he sees fit.. including “appointing” budget committees which includes himself & his fiancé the owner of the unit. he also hires his own company to do work without getting quotes, which in my opinion are all actions that reek of CONFLICT OF INTEREST. I thought contacting the state would be helpful, but apparently hiring an attorney seems to be they way to go. I’m not the only owner who feels this is an issue, but am the only one who seems to speak up.
you basically have three options: vote the president out, live with it, or move. If the rest of the complex is ok with the way the president runs things so you don’t have much choices.
I live and own a condominium unit and this bldg. have 27 units, we have a gentleman who own 20 of the 27 units, and he feel he own the bldg. entirely.
1.no meetings, at any time. he is the owner.
2. whatever he decide to change, he do so without notice to others, owners or resident.
3. Bylaws, Declaration he never bring up the neme.
4. question: do we have new Bylaws, Declaration?
our current is: Volume 2030-pages 168-224 at city Hall in Htfd. CT. 550 main st.
I came home to find my parking spot had been moved four spaces down, my parking space was moved to the space were the complex pile the snow in the winter. This resident that wanted my parking spot was campaigning for my spot for seven months. Bragging to everyone how she was going to take it. This is what I heard from the neighbors. I live two doors down from this woman and she never uttered a word to me.
She went so far as to knocking on the door of a new resident bragging about which spot was she going to take. She told the new resident eni meni mini moe which spot am I going to take. I returned home a week later to find my parking space moved and her unit number was where mine use to be. I raised hell to the property management who I found out later gave her the go-ahead without notifying anyone. Never admitting to me during my rants that they were the ones in addition to a board member that they were moving my space to accommodate this woman.
A meeting was scheduled, she was not there but the board member and the property manager (husband who had nothing to do with this) that gave her the go-ahead were at the meeting. They tried to paint this woman to be an elderly woman. Elderly in numbers but this woman was so physically fit you can bounce a dime off her stomach and it would bounce 50 ft. She was in her late 50’s and looked fabulous in her bikini. The end-result our parking numbers were put back. This action made no sense. I bet she bragged no more.
Just because you are property manager or on the board does not give anyone the right to disrupt the resident’s quality of life just because they think they can.
Property management and the board realized they could not push us around.
Hay that’s nothing to compare what we are going through. We have a unit renter using all the visitors parking spaces in the condo units for used cars he purchases to sell on the complex property. This unit owner/renter has gotten so bold he now parks in your parking spot. The cars will remain in the spot for 6 months or longer. The property manager does not seem to care at all. Who is lining who’s pockets? I say stop paying common charges to rectify the situation. No one has to deal with nonsense. Stop paying common charges and take the board to court. One can complain so much and the dispute is ignored.
The comments are very helpful, our condo have been going trough, all this issues, from stealing. The prior manager bookkeeper, never answered questions regarding finances,
Like who prepaid the condo fees, I finally fired the manager, Now we have a problem the new managers refuses to file the annually paperwork, for the Secretary of State form ACS or the City land records, he actually have the secretary fill a form were, the Board secretary is both the agent and a secretary; I found this to be illegal, i still have this form on my hands since I am the president and the check to file this form, have to be sign by two officers and I am one of the signers, looking for an answer.