Avoid Big Communication Problems at Small HOAs
This really happened at a small, six-unit association in the Midwest: Several owners typically take their issues and concerns to one or the other of the three board members. On Super Bowl Sunday, one of the owners was angrily texting a board member over and over. The board member responded several times, "Please bring your concerns to all members."
No go. It actually exploded into the texting owner sending an angry email to all owners saying the board member who wouldn't engage on the Super Bowl Sunday texts should step down from the board for failing to perform. Thankfully, the owner later apologized. But this issue of personal communications with board members will assuredly arise again. In this week's tip, we explain why this practice can be cause problems.
"We teach other people how to treat us—that's a basic rule of human nature," asserts Elizabeth White, a shareholder and head of the community associations practice at the law firm of LeClairRyan in Williamsburg, Va. "In addition, I've been knee-deep in an association with a small dissident group that's literally shutting down operations with an overwhelming number of emails, blog posts, and so on directed to board members. That's why boards need to have some ground rules for how owners will interact with board members."
It can also raise legal problems. "Knowledge by any director of something is usually imputed to the corporation," says White. "So if an owner tells one board member something, you can run into trouble if you have an individual director who doesn't use good judgment or doesn't appreciate the importance of passing that information to the full board."
White says you can—and should—train owners to operate more effectively for all. "Particularly in a small environment, it's really tough to say, 'We're going to impose a structure here,'" she admits. "But that's what you need to do to be in control of the association. An owner in a six-unit condo might think, 'Why can't I send texts to this board member?' The answer is that you'll never have anybody who wants to serve on that board if you don't have ground rules. Being on a board doesn't mean you have to be available 24/7 to demanding owners."
Get tips to help your owners interact positively with all board members in our new article, Small-HOA Challenges: When Owners Deal Privately with One Board Member.
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President