How to Build Community Spirit During Challenging Times We have witnessed heartwarming community spirit across our nation since the beginning of the pandemic. Community spirit has brought hope throughout this strange and uncertain time. At the onset of the pandemic, community members and neighbors joined together on lawns, at windows, on balconies, and on street corners to give frontline and [...]
Annual Meetings Must be Held Once a Year Under Arizona law, A.R.S. Section 33-1804(B) and 33-1248(B) an association must conduct an annual meeting of its membership at least once a year. Conducting a successful annual meeting requires knowledge of the association’s documents, planning, organization, preparation and execution of the plan. Meeting Requirements and Purpose Requirements for an Annual Meeting Typically, [...]
Unfortunately, the majority of media coverage involving community associations is negative. With that in mind, your community needs to be prepared if the media contacts the board and/or is covering a story involving the community. The two most common scenarios where a community association will receive media coverage are (1) a conflict with a homeowner (in which case, the homeowner [...]
Dealing with a Bully in a Community Association Most members in an Association understand that rules and social decorum dictate how they are to interact with Board members, Association employees, and other members. However, there are a small percentage of people that do not abide by rules and social decorum and they are always looking for a fight. These people [...]
Working with Rental Properties Over the past few years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of rental properties in Arizona, including short-term/vacation rentals. Along with the increase in rental properties has come an increase in complaints from boards and managers regarding how to handle tenants who do not comply with the governing documents and owners who violate [...]
Community Association Management Community associations throughout Arizona are managed by three types of management; self-management, an association with paid staff and a community association management company. Many associations choose to hire a management company and then rely on that management company to handle the day to day operations of the association. It is important to note that currently there are [...]
Insurance Overview Protecting the community association and board of directors requires a close look at insurance coverage and risk to prevent the coverage gaps that only become obvious after a loss or lawsuit and there is no payout. Insurance Coverage for Community Associations Directors and Officers Liability Coverage (D&O): Typically covers the board of directors. Common claims include the board’s [...]
Best Practices for Assessing Fines In 2017, an Arizona Court of Appeals decision found that (1) attempting to levy monetary penalties/fines without a properly adopted fine schedule, which demonstrates the fine amounts and appropriateness of those fines, is per se unreasonable; and (2) even if a community association has a validly adopted fine schedule, the community association still has the [...]
The High Cost of Crime for Community Associations According to the United States Department of Justice, a property crime is committed every three seconds, a burglary takes place every twelve seconds, a motor vehicle is stolen every twenty seconds and a murder occurs every twenty-three minutes. Unfortunately, these statistics affect every segment of our society, including community associations. Increased crimes [...]
Communicate: Listen to homeowners who have concerns or problems with the association; Return/respond to phone calls/e-mails within 24/48 hours (if possible); Notify the board immediately regarding important information about their association; and Apologize and make the necessary corrections when mistakes happen. Give a weekly update (email every Friday) to board members on accomplishments for each week. Oversee Maintenance and Repairs [...]
