A Manual for Governance of a Home Owner's Association
How Condo Owners Can Empower Themselves, Take Charge of Their HOA, and Protect Their Investment
by
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As condominiums and other planned developments have demonstrated their acceptance, they have become an important but problematic type of community ownership of property encompassing over 63 million residents. Their relatively rapid growth has posed significant challenges to the providers (developers) and consumers of these types of communities
All 50 states have a statute which enables and contols the initial establishment of planned developments Some states also establish regulatory rules regarding attempts of owners to govern themselves by means of a home owner associatiation. The relatively rapid growth of these popular community living arrangements has presented the owners with an educational problem. However, this manual could educate developers and legislators a s well as owners
The uniform or model act comprehensively covers both development and governance. It gives broad supervisory powers to the homeowners associations.It provides optional ways for it to govern.. It also suggests an optional state administrative agency to supervise, regulate or guide the governance of the homeowners association in the absence of an already effective state agency.
Since promulgation of this model Act in 1977, and approval by the American Bar Association in `1978, it has received considerable attention in the halls of state legislatures. The Act was enacted in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia in 1979-80. It was enacted
with a substantial number of changes in Louisiana in 1979. Ten other states legisislatures had
introduced a bill to enact some version of the model Act. Those states were Arizona,
Colorado,Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, Tennessee, Vermont and
Wyoming
Some Homeowners Associations may not have amended their own governing documents
( bylaws and master deed or declaration ) in accordance with their states’ adoption of the salient features of the Uniform Condominium Act. Therefore, this manual may be very useful in a change over in governance at the condos in their states to be more in conformity with their state law. On the other hand, some condo dwellers may want to advocate and lobby for legislative consideration of the model act in their state .
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About the Book
This Manual is valuable because:
It details the development of condominiums.
It educates condominium owners about their civil rights.
It reveals how owners could unknowingly be disenfranchising themselves.
It unfolds a road map to a purely democratic system of self-governance.
It explains the choices that owners have for a personally accountable system of governance.
It describes the essential difference between “true democracy “and “pure democracy.”
It includes a brief commentary on a parallel universe, namely the American system of representative democracy and the monumental problems which need to be addressed.
It informs the members of their association regarding the importance of Robert’s Rules of Order as an inclusion in their Bylaws.
It allows the voice of the minority to be heard and requires that the decision of the majority be acknowledged; contrarily, it allows the silence of the members to be the equivalent of consent without a vote. It requires that the chairperson of a meeting of an association conduct a meeting in an orderly manner and insist that the voters be mutually respectful with the liberal use of a gavel. It declares that the chairperson must remain impartial at all times by not expressing an opinion on a motion thereby compromising a vote.
About the Author
Mr. Roth holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He also holds a Masters of Social Service from Bryn Mawr College in Community Organization.
Eventually this program evolved into The Law and Public Policy. Mr. Roth’s professional career evolved similarly from executive positions in regional community organizations regarding health and hospital planning and positions at the county, state and federal level.
Mr. Roth has written several professional articles regarding health care which were published in national journals such as the American Journal of Public Health and Public Health Reports, a publication of the federal Department of Health and Human Services. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Health Planning. He received a commendation from the Governor of Pennsylvania. He published a monthly newsletter first in Western New York and then in Western Pennsylvania for a total of ten years as Executive Director of the regional health planning associations.