Ask the Expert

Marjorie Jean Meyer, CMCA®, PCAM®
Vice President and National Director of Education and Certification
ASSOCIA

Our HOA has asked this question of our attorney and been given the answer "too complicated to do" but I would like to run it by you for a "second opinion."

We are a 68-unit condo association distributed amongst 4 old and very different styles of buildings (built originally as apartment buildings), and therein is the problem: 2 buildings have 15 units, 1 building has 11 units, and the rest are in the 4th building - 3 buildings have elevators, one does not. Because the amount of land, furnishings of common areas, etc. is different for each, there is a lot of unhappiness amongst owners over assessments, expenses, upkeep, appearance, etc. and most owners agree that it would be better if the association were to dissolve and each building be its own association so that each can determine its own appearance, rules, assessments, etc. but 2 different attorneys have told us it is extremely complicated and expensive to dissolve and reorganize separately. What have you heard on this? I tried looking through your helpful site but did not see an index to help find anything similar.

- Jean

Listen to your attorney. It is extremely difficult to amend an association's governing documents to change maintenance assessment obligations and maintenance responsibilities, especially if lender approval is required.

The current scenario you described in which different buildings in the same community association contain dissimilar amenities and facilities is not unusual.

Sincerely,

Margey

Is it legal for a member of an HOA in the State of Washington to make his own audio tape of a board meeting without permission from the board?

Despite being requested in two recent board meetings to turn off his recorder, a member (with a personal agenda who has sued the board twice and has historically taped meetings) continued to tape record the meetings, claiming it is his right to do so. Thanks.

- Sue

Some states legislatures have mandated the ability of members of nonprofit corporations and, even more specifically, homeowners associations, to tape or video record board meetings. To determine if the State of Washington's statutes contain such a provision, go to our State Resources page.

For a different perspective on whether or not to allow tape recording of board meeting, again go to the Links and Resources page of Association Times and scroll down to Parliamentary Procedure. However, unless Washington's statutes require community associations to comply with the rules of parliamentary procedure, state laws would prevail in the event of a conflict.

Sincerely,

Margey

I am discouraged because I live in a covenanted community in Colorado, which has stipulations about maintenance of yards, painting of your house when it needs it, etc., yet many home owners do not do what is required. The association warns them with a letter, has them come to a court hearing, but nothing scares some people into keeping their covenant agreement. What recourse do I have as someone who is held to the same standards, does follow through with those standards, and yet has to live in a covenant community that doesn't seem to be effective or doesn't seem to have the power they say they have? One should not have to move to live in a neighborhood that is more consistently cared for! Thank you!

- C.

Your community association's board of directors may be overwhelmed or uneducated with regard to the duties and obligations of their positions. Why not volunteer your services to help them, either on a Compliance Committee or on the Board itself? A community can only be successful if its residents commit to supporting the board and complying with the governing documents, and you can certainly help through your interest in enforcing the rules and covenants.

Additionally, your governing documents, in particular the CC&Rs/Covenants/Declaration (the name varies in different parts of the country) may contain a provisions that authorizes an individual owner to personally pursue deed restriction compliance if the board is not doing so. Check your documents or state statutes for relevant language.

Sincerely,

Margey

I live in a townhome in Mankato, MN after living there for close to two years and paying my association dues, and getting little to no service. My Association decided to hand it over to the homeowners. So far we only have made a board of directors. The former people in charge of our Association will not answer any questions of ours and is not cooperating with us to hand over our Books with the association info. We are at a lost of what to do now? We have tried to contact the head boss and we just get the run around.

If you guys have any answers for us on how to deal with this and how to manage a Association that would be great. My Association is in two parts Association 1 of 80 townhomes and Association 2 of 60 townhomes. Thank you for any help that you can give us.

- Gretchen

As fiduciary agents for the respective community associations they represent, board members are entrusted with the records for as long as they serve on the board. When their terms expire, they must relinquish their authority as well as the records of the association. If they refuse to turn over the records to their successors, they are exposing themselves to potential liability and litigation.

I suggest you send a certified letter to the prior board, quoting applicable provisions of your association's governing documents and perhaps state statutes (you can access Minnesota laws addressing homeowner associations on our State Resources page) and demanding immediate delivery of all books and records. If the former board members ignore or refuse your request, consider advising your association's insurance agent of the situation, stating that you will file a claim with your association's Directors and Officers Liability Policy if the matter is not resolved by a specified deadline. Most insurance agents would prefer to intercede than to have a claim filed.

Another alternative is soliciting the assistance of a competent attorney knowledgeable in community association law and case law. He or she can send a formal demand to the previous board ordering the immediate return of all books and records. If the board complies after receiving the attorney's letter, the relatively small fee you paid could be considered a very worthwhile investment in the future of your community.

One more suggestion: consider notifying the other members of your association of the actions of the previous board. It's possible that peer pressure will succeed in persuading the board to release the records where more formal procedures fell short.

Sincerely,

Margey

I live in a homeowners association neighborhood. We recently had 4 of our Board members resign. The remaining 3 Board members talked one of the Board members into coming back into the Board after this person had submitted her letter of resignation. Is this something that can be done? Most home owners were very upset with this as she was the problem why the others resigned. Can we demand a new meeting to elect new board members for the vacant positions? Please let us know as soon as possible. Thank you.

- L.

The remaining board members must comply with the provisions of your community association's Bylaws detailing the procedure by which vacant board positions may be filled. If you and your neighbors are not satisfied with efforts of the current board members, consider volunteering to serve as leaders of your community.

Sincerely,

Margey

I've searched Illinois Property Act but I cannot find any information related to a board member who holds two titles at the same time.

In our by-law says we shall have at least three board members one for president, one for treasurer, and one for secretary. On the paper we have all of the required board members as a name but in reality president holds two titles together, president and treasurer.

He has been serving nineteen years as a treasurer and last three years he has the title of president and treasurer. I've found out that a person can hold two titles as a secretary and treasurer but not president and treasurer at the same time.

Then on recent board meetings I expressed what I think about the issue and I told them this is illegal. Because I believe our president uses his power in wrong directions and there is no one to check him. Even though we have a treasurer, on the paper, presidents say " acting treasurer" that she has no power to do anything. He keeps all the books and not giving them for inspection. He responses my comment saying that it is not illegal. Is it legal or illegal? Thanks.

- N.

Many states have statutes that prohibit officers of nonprofit corporations from holding the positions of president and treasurer simultaneously, specifically to provide better control over the organization's assets. Community association bylaws often contain similar provisions. Both entities may also mandate members' access to the books and records. Check your state laws and Robert's Rules of Order at Association Times, as well as your association's Bylaws to find the answer to your question.

Sincerely,

Margey

We have an association that has little turn out for the community meetings and we have issues with our covenants. The homeowners are very upset and voice this about the covenants but our by-laws require a 75% vote to change anything.

My question is this: we would like to put voting option on our website for the community we feel we could get the participation we need by doing this. Can we do this would this be considered a legal vote as it is at our BoD meetings?

The information I have received from the community is that if we could do this online more people would vote and participate.

- Dave

Unless your Bylaws or state statutes specifically provide for electronic voting, you would need to amend the Bylaws according to its amendment provisions to change the manner in which votes are cast. However, there may be a prohibition against electronic voting in your state in certain circumstances, so I urge you to consult with a competent attorney knowledgeable in community association law and case law to ensure that any changes your membership makes to the governing documents are legal.

So, in order to encourage participation in the administration of your community association, you may first need to galvanize enough owners to participate in the amendment process.

Sincerely,

Margey

I live in a New York City cooperative, residential apartment building. Our present elections system allows each shareholder 1 vote per owned share as well as 1 vote per share of proxies entrusted to him/her. These votes can be allocated to one or multiple people who are running for election.

Because many of the units in our building have been combined, there are now resident owners who are able to elect themselves onto the Board. Other residents have, for years, collected sufficient proxies to vote themselves onto the Board.

Are there any methods by which we can change our proprietary lease and/or by-laws to change this so that people cannot collect so many proxies or so that people cannot achieve Board membership by voting only their shares for themselves? Thanks.

- E.

Consider talking with your neighbors about your concerns relating to the election of board members, and urge them to seriously deliberate on the issue of proxy vote allotment. If the majority of the owners are satisfied with the way the board of directors is running your cooperative, you will have a difficult time persuading them to assign their proxies to someone else. If many of your neighbors agree with your discontent, you have a good chance of being the recipient of your neighbors' proxy assignments and may hold enough votes to influence the election.

With specific regard to changing the manner in which proxies are assigned, a similar situation is applicable. If most of your neighbors are pleased with, or at least not unhappy with the actions of the current board, it will be difficult to garner enough support to amend your cooperative's Bylaws or proprietary lease to restructure the method of voting.

You might review New York's statutes to determine if there are limitations on or specific procedures in which proxies may be used for cooperatives or nonprofit corporations.

Sincerely,

Margey

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The operating budget for our new 2004 building was compiled by the developer and the management company they employed, and many of our tenants believe that the costs are way too high. At a recent meeting on the subject the developer admitted she hadn't obtained alternate quotes for the insurance element of the budget, one of the largest items.

Can you recommend any method or publication that would help us determine how to prepare a meaningful budget and to help assess whether the current budget is accurate or overcosted? Thanks.

- John

Association Times has several articles addressing budget issues; use the search engine to find articles and Ask the Expert responses on key word "budget". We also have an archive of our articles that is categorized by subject.

The Community Associations Institute is another excellent resource for volunteer leaders of community associations. From the drop down menu, scroll down to Publications, then click on "Bookstore" and enter "budget" in the search box.

Sincerely,

Margey

In California -- The HOA continued to add a plumbing charge to our account for a common area plumbing problem (they were charging us for 100 percent of the charge). We continued for months to verbally contest the charge. Getting tired of seeing it on our account, we sent in our March assessment for the total regular dues amount (not including the plumbing charge), and wrote Paid in Full on the check. The check was submitted on-time by the 1st of the month. The property management company returned that check to us on March 29 stating they would not accept it. On April 1, we provided the Board/property management company proof that the plumbing charge was not our responsibility. They then removed the charge from our account.

In June, they started charging us a late fee for the March check. And, now they dock our assessment payment by the amount of the late fee, making it look like we're not making full assessment payments each month.

Questions:

1. How can they charge us a late fee when a) they didn't let us know they would not accept the check in a timely manner so that we could still send in a check within the grace period, and b) it wasn't late to begin with and was correctly paid in full as the dispute, which we had contested for many months, was indeed resolved in our favor.
   
   
2. Can they dock our payment amount by the amount of the late fee? I thought they had to apply our payments to total assessments, first (as per Davis-Stirling 1367?).

Thank you.

- Ella

According to Ms. Cherie McColley, CCAM, Vice President Management Services of N. N. Jaeschke, Inc., an Associa member company based in San Diego, when an owner disputes a charge assessed against his or her maintenance fee account, the immediate action should be to send a letter to the board requesting reconsideration of the charge and providing documentation proving that the charge is not legitimate. Verbal exchanges are not the best way to resolve a dispute.

Regarding the check that you sent in March, perhaps the management company had to confer with the board because the check did not include the plumbing charge, resulting in a delay in advising you that the board would not accept the payment. If you resubmitted a check in April for the March payment, it was indeed late. Typically, any fines or charges are added to the assessment amount, and payments are first applied to non-assessment charges. Consequently, the maintenace fee would show delinquent each month until the other charges were paid.

Ms. McColley encourages you to write to the board explaining your situation and requesting that they write-off the late fee.

Sincerely,

Margey

In May 05, I got elected to the Board of Directors and am President of a self-managed 34 home site in Michigan. There was an association when it was turned over to the co-owners several years prior. One person volunteered to collect dues and a second person was on the checking account. They hoped co-owners would pay assessments. They had receipts of paid-up co-owners. Some co-owners have never paid. If co-owners were sent bills, and not all were, the payments that trickled in were barely enough to cover expenses. As new co-owners bought in, not all paid their assessments, claiming they weren't told they lived in a site condo at closing, or didn't get a master deed or handbook, etc. Lots of excuses. I do not know what is true because the original developer is gone. No late penalty currently exists. No action about past assessments has ever been taken by the association even before I assumed the position. We sent out bills for past assessments, but  some residents have refused to pay anything, some dating back eight years. Other co-owners say they shouldn't have to carry those who don't pay and that those in default must be forced to pay. We are barely in the black because of those delinquent co-owners.

Meetings were acrimonious and soon stopped completely for 2 years. That was the extent of the association. It was very poorly run. We are now reinstated, have our state id, have insurance and are trying to be more professional.

To complicate matters, a section of the road was repaired wiping out almost 75% our reserves. A new developer has since bought the remaining land and began development of the next phase. The heavy construction is tearing up our 8 yr old common road and our recent repair. The new developer is willing to pay his fair share of the road repair based on his percentage of ownership. Given our current expenses and low reserves we would not have enough money to pay our share for a rebuilt road. 

Collecting all past dues would leave us with less than 10% of our portion of the road. The next 2 years will be a reasonable time to finish the next phase. Residents are reluctant to pay for updating the common element, until all the building of new homes is done. The developer will be puttting in his road in November.

We must plan ahead to rebuild. Got any ideas? It's been a busy 4 months for me. We would prefer to remain self-managed. If you need further clarification, let me know.

- J.

It sounds like you are absolutely committed to turning around your association and operating your community as professionally and compassionately as possible. Good for you!

Both your association's governing documents, in particular the Condominium Declaration and the Bylaws, as well as state statutes, contain provisions detailing the mandatory nature of membership in a condominium association and the obligation to pay maintenance fees. New owners may not have been aware of these encumbrances, but only because they did not read those documents. However, since (hopefully) your Declaration was appropriately recorded in whatever county or other required depository for real property records, it is considered "constructive notice". That means that whether or not buyers took the time to read the documents, which should have been provided to them by their real estate agent or title company/escrow officer, the owners in your association are legally bound by both those documents and the Michigan Condominium Act.

There may be some statutes of limitation on the collection of a debt; however, it may not be possible to go back eight years to demand that owners pay their delinquent amounts. Only a Michigan attorney knowledgeable in state statutes, case law and community association law can answer your specific questions regarding revitalizing your community association and collecting all past due accounts. You could also use the Association Times' search engine to look for articles and past Ask the Expert answers involving the key word "collection", or go to the Community Associations Institute at www.caionline.org for another useful resource on the successful operations of community associations.

With regard to the new developer's construction equipment damaging your road, I would think that the developer should bear more of the burden for its repair than just his prorated portion of any maintenance fee or special assessment. An attorney would again be the appropriate person to help you in this situation, since he or she will know how to exert legal pressure on the developer to be a better "good neighbor" and potentially increase the property values of both new and existing units.

Good luck with your efforts. If you could persuade your neighbors to support you in your commitment to improving the quality of life in your community, you could share the responsibility and time commitment to your association and, at the same time, create a cooperative spirit of unity.

Sincerely,

Margey

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To Whom It May Concern,

My name is not important. What is important, is to find out what legal body, person, committee, so on, so on, who, what, when, where, how, etc., do small homeowner associations answer to, here in Texas. I've researched this problem through the state statutes, property codes, any number of resources, only to find, unless you are in a county, or adjacent to a county, population of 2.8 million, or 250,000, in counties adjacent to the gulf coast, "they" answer to ___________. Can the staff help me out here, please? Everyone has a "Boss." I need to find theirs. Thanks in advance for your help.

- Bossless in Texas

While many folks would appreciate being their own boss, it sounds like your situation requires a definite leader. However, Texas community associations are governed by state statute I as well as their own Declaration, Bylaws, and Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions. There is no Ombudsman or state resource to whom a community association owner may direct a complaint. However, there are local consumer advocates who are sometimes willing to pursue a story regarding activities within a homeowners association.

I urge you to use Association Times' search engine to find alternatives to resolving member disputes instead of seeking assistance outside your community. There are many self-help methods described in both the articles and Ask the Expert archives that can provide you with viable options to address concerns regarding the operations of your association.

Sincerely,

Margey

I read with great interest the article entitled Cats and Dogs: A Manager's Tale dated February 2005. Our association is facing a similar dilemma. You mention that the State of Florida has the AS OF NOW rule. Could you please help find more information on this rule. Any help that you could provide would be welcome.

Thank you,

Patricia

Please go to our State Resources page and click on "Florida" to find more information regarding the "as of now" rule.

Sincerely,

Margey

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The Board for my association does not want to keep up the lighting system for our (as advertised) "lighted tennis courts". When I mention it is becoming unsafe to play, their response was to remove the system.

Do they have the authority to remove an amenity that I have been paying for over the past 15 years? Moreover, do they not have the responsibility to maintain our common areas and amenities? Thank you!

- Roger

Typically, board members do not have the authority to dispel with common area amenities without approval of a certain number of percentage of the members. Some community association Bylaws also require approval from some or all of the mortgage company lenders to change the common or limited common elements in any way, shape or form.

However, illuminating the tennis courts may be a less tangible and obvious issue. There may be reasons why the board wants to eliminate the lights -- perhaps the fixtures have reached the end of their useful lives and the replacement cost is too prohibitive, or perhaps the light beams disturb nearby residents. I suggest you ask your board for more information regarding their pending decision regarding the lighting so that you have a better idea why they are contemplating the action. If, after you discuss the matter with them, you believe there is a legal issue involved regarding the right of the board to eliminate the lights, the board should consider consulting with a competent attorney knowledgeable in community association law to ascertain the validity and legality of their plans.

Sincerely,

Margey

We have mailboxes that are located in "Common Areas" as described in our CC&R's. Recently another home owner tried to use their key in our mailbox and the key broke. We contacted the Post Office and they said the builder put the boxes in and they are responsible for them. We contacted the Builder and they informed us that the mailboxes are under Association control. The Management company told us to submit our request in writing, which we did. Our request was denied by the acting board member making initial decisions. We appealed to the entire board for the repair or reimbursement of the repair.

In sending the request, I cited the CC&R's and the specific sections that outline the responsibility of the Association to repair and maintain common areas in the community. We don't have visibility of our mailbox and therefore, the security of such is not something we can take care of. The management company said that even though the Mailboxes as a whole are on common area ground, we have ownership of the individual mailbox.

I was under no assumption of ownership of the mailbox and it is not listed in any ownership documents that I posess, nor is the ownership described in our CC&R's.

The board denied our appeal and their reason was "the repair of mailboxes is not the associations responsibility". They did not, however give any basis for this decision and did not respond to the 3 different points I brought up describing where they were responsible.

In my opinion, this isn't even a "voting" issue for the board. Our CC&R's clearly state that the Association is responsible for the repair and maintenance of "common areas" and they acknowledge that the mailboxes are in a "common area". What do you think?

- Carl

It is not atypical for mailbox locks to be the maintenance responsibility of the homeowners unless specifically allocated to the association purview. Since owners have the sole control of the lock and the key, the association should not be held responsible for lost keys or broken locks.

Sincerely,

Margey

I live in Florida in a homeowners association community. Five months ago our board hired a new property management company. A pothole developed 6 weeks ago. I called the management company and advised them of this. To date nothing has been done and the pothole keeps growing. My question is, is the board and/or management company obliged to fix the pothole? It seems to me this is a safety issue. Thank you for your time.

- Barbara

The board may have instructed your community manager to obtain proposals for more extensive work on the driveway, not just a pothole repair. Although the customer-service action would have been to update you on the status of your repair request, there's no reason why you couldn't call the board or manager yourself to follow up.

Sincerely,

Margey

Hi, I live in a 240 unit condo association in California. We just found out that we have termites. We live alongside a creek and saw them swarming in the cracks of the windows facing the creekside. The termite man (hired by the HOA) first suggested tenting the whole building (8 units) because he couldn't determine if they were coming from the creekside wall or the roof. The association doesn't tent, so they took option #2 to just treat the creekside wall. They are not telling me that it is my responsibility to pay for the termite removal service. Even though our CCNRs state that the HOA is responsible from the perimeter of the exterior to the surface of the interior. It's that between the walls?

Any help would be most appreciated.

- S.

According to Ms. Cherie McColley, CCAM, Vice President Management Services, N. N. Jaeschke, Inc., an Associa member company based in San Diego, if your documents state that the HOA is responsible from the perimeter of the exterior to the surface of the interior, then it is responsible for termites inside the wall. However, if the termites swarmed because an owner is storing firewood or other termite-attracting material, then the owner may be liable for damage to both the common area and the unit as well as for the termite eradication treatment.

Sincerely,

Margey

I am on the board of a small (19 unit) condo complex in Arizona which was formed in 1974, so our CCRs are over 30 years old now. Recently a resident asked us to treat her termite infestation, something which is not specifically addressed in our CCRs one way or the other but which has always been interpreted to be the responsibility of the individual homeowners. (In fact, several homeowners simply have their units treated yearly at their own expense and have for a long time).

From what we can tell, the HOA has never paid for anyones' termite treatment in 30+ years. We do do a general pest spray monthly on the periphery grounds of the complex, although that is not provided for in the CCRs either. The problem is that when this resident's request was refused, she called our propery manager who told her without consulting the CCRs or the board that it would be covered because the problem comes 'from the outside' of her unit and thus is covered. But under that logic, flooding, cockroaches and other pests would have to be covered too, and they aren't. Our CCRs do specifically state that the resident is responsible for maintenance of the "perimeter walls, floors, interior surfaces of the bearing walls", which would seem to include her current problem, and that the HOA is responsible for common elements and roofs only. We want to be fair to everyone, but feel just breaking a 30 year precedent for one person would be unfair to everyone who has been paying their own way termite-wise for the past 3 decades. When I asked the property manager (who has a long history of pulling statements out of the air and then taking no responsibility for the things he says) why, exactly, he promised the resident this, he quoted me the legal definition of a condo, which says the resident is owner of the airspace inside the unit only, then disclaiming everything by saying he is not a lawyer and cannot give legal advice. He told me if we want to 'make a board policy' that termite control is not covered, we need to put an addendum in the CCRs. I feel a 30 year precedent and wording that holds residents responsible for floors and interior walls (the structure walls themselves are solid brick and thus do not support termites) should more than cover that and don't want to be railroaded into being the 'bad guys' by appearing to suddenly 'make' a policy that has been in effect for so long and evidently accepted by everyone except one particular resident.

As an aside, we do think it might be a good idea to begin having some kind of regular termite control to the grounds so no one has to pay for their own - it might be cheaper for everyone in the long run. We are checking the budget for that now. But it seems that that is what should be added to the CCRs if we do end up doing it, not that a specific exclusion should be added now as our property manager is suggesting. Your insight into this would be very much appreciated; we are having a board meeting soon and want to put closure on this one way or the other with this resident and make sure everything is done fairly and to everyones' best interest. Thank you so much.

- Kirsten

If your association's governing documents are silent with regard to termite treatment, I suggest you craft a Policy Resolution formalizing your 30-year-old policy of not treating units for termites. Typically, the resolution will suffice and an amendment to your documents is not necessary. If there is any doubt as to the appropriate method to define termite responsibility, consider consulting with a competent Arizona attorney knowledgeable in community association statutes and case law.

For information regarding the policy resolution process, click on "Search", and enter "resolution" in the key word search field.

Sincerely,

Margey

I am a board member of a condo association in Broward County Florida. The manager of the association resigned. The President suggested that we run the association ourselves. A board meeting was called and the matter was presented to the board. I work for the month of September with the belief that I will be doing the work the manager usually performed. I agreed and I perform all the duties as a manager would and I submitted a check request and now the President said I cannot be paid because I am a board member. I did not perform this job as a board member. I did the job the manager would have done since we did not have a manager then. The question is should I be paid for my work rendered during the month of September?

- W.

As you learned, employment agreements and contracts should be executed in writing prior to the commencement of any service or work. If you believed you would be paid for your management services, consider submitting a claim to the Florida Department of Workforce Innovation.

Sincerely,

Margey

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I have searched your site and can't find my specific problem. I hope to get any help you can offer. I live in a single family home within a HOA, our CC&R's clearly outline I can erect a fence. It gives fence types, height, and where the fence can be placed. I have submitted my fence request that meets all these requirements, I have even given the ARC five choices so THEY can pick the fence type they like the best. Our rules state I need our ARC's permission but the ARC is withholding permission and have told me they will not approve under any circumstance. Can they do this? If our bylaws state you can have a fence but need ARC approval and the ARC won't give it, where does it leave me. I hate to get attorneys involved but feel my rights are being withheld. Help!

- Michele

I recommend that you talk with the members of the Architectural Control Committee to find out why they refuse to authorize your fence. If your association's governing documents clearly permit fences, then the Committee members must have a reason for denying your request. Is it possible that your application was not specific enough or did not comply with submission requirements?

Read your association's Declaration/Covenants/CC&Rs (the name varies in different parts of the country) to determine the specific process for submitting architectural requests and the period of time in which the ACC must consider and respond in writing to your request. If you think the ACC erred in refusing to allow you to construct a fence or in the approval/denial time frame detailed in the governing documents, appeal to the Board of Directors, ensuring that you follow any appeals process detailed in the governing documents.

If you still are unable to obtain approval for your fence, consider filing suit in your local municipal court system (in some areas, called Small Claims Court) where you do not need an attorney to represent you. Most cities offer this service in which the judge hears both sides of the dispute and determines which party prevails.

Sincerely,

Margey

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