Who is Responsible? Surely Not Me!

During my past twelve years in the community association management profession, I can honestly say that I believe that one of the most often asked questions posed by a homeowner to an Account Executive has been: “Who's responsible?” Immediately followed with the caveat…. “Surely not me!” which roughly translates to “Where do I send the bill? “I need to be reimbursed for my new refrigerator.” “ I need to be reimbursed for the spoiled food and for my unhappy house guests because we had to eat out all weekend!”

Well, we’ve all heard it before, and unfortunately, our response wasn’t what that owner really wanted to hear. They don’t want to hear about “common elements” or “limited common elements” and above all they don’t want to be reminded that they should be familiar with the association’s documents. Sadly, more often than not their response is “That’s why I send you a check every month for my maintenance fees. That check is supposed to cover everything! Just mail back my check.”

I wish solving their problem was just as simple as mailing out a check, but unfortunately that doesn’t address the issue. Then, what does? Education does. Let me say that again, education does! When we buy into a homeowner association, each one of us automatically inherits a specific role to play in the scheme of things regarding this living, breathing entity called an association. But whether or not we want to be involved, we are and these inherited responsibilities are unique and go way beyond the normal scope of just maintenance of the common elements and individual units.

But be it as it may be, many owners are unaware of the scope of their new responsibilities. How so? The answer isn’t as confusing as one may think. As escrow closes, we move in and all the documents provided to us by our realtor and by our managing agent explaining away every detail from “A to Z” about living in an association are given to us. But, for some strange quirk of fate, all this information goes unread and doomed to languish unceremoniously in a mislabeled cardboard box deep in the bowels of our storage room and are long-forgotten and would probably never ever see the light of day … until that first house rule violation letter arrives or when that trusty old refrigerator mysteriously stops working at 3:00 a.m. on Super Bowl weekend.

But you can’t really blame the new homeowner. Many things get buried while moving. You know the saying: out of sight out of mind. But as the association’s managing agent, I wholeheartedly believe that one of our major responsibilities besides the basics of overseeing the management of the property, setting up maintenance schedules and preparing the monthly financials, is to ensure that all owners are made aware of their responsibilities. That is done through education. By developing and offering training sessions, we are not just educating the owners, but we are helping them protect their property values while assisting them to further enhance their association’s “Quality of Life”. We do this by getting everyone involved and on the same sheet of music for the common good of the Association.

Thus again I say, we must educate as much as possible and as soon as possible, utilizing a myriad of venues that are available to us such as CAI, seminars and training classes provided by the managing agent, board meetings, annual meetings, association employee training sessions, websites, newsletters, bulletin boards, memorandums and any other educational forum we can use to get our message across. It is tough, but the results are really worth the effort, as once “the rules of the game” are explained and everyone takes ownership, we will achieve our goals of reaching everyone in order that they might enhance their association experience. So when that telephone rings and you are asked “Who is responsible?”, the answer is simple: “It is education!”

Al Denys, PCAM®
Account Executive
Certified Management, Inc.
Honolulu, HI