Over the years, the law with respect to community associations has changed and morphed in many ways. If your community’s documents are more than five years old, it may be time to examine your documents and determine if they are doing your association more harm than good.
Analyze the Risk
Consider having your documents reviewed by legal counsel to point out those outdated and problematic provisions. You might be surprised what your attorney finds: provisions contrary to current laws, ambiguous and unclear provisions, limits on assessment increases, mandatory arbitration provisions, or requirements you may not have known existed.
If you’re still not sure whether to amend your documents, use the checklist below to help you decide:
Our association’s covenants contain declarant or developer rights which never expire, or provide for two classes of voting, but our developer is long gone.
□ Yes □ No
Our association’s covenants contain use restrictions which are impractical or no longer desirable or covenants are violated which have never been enforced and which we do not believe should be enforced because they are no longer appropriate for our community.
□ Yes □ No
The Board can only raise assessments to a certain level because of an “assessment cap” based upon a percentage of the previous year’s assessments or the consumer price index.
□ Yes □ No
We have consulted with legal counsel more than three times within the last year for assistance in interpreting our governing documents with respect to maintenance and/or insurance responsibilities.
□ Yes □ No
We typically do not achieve quorum at owner meetings.
□ Yes □ No
Our Articles of Incorporation do not expressly permit us to limit the personal liability of directors.
□ Yes □ No
Our Bylaws do not contain an indemnification provision or the provision we have requires the remaining board members to approve such indemnification.
□ Yes □ No
We have conflicting provisions within and between our governing documents.
□ Yes □ No
If you answered “yes” to two or more of the above items, you should consider getting a legal opinion as to whether your documents should be amended. If you answered “yes” to six or more of the above questions, your governing documents are hampering your association’s ability to conduct business and need to be amended.
For more information on the document amendment process or whether your documents should be amended, please contact a Altitude Community Law attorney at: 303.432.9999.