AZHOC - Arizona Homeowners Coalition
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Executive Mtg

The Board of Directors held an executive meeting to discuss a light repair proposal and a Management agent addendum. The Mgmt agent contract addendum deals with a negotiation between the Board and Mgmt agent regarding...
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POA and white roofs

I live in a POA association which encompasses many homes. 4100 lots are covered Welcome SRP, our electric supplier, is offering a rebate for home owners who coat their flat roof white as an energy...
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HOA Landscapers

Hi, The HOA landscapers recently dug up 8 plants from behind my wall. I had a landscaper designer measure my property line with a measuring wheel and based upon his measurements, my property extends 7’...
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  • From Rick Ramirez on Pre Pays

    Dennis,
    Let me clarify, on our financial statement it shows 2 board members pre paying more than the monthly amount due. Then later they are refunded dues for over-payment by the management co. Seems inappropriate, if so why over pay?

    Go to comment
    2023/06/20 at 1:34 pm
  • From Dennis Legere on Financials

    Steve,
    First let me apologize for the late response I missed this question when you posted it. You are entitled to request any financial record of the association including bank statement and corresponding monthly or annual reports on financial transactions of the association. Why you were also asking for e-mails is a mystery to me, but the true status of the association finances should be all contained in the financial statements of the association. If you believe that the board transacted business of the association via e-mail is clearly a violation of the open meeting law but is irrelevant to the questions of missing 1.7 million dollars. What you want to focus is where did that money go, if the board spent it legitimately for community issue that is one thing as opposed to embezzlement that is criminal. How it was spent with a decision that was made outside of an open meeting is a totally separate issue.

    Your biggest concern as a community is where did the money go and was it used for the community or for personal benefit. Figure that out first and then deal with the latter. The association cannot deny you access to financial records of association. If they are they are trying to cover up something and you can file a petition to ADRE to force the association to comply with the law. If proof of malfeasance is discovered refer the matter to the County attorney and law enforcement for enforcement and prosecution.

    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/20 at 12:56 pm
  • From Dennis Legere on Pre Pays

    Rick,

    It is absolutely appropriate for any member to pre-pay their associations assessments at any time. What I don’t understand is your comment relative to reimbursements from the management company. What is that about? is it about reimbursement for expenses incurred by those board members as part of their duties? If that is the case, it is also appropriate. If you are talking about a reimbursement of their assessments that is absolutely inappropriate in any way. As long as the board member or any member owns their home in the community, they are subject to the assessments of that community without exception. When a home is sold the title transfer addresses the pro-rated share of pre-paid assessments in the transfer of funds based on the closing date of the sale. Otherwise, no-one escapes the responsibility to pay assessments, legally.

    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/20 at 12:42 pm
  • From Keith Campbell on ARS 10-3825

    Again, thank you! This is the way I always understood the issue. Unfortunately, back before COVID when attorneys held seminars, I attended one held by a prominent Arizona HOA Law Firm and the attorney teaching the class said something entirely different. That attorney also represented the HOA that I live in. That law firm no longer represents the Association, and I am attempting to get us back to where we once were. Again, thank you!

    Go to comment
    2023/06/15 at 7:56 pm
    • From Dennis Legere on ARS 10-3825

      Keith,
      I also often participate in these attorneys led seminars not to learn anything but rather to correct the lies that they tell the participants. People have to understand that attorneys have no obligation to the truth, and because an attorney tells you something doesn’t make it law or even true. By their license they are given the authority to interpret the law and they do that in a fashion that suits their or their client’s needs. I’m not an attorney so I have no license to interpret the law I can only tell you the truth about what it actually literally says.
      Dennis

      Go to comment
      2023/06/16 at 7:19 am
  • From Dennis Legere on ARS 10-3825

    When dealing with HOA go first the planned community statutes and see the guidance there first. While most of these communities are organized as non profit corporations they are communities first and you can get confused very quickly if you try and apply non profit corporations statutes first. Nothing in the NPCA can supersede any provision in the planned communities statutes.. if the planned communities statute don’t address an issue they you are free to search that NPCA for any relevant guidance. As for the specific provision that you questioned it applies to any committee of the board. The board is entitled to create any committee that they desire and authorize the extent of their power as limited by this statute.
    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/14 at 8:02 pm
    • From Keith Campbell on ARS 10-3825

      I thank you for your quick answer BUT that does not clear up part of the issue. When you say “Committee of the Board” does that include all committees of the association or does it include committees comprised of Board members ONLY?

      Go to comment
      2023/06/15 at 12:57 pm
      • From Dennis Legere on ARS 10-3825

        Keith,
        All committees in the community are created by the board as the governing body for the community. Board members do not have to be on the committee unless required by law, such as the ARC committee. This provision applies to all committees. If you have a sewing club or other social activity club they are not committees of the association subject to the board. If homeowners want to establish a committee to do anything informally then those statutes do not apply to informal committees created by members, but those committees also have absolutely no authority to do anything or even be recognized by the board.

        Hopefully this clears this up for you.
        Dennis

        Go to comment
        2023/06/15 at 6:13 pm
  • From Dennis Legere on SpeciaL meeting requirements

    Lori,
    Special meeting of the members in any association can be called for any number of issue but they must all be identified in the notice for that meeting. Special meeting of the members are formal meetings of the members and allow the members to take actions and vote on issues before them. Because absentee ballots must be provided, for any issue to be decided by the members you can only address the issues at the meeting that are identified on the notice and absentee ballots. If you want to discuss general issues or open the discussion to the floor, then an informal meeting of the members is more appropriate for those issues. In these informal meetings no actions can be taken but no limitations exist for the discussions in that meeting. I created the ability for these informal meeting of the members in HB-2158 in 2022. They are included in current law under ARS 33-1808 for planned communities and ARS 33-1261 for condominiums.

    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/13 at 6:27 pm
  • From Lori Monte on What is "reasonable amount of time"?

    Wow, thank you, Dennis. We are a small planned community but we do have private roadways. You definitely opened my eyes. It’s sad that the laws are like this. All we can do is our part and petition to have board members removed that fail to uphold their duties, act on their own behalf and break the laws/cc&rs.

    Thank you.

    Go to comment
    2023/06/12 at 10:27 am
  • From Dennis Legere on What is "reasonable amount of time"?

    Lori,
    The board actions are both legal and very common under the current law. The problem is what the board should do to engage and inform the community is not in the law. The law identifies what you can or cannot do not what you should do. Unfortunately, in a planned community the meeting is a board meeting and while you are entitled to attend and participate in those meeting you are not entitled to advance access to background information on issues to be discussed by the board. When I say entitled, I mean under the law.
    To help mitigate this I’ll be proposing legislation again this year that would require the board to post an agenda of what will be discussed a minimum of 48 hours prior to any board meeting along with the notice of that meeting. While this only helps in a slight way it at least informs the community of what will be discussed at that meeting and gives you an opportunity to attend and participate in the discussion for that issue.
    As for budgets the current law does provide for distribution of proposed budgets 30 days in advance of a meeting to approve that budget for a condominium but not for a planned community. The reason is ownership. In a condo the owners own everything and pay for everything, in a planned community the association owns all the common property, and the budget is for the maintenance and management of that common property, even though once again the owners still pay for everything.
    The law will never provide for the approval of budgets by the members for a planned community but could be arranged that way for a condominium, but I’ll see what I can do to at least make sure that in a planned community any proposed budget is provided along with notice and agenda of that meeting.

    While this is clearly not the answer that you were looking for, I’ve been doing this for some time now and I have a fairly clear picture of what types of changes to the law have any chance of getting passed and which do not. There simply is not enough time and energy available to attempt anything more.

    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/12 at 6:24 am
  • From prairiebelle on Legality of disclosing neighbor personal contact info before purchase

    Thank you, Dennis.

    Go to comment
    2023/06/10 at 3:52 pm
  • From Dennis Legere on HOA Annual Assessment

    Randy,

    While this provision is fairly clear it is typically followed by provisions relative to increases in the actual assessments. The Maximum annual assessment does not necessarily reflect the actual assessment charged to homeowner on a year-to-year basis. Think of it this way the “maximum annual assessment” increases every year based on the CPI increase, whether the actual assessment increased or not. The association’s right to charge assessments is bound by what it believes is necessary to pay for all of its expenses and to provide for reserves. If you had 10 years of relatively stable actual assessments the “maximum annual assessment ” value increase thru each of those years. You can end up with a “maximum” annual assessment value that is 50 to 100% greater the actual prior year’s assessment. What this provision then does is say that theoretically you could increase your annual assessment all the way to the maximum without a vote of the members. For planned communities this is limited by state statute to an annual increase of 20% over the prior year’s assessment without a vote but if it is raised by 21% it would require the approval of a majority of all homeowners in the community. So, state law is limited to a backstop over excessive actual increases in assessments. This limitation does not apply to condominiums.

    As to your specific argument and question the specific answer would depend on what other provisions are included in the declaration that were not cited here. If no other provision exist in you CC&R’s. What the provision says is that the maximum annual assessment can increase based only on the increase of cost to the association for insurance or taxes or for the increase of the CPI whichever is greater. While the last phrase is not in the CC&R it is implied.
    The important thing to remember is that the “maximum annual assessment” is not directly tied to the year over year actual assessments. It becomes a moving maximum limit on any future assessment.

    Dennis

    Go to comment
    2023/06/10 at 1:02 pm