Today, Association Officers and managers have found themselves in the position of being responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue and expenses.  In order to keep track of an Association’s finances it is extremely important to understand how and why a financial report is compiled.  In most instances, these individuals are very responsible but they do not possess an accounting or bookkeeping background and find it difficult to understand financial statements.

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Board of Directors in community associations are protected from liability in the course of operating and making decisions by what is known by the “Business Judgment Rule”.  The Business Judgment Rule requires that the Board act within a reasonable manner and take the necessary steps to justify their decisions. If the Board did not use good business practices in their decision and something were to happen or be challenged, it could then be argued that they did not use good judgment. Generally, the burden of proof in establishing the impropriety of the Board’s decision is on those who are challenging the decision. 

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The results of the Turner Cost Index report is a great reminder for community associations that this is a great time to plan for any Capital improvements and any repairs or replacements that may be necessary for their association. Construction costs, materials and labor are all down and cheaper than a year ago. We continue to see some contractors that are doing work for a “break even” price, just keeping their labor working.

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Do you have a “drive by” property manager working for your Community Association?  You know, the one that has the Board of Directors, the unit owners, staff and the service personnel frustrated and left to wondering what is going on? 

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Throughout the years many community associations have found themselves in legal and financial disputes with contractors for work performed because they do not comply with the Florida Construction Lien Law.  There are stories of community associations who have paid contractors all of the required funds, executed and received release of liens with each stage of payment, only to receive a notice of lien from a supplier of materials/labor as they had never been paid from the contractor for their work! 

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As officers and directors of community associations, Florida Statutes, and the association documents require that all Board members have a fiduciary relationship in their positions with and for the unit owners that they represent and serve. What is a...

There is nothing worse in the management business than to negotiate, in good faith, a management contract with a new association, only to have them not do what they had agreed to and blame the management company for their failures! It is very difficult...

We are often asked if we have or own subsidiaries that will provide landscape, janitorial, pool, irrigation and tree trimming services to prospective clients. Though it sounds like a logical step to have all of those services under the same property management...

In all community associations, various documents make up and support the structure, governance and operations of the association. Different sections of the various association documents should be consistent and support each other. Association documents...

Because of the recent economic and mortgage related problems, we have seen a growing trend with Associations hiring new, low cost and low fee service companies. These low cost vendors and service companies that are coming into the marketplace are new...

"Going green" has now become accepted and even mainstream in our society. Community associations can play a major role in the green movement too. Community associations impact the Earth on many different levels and they have the ability to make...