S.C. from Los Alamos County, New Mexico writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
If fines were collected from condo members and the president hasn’t provided an accounting of the money and what it was or is being applied to, must I as a member and a member of the board file a petition with the court? Would it be Civil matter?
Mister Condo replies:
S.C., typically, a Board Treasurer of Property Manager would mind the funds of the association. Financial reports are available to all condo members upon request within a reasonable time (and sometimes at a nominal cost). If the fine income isn’t detailed in the report, you have a right to question the report and ask where the money went. If an unsatisfactory answer is given and you wish to claim embezzlement of association funds, you can certainly sue the association. Are we talking about a lot of money here? Fines are usually well under $100 and aren’t typically an important income item for an association. Unless there is a significant amount of money missing it may just be an accounting issue. There are far more lucrative ways to steal money from the association than pocketing some fine money. Not that any money should be missing, I am just saying this doesn’t sound too serious. If any Board Member, including the Board President, is lining their pockets with association funds, they should be removed from office, asked to return the money, and either sued or arrested by the association or theft. I hope that isn’t what happened here. All the best!