Condo Board Meeting Virtually Without Notice to Owners

R. from Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

Is it considered acceptable for written consents of the directors to be argued out via email, by the email of the consent at hand? Where the matter is a major topic, and one that would be for open session, but has never been on a prior agenda, has had no prior board discussion? Even if all the emails become part of the consent, my concern is that the unit owners would have heard this “hashing out” if it was a telephonic meeting or at in person meeting, and noticed. Also, there has never been any “prompt” notice of written consents, and often no notice ever provided. Could the written consent be challenged in such an instance? It reminds me of how when a majority of directors might informally get together, and then in talking, hash out and agree about something that is an association matter, it could be considered a board meeting that was improperly held?

Mister Condo replies:

R., you are correct on all counts. The condominium’s Board of Directors are bound by governing documents and law to properly notice and hold meetings in accordance with the rules. As a concerned member of the association you can certainly challenge any and all decisions made without proper notice to the members of the corporation. Challenging these actions of the Board could be as simple as informing them that they did not follow proper protocol and allowing them to rescind any votes or actions until they were properly noticed, discussed, and voted upon or it could be as difficult as suing them if they refuse to comply. Either way, this Board need training. I would suggest an excellent course called Condo, Inc. offered by your local chapter of CAI. https://www.caict.org/events/event_list.asp All the best!