Condo Unit Owner’s Grievances Go Unenforced by Board

J.C. from outside of Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

I have filed many grievances with my condo over four years and they did state they received them with no response. Is this discrimination? How long do they have to respond to my grievances?

Mister Condo replies:

J.C., I am sorry that you have found reason to submit may grievances with your association over the past four years. Many unit owners enjoy their condo living experience and never have to file even a single grievance. The Board is obligated to acknowledge receipt of your grievance, which they have. Your grievance is actually now a record of the association. Any actions they take (or don’t take) are supposed to be reflected in the Minutes from the Board meetings where the grievance was received. However, the Board is not typically under any obligation to take specific action on your (or any other unit owner’s) grievance. It is at their discretion for the most part. That can be particularly annoying for folks like you who have purchased into the association with an expectation that rules will be followed by fellow unit owners and violations will be enforced by the Board. As democratically elected representative of the association, Board members are subject to removal from office either at an annual election or as part of a recall election. However, that requires a majority of unit owners to want them out of office and new members elected. If you are a minority of one in your grievances, you might find it difficult to garner support for new Board members, especially if your fellow unit owners are happy with the way things are. Now, if the Board is enforcing rules against some, but not all, unit owners, that is a different story. If you feel you are being discriminated against, I would suggest you speak with an attorney. Other than that, you are certainly free to continue filing your grievances but I wouldn’t expect the Board to behave any differently until there are some new Board members more motivated and willing to take action against the rule breakers. All the best!