K.F. from Hartford County writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
We have recently changed our property management company. Our new management is having issues with getting our legal documents from our former Management Company. How long after we end contract with old management company do they have to release all of our documents? If they refuse to give us our documents what steps can we take in getting them?
Mister Condo replies:
K.F., I am sorry that you are having difficulty in getting your old management company to release the association records and legal documents they previously held. I am not aware of a set time frame for them to do so and I certainly hope that this situation has remedied itself by now. If your association employs a community association attorney, now is the time to consult with him or her and ask what legal action may help smooth the process of record return. Without knowing all of the specifics of the transition from Management Company A to Management Company B, it is difficult for me to offer much more than that. Ideally, when the contract ended with Management Company A, they would have simply boxed up hard copies of records and worked with the Board and Management Company B to transfer electronic records. You would think that 30 to 60 days, maybe 90 days would be more than enough time for this transfer of records to occur. The association attorney could better advise you if Management Company A was taking too long for this transfer and/or if they had violated any terms of their management agreement and/or state law. The bottom line is that it sounds like Management Company A wasn’t too eager to help with a smooth transition to Management Company B. That could be a reflection of how the association ended its relationship with the management company, sour grapes, or just general inefficiency of Management Company A. Whatever the reason, the records are owned by the association; not the management company. A quick discussion with the association attorney should clear up the matter. Good luck!
Maybe management company A doesn’t have and never stored the records ?
We just took over management of a very small association. When I contacted the previous management co. for records they were extremely friendly and set a time for me to pick them up from their office. The first time I arrived as scheduled nothing was there. The second time they only had a check for us to open a new account but the check bounced because they closed the account before it cleared. The third time I went they were closed but because I knew someone was inside I continued to knock until they came to the door. I brought my own box and was given two file folders with records and two tax return folders – this was the extent of FIVE YEARS of managing the Association. I was told that I’d like this Association because they were easy and never asked for anything and didn’t have meetings. I held my composure because the reason I was hired was that the previous management co. never communicated with them and they felt there should be meetings and that they should see financials once in a while.
After things settled down, I went through the Association’s financial records and found that the previous management co. charged them $500.00 to prepare and release their records. This is how that management co. makes their money. Shame on them.
My self managed condo has 1 meeting a year. Other than that it’s rare to get any kind of updates. Example we took out a loan for $125,000.00 to repave the parking lot. That was in September. I have yet to receive any information on how we are repaying the loan. Is that not the owners business. Confused and frustrated trying to move out. Massachusetts
I have a video on this topic. Far too often, when CAM’s change the new CAM fails to fully inventory what’s being turned over. Often they fail to turn over 7 years of ledgers as required by Florida law. When there’s ony a “Balance Forward” it makes it impossible to collect if the owner challenges where the charges came from. Check it out..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do9TSEGFD1k