Large Minority Condo Owners Control Board

J.B. from Fairfield County, Connecticut writes:

Dear Mister Condo,

Concerned… The BOD we have has been in place for 12+ years uninterrupted due to 40% of proxy votes being cast by them. Our complex is more than 250 units. A group of concerned owners put a petition out and had 83 signatures to put out to bid the property management contract. Our BOD hired a lawyer to respond (on our dollar) and we were told the BOD has no responsibly to act and they will make all decisions for us. Since then, no communication with our board is allowed and our October and November meetings were canceled without cause. They are required to have at least 2 meetings a year (only one to date), is the requirement of those meetings to be annual elections and approval of the budget? Their attorney is saying they can withhold the elections until at least April 2021. The elections were originally scheduled for the November meeting. Please advise.

Mister Condo replies:

J.B., I am sorry for your concerns. Condominiums that are largely owned by investors are tricky beasts when it comes to their governance. The reality is that with 40% of the proxy votes, these folks are going to be hard to challenge, but not impossible. You will need to focus on the 60% of the votes they don’t control. Of course, that assumes 100% of your unit owners will participate in the process. Let’s face it, that isn’t going to happen. You need to rally enough votes for candidates to vote these folks out of office. Otherwise, they will continue to control the Board and the business decisions of the association. 83 signatures aren’t going to do anything and sending a petition isn’t going to do anything either. Your association is run by the Board, period. If you can’t get your people on the Board, it is going to continue as is. The pandemic isn’t going to help anything either as many Boards are cancelling or postponing meetings until it is safe to gather unit owners for meetings. I am sorry I don’t have better news for you but I am providing a healthy dose of reality. I hope you get the support you need to make the change you want. All the best!