K.R. from Maryland writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Is it legal for a management company to not hold meetings for 1 year? We do not have a Board. Our only Board member resigned and after resigning hired this management company. We have no meetings, no one knows where the money is, no bank statements. All of our exterior lighting is out. She had one meeting via email to settle a foreclosure sale in our complex and did not include one owner and she is threatening owners that she will sue them. Is this allowed? Can one person stop this? My by-laws state we need a 3-member Board and they guide the management team. It’s not this case at all. Please help.
Mister Condo replies:
K.R., when I hear stories like these I often just shake my head in disbelief. The management company does not govern the association. The 3-member Board is a requirement, not a suggestion. Without a functioning Board, the association is heading for disaster, up to and including a Court-appointed receiver and even dissolution of the association. Neither of these scenarios is pleasant and it could cost the individual unit owners large sums of money or even their homes. Whether it is a disgruntled unit owner, an outside vendor, or even the management company your association is going to be sued. Without a Board to defend the association, the association will lose. That will be the day everyone realizes they should have had a Board but it will be too late. The time is now for you to take back your association. You need to call a general meeting of all homeowners and you need to elect one or more directors (ideally three as called for in your By-Laws). These directors need to restore normalcy to the association and meet as required by the documents. It’s not too late yet. But it soon will be. Good luck!
Any single member of the association that does not have a board of directors can apply to a court to appoint a receiver. The receiver takes the place of the board of directors and will make all the decisions. The down side is that a receiver is a well paid position and your maintenance fees will increase to cover this expense. The membership will have no say in the running of their association. One more thing: It’s easy to get a receiver appointed but they are very difficult to remove. Only when the court approves will they be removed and by the sounds of the conditions your association will need to be up to code and in good working order before the judge will cut the receiver loose.
My suggestion is that somebody step up and in very stark terms advise the membership what can happen. I wish you the best of luck because this will not be an easy task.