A.B. from New Haven County writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
Does a Property Manager have to be licensed to manage a condo association?
Mister Condo replies:
You betcha, A.B.! Connecticut has very specific laws about Property Manager licensing and anyone practicing condo association management as a management professional without a license in the state is at risk for being sited and fined by Department of Consumer Protection (DCP), who is charged with overseeing the licensure of Property Managers. The law was passed in May of 2012 and is routinely enforced when violation are reported to the DCP. You can read more about the law at https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_400b.htm. Hope that helps!
Property Manager Licensing in Connecticut: http://t.co/Vy7YetJQMA
RT @AskMisterCondo: Property Manager Licensing in Connecticut: http://t.co/NVa92sGkMC
Does this law pertain to self managed associations ??
Hi, Kimberly. Please keep in mind that I am not an attorney and offer no legal advice here. The law does not differentiate the various styles of management an association might employ. Those that are fully self-managed by volunteers do not employ anyone so they would not be subject to it. If your self-managed association employs a property manager, then a closer review of the law is in order. The law defines a property manager as “a person who provides association management services, and includes any partner, director, officer, employee or agent of such person who directly provides association management services on behalf of such person”. It goes on to describe association management services as “means services provided to an association for remuneration, including one or more of the following: (A) Collecting, controlling or disbursing funds of the association or having the authority to do so; (B) preparing budgets or other financial documents for the association; (C) assisting in the conduct of or conducting association meetings; (D) advising or assisting the association in obtaining insurance; (E) coordinating or supervising the overall operations of the association; and (F) advising the association on the overall operations of the association. Any person licensed in this state under any provision of the general statutes or rules of court who provides the services for which such person is licensed to an association for remuneration shall not be deemed to be providing association management services. Any director, officer or other member of an association who provides services specified in this subdivision to the association of which he or she is a member shall not be deemed to be providing association management services unless such director, officer or other member owns or controls more than two-thirds but less than all of the votes in such association”. So if your self-managed association has hired a property manager to perform these functions, then I would think the licensing is necessary. At the very least, it is a good idea. All the best!
Many thanks…. i appreciate the detailed response. I believe it answers my question perfectly
Hi! I work for a Property Management company that is based out of Texas. The property is owned by 1 company but managed by another. Its located here in CT. The property is split with both condo owned units along with rented units. Our HOA side is managed by someone separate who holds their CAM license. My question is, what licenses do I need to have if any while working onsite at our CT property? I do show and rent units along with leasing. Thank you for any enlightment on this situation.
This is an interesting question and an unusual situation. If you are functioning as a Property Manager while in Connecticut, I would suggest that you should hold a Connecticut Property Manager’s license. If you are simply assisting the existing Property Manager while you are here, and that manager has supervisory power over the work you do here, you may be able to perform your duties without a Connecticut license. However, I am neither an attorney nor familiar with your act duties. If you have access to association funds, get involved with association governance issues, you would be wise to protect yourself with a state license. If you have access to a company attorney, I would certainly suggest you get a legal opinion. You wouldn’t want to be cited for operating without a license. Good luck!
I own 40 out of 68 units. It is split into 7 buildings. Each building has a vote. I own 4 buildings completely and 2 units in another building of 10 condos. We’d like to self manage. Do I need certifications? Do I need majority vote OK from the others before I cancel the existing management company? Do I need legal docs submitted somewhere telling CT this is what we are doing?
P.L., I am not an attorney so I cannot offer you legal advice here. Technically, you can self-manage without a license BUT before you “cancel” a management contract, you really should speak with an attorney about the ramifications to the association for terminating the contract. You could end up having to pay in full for the duration of the contract, negating any “savings” envisioned from self-management. Additionally, the decision to self-manage is one that would be made by the Board under the rules of the association’s governance documents. The votes required depend on the documents. The nomination of you to act as a manager at the Board’s request is different than self-management and you may, in fact, need a community association manager license depending on how the Board engages your services. Will you be a volunteer? Will you be compensated for your time? There are many factors that will determine if you are self-managing or simply acting as a manager without a license. For this and other reasons previously listed, I am strongly suggesting that you speak with the association’s attorney before making any of these decisions. All the best!
I live in a condo here in CT. I was hoping someone could tell me if it’s normal to have an employee of a management company be the person who installs a new septic system? This man was allowed by our board to charge us close to $70,000 and we got no other bids. I can’t get any answers from anyone. Thank you.
E., depending on the terms of the management company contract, it may be within their scope of work to hire the person who handles repairs and maintenance for the association. In this case, it appears the work was awarded to a management company employee. You don’t mention if the work was done by the management company or if this employee is handling the job as an independent contractor. In either case, if the Board is unhappy with the work or feels the contract was awarded without other bids first collected or due diligence, they can question the management company’s judgment in awarding such a large job to either themselves or a preferred vendor. It is a large job and a large sum of money for the association to pay. Best practice would have been to prepare a Request for Purchase (RFP) and collect bids for the Board to review and then award the contract. However, some management company contracts do allow for them to employ their own discretion when awarding contracts. Sounds like that what was has happened here. All the best!