Golf Tournament

Utahcondolaw.com is proud to be a hole sponsor for the upcoming Utah Chapter of the Community Association Institute's Golf Tournament, to be held October 21, at the South Mountain Golf Club.

"There's Nothing Like a Dog to Raise the Spirits..."

Regular readers of this post know that I have opinions about what I consider to be legitimate and illegitmate requests for service dogs. United States Senator [delayed] Al Franken also appears to have some views on service dogs:
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Feeling confused? It's a tough issue. Legitimate service dogs and animals of all types should be liberally allowed. That having been said, I see a lot of what I think is abuse on the alleged need for service animals.

Is Your Association Distressed?

My colleague, Julie Ladle and I are preparing the materials for an upcoming NBI Seminar, Common Interest Community Issues in a Distressed Market, which will be held in Salt Lake City on December 9, 2009.

Since stories and facts are much more interesting and enlightening than case law discussions, we're seeking your help. How's the economy impacting your association? What are you doing to respond to the economic conditions.

Our specific agenda items include: Disclosure Requirements When Selling Condominiums, Development Agreement Defaults, and Successor Developers: The Legal Implications of Takeover. If you have any experience with any of these issues, give us a call or drop us an email. You'll find contact information for both of us at haolaw.com.

Climbing Out of the Basement?

New data from the National Association of Realtors shows a "leap" in the sale of existing homes during July, according to this article in today's New York Times. The NAR press release on the topic can be found here.

Meanwhile, Ben Bernanke thinks the U.S. Economy is ready to rebound, but this article, dealing with the "plight" of the very wealthy, suggests that the recovery may lead to less wealth inequity. Do the very wealthy even have basements?

Interesting morning of economic news, to say the least.

Live Blogging -- Conflict Resolution

I'm at the Utah Chapter of the Community Association Institute's monthly meeting, and John Richards is presenting on conflict resolution in communities.

The first question to ask, suggests John, is should the association be involved in the conflict? Good question; not surprisingly, there are differing opinions in the audience. Dale Gifford, PCAM, suggests that the association should, at a minimum, investigate and listen empathetically to the unit owner's concerns.

There's some discussion about whether owners' complaints should be directed initially to the association's board, rather than to the association's manager. John has seen at least one article that suggests that is a form of conflict avoidance by the board; that generated a lively discussion amongst the managers who are present.

I'd respectfully suggest that I don't know many board members who are interested in fielding such complaints; beyond that, I question whether many board members have the training and experience to appropriately respond to these complaints. I would hope that professionally trained managers would know better than the average board member as to how to deescalate a conflict.

WVC Architectural Committee?

In what appears to be an HOA dispute on steroids, the West Valley City leaders are backing down on a proposed effort to require paved surfaces, rather than gravel. This KSL story sounds an awful lot like a community association dispute.

Isn't it comforting to know that Utah's second largest city has similar problems to your (or your clients') associations?

Quality Building Award

After the posting on this blog several months ago about the builder who tried to sell a condominium unit without plumbing fixtures and appliances, and after this KSL story about Ivory Homes' installation of a fence around a yard without including a gate, I'm thinking I should start giving out "Quality Building Awards."

The first recipient is Ivory Homes, who responded to the woman's complaint by blaming her and her Realtor for the omission of a gate. According to their spokesperson Nate Parker:

"Paula had a Realtor acting as the buyer's agent for the transaction. The buyer's agent has the fiduciary responsibility to review paperwork to ensure that it represents the buyers' wishes."

I've reviewed Ivory Homes' standard paperwork and am quite certain that if anyone read it and understood it, they'd realize that it wouldn't represent any intelligent buyer's wishes. Of course that's only my opinion.

White is the New Green

I've seen many articles over the past several months, and several in the last couple of weeks, including this article in the New York Times, all of which discuss the energy advantages to a white, as opposed to the traditional black, roof.

If your association is facing a re-roofing project, you should look into the potential advantages of white roofing over black. There may even be tax advantages in choosing to go with white.

Similarly, if your architectural/design guidelines deal with roofing colors, you might want to add white as an option. (Along with getting rid of the clothesline, solar panel and awning prohibitions.)

Vote for Julie!

Members of the Utah Chapter of the Community Associations Institute should have recently received ballots for the upcoming Board election; those of you who know Julie Ladle probably ought to take note that she's a candidate. If you know her, you'll support her, and she'd appreciate your support.

It's not looking like it will be a tight election, but as Al Franken would tell you, you can't take anything for granted.

Local Home Sales are Also on the Rise

Yesterday's post reported a national increase in home sales; today's Salt Lake Tribune has some reporting on the local market. Bottom line: the same statistics are not kept on a local basis, but sales are up here based upon various sources of information.

KSL.com also has its own story, using different sources, here.

New Home Sales Increase

New home sales are up sharply, and well above what was expected, according to a Commerce Department report released today, and reported here, in the New York Times. Sales are still way down from last year, and some economists doubt the trend will continue, but we can hope...

Transfer Fees Exposed!

I'm out of the office this week, presenting to the Utah State Bar on "Utah Community Association Law: Past, Present and Future," and my attention was just drawn to an article on ksl.com, regarding transfer fees. The article correctly suggests that

If you plan on buying a home, insist that your title company provide you with a copy of all the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions tied to the house. Comb through those documents. If you see a transfer fee on the home you want to buy, either negotiate to buy the house for less, demand that the transfer fee be removed or walk away.

My only dispute with this statement is that not all transfer fees are created equally. When you review the C,C & R's, look to where the fees go; if they go to the community association in which you live, for clearly designated purposes, they may be to your ultimate advantage. If they go to the developer's bank account, they are clearly not to your advantage and (IMHO) may, in fact, be illegal.

I hope to talk to the reporter on this story regarding the potential benefits of transfer fees and the possible illegality of the self-serving version of such fees; check this site for updates and links, if they are warranted.

Major [?] Water Conservation Efforts in St. George

ksl.com has an amusingly reported story on the "major effort" to save water in St. George. It's short, so I'll post the whole thing:

ST. GEORGE -- A major effort is underway to conserve water in St. George.

The city council passed a new plan that asks residents and businesses to voluntarily take steps to save water. Those steps can be as simple as washing only full loads of laundry, checking for leaks and repairing sprinkler heads.

The council also agreed to restrict watering during daytime hours.

WOW! I sure hope that the residents can handle these sacrifices!

New Utah Case Regarding Fiduciary Duties

At today's CAI trade show, I spoke about a case issued this morning by the Utah Court of Appeals, Stevensen 3rd East v. Watts. It's an interesting case dealing with fiduciary duties, if you're into that sort of thing; I'll blog about it in the next few days, but if you just can't wait, you know have a link to the 23 page opinion.

Happy reading!

Trade Show Tomorrow!

The Utah Chapter of CAI's Trade Show is tomorrow afternoon and evening; exhibitors and presenters (myself included) will be providing valuable knowledge and information to community association members, board members, managers and service providers.

The event will be at the South Town Expo Center in Sandy, Utah; more information on the show, and a link to register, can be found here for the dinner and show, or here, for just the show.

Best Practices -- Green Communities

I'm pleased to announce that the Best Practices Report on Green Communities, which was presented at the recent CAI National Conference in New Orleans, is now available for free download. And, the report can be reproduced and distributed:

Readers can download and reproduce this report for community association managers, board members, individual homeowners and community association-related industry professionals without permission of the Foundation for Community Association Research provided the following terms are met: the document,including the use permission statement, must be reproduced in its entirety and may not be added to, modified, amended, or otherwise altered from the original as presented here. Readers and users agree not to sell copies of this document or otherwise seek compensation for its distribution.

I'd like to thank all of the following, for their assistance in compiling and supporting the report:

Foundation Representatives
Ellen Hirsch de Haan, ESQ., Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.
Lincoln W. Hobbs, ESQ., Hobbs & Olson, L.C.
Sandra Matteson-Pierson, LSM, PCAM, Capital Consultants Management Corporation
Team Members
Amy Bray, Esq., Andersen, Tate & Carr, P.C.
Joe Bunting, CMCA, AMS, LSM, PCAM, Kiawah Island Community Association, Inc.
Leslie Fellows, CMCA, Today Management, Inc.
Marjorie J. Meyer, CMCA, PCAM, Associa, Inc.
Harry Richter, CMCA, Charter Management
Debra A. Warren, CMCA, PCAM
Foundation Staff
Sara Drake, Community Associations Institute
Jake Gold, CAE, Community Associations Institute
David Jennings, CAE, SPHR, Community Associations Institute
Editor
Terry White, T&S White Company
Special Thanks
A special thank you to the CAI Large-Scale Managers Committee for supporting the development and distribution of this Best Practices report.

City Creek in The New York Times

A recent New York Times article gives some great coverage to Salt Lake City and the City Creek Center project that is quickly changing downtown Salt Lake City's skyline.

Most of the information on the project has been covered before, but there are a couple of new and interesting details in the article. For one, the project will include "Fountains that include fire and bells — designed by the company responsible for water features at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas . . . " (Does that mean that what happens at the fountain will stay at the fountain?)

Another interesting fact is that one bedroom, Temple view condominiums are being sold for more than $900,000. The price isn't that surprising; the fact that they're building and selling one bedroom units with that view is. Then again, I suppose there aren't that many families who could afford a larger condo with the same view. (Interestingly, a New York Times article from about 18 months ago made me speculate, in an earlier post, just how much the view would be worth.)

They're Not Just in Your Brain, Anymore

This interesting tidbit about micro-chipped trees was in the Daybreak Community Update:

Understanding the importance and value of trees, the Daybreak community has made trees an integral part of everyday life. This effort coincides with their commitment to be a sustainable and walkable development. This is evidenced by the anticipated investment of 100,000 trees to be planted throughout Daybreak of which 8,500 have already been planted. Collectively, the urban forest has the ability to improve the air quality and reduce energy consumption while contributing to a beautiful and memorable community.

In response to this need, Daybreak is working with the Salt Lake County Million Tree Program, South Jordan City and G. Brown Design, Inc. to develop an urban forestry management program. This program is the system by which the trees will be properly monitored and provide a streamlined management approach through the use of a tree inventory and mapping system. The inventory contains information about each tree including: Unique Tree # using a RFID (Radio-frequency identification) tag that is 1/2” long x 1/8” diameter glass capsule embedded into each tree, Scientific Name, Common Name, Location, Tree Condition, Caliper Size, Canopy Size, and Photo. After the tree has been tagged and evaluated, it becomes part of a tree database and computerized mapping system.

In order to ensure that a tree is correctly associated with the data, a RFID tag is embedded into each tree which provides the ability to identify and track individual trees. Once embedded into the tree, the tag can be read by waving a RFID scanner in close proximity to the tag. The RFID scanner functions similar to a barcode scanner at a grocery store. The ID# is then read by the scanner and transmitted to a computer via a Bluetooth connection. This number can then be used to properly identify and update any tree specific information. For example, if a homeowner association member locates a tree that needs to be maintained (i.e., pruned, removed, staked, etc.) then the tree can be identified using the RFID technology. This RFID # and associated map location could be included in a report given to a maintenance crew. The maintenance would then be recorded as part of the tree inventory. In this way, information about a tree can be transmitted effectively, thus saving time and resources.

Trees provide both environmental and aesthetic contributions to the Daybreak community. As the seasons pass and trees mature, they develop their own unique character and beauty while contributing to an overall look and feel of a place. The urban forest is a significant and valuable investment to residents of Daybreak. With proper monitoring and maintenance, Daybreak’s urban forest will remain healthy and viable into the future.

So, I wonder when we'll be able to get an IPhone application to read info about trees in the urban forest.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About HOA and Condo Insurance...

but were afraid to ask.

Two former executive directors of the Utah Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, Marla Mott-Smith Bowers and Tiffany Dominguez, are in the process of starting a new professional education provider, and for their first seminar, they've arranged for a presentation by two of the nation's foremost authorities on community association risk management.

The Seminar, Community Association Liability, Insurance & Risk Management, will be held on Thursday, May 28. The speakers will be Cliff Treese, recent recipient of the Community Association Institute's Byron Hanke Award for his support of education and research for homeowners and homeowners associations, will be speaking with Joel Meskin, Esq, another national authority on Community association risk management issues.

Mr. Meskin is VP Community Association Products McGowan & Co., Inc., a leading provider of Community Association and Property Manager Insurance Products nationwide. For 15 years he was a trial attorney specializing in insurance coverage and related litigation.
Joel has insured over 50,000 community assocations nationwide. He has produced insurance policy products and engaged in risk management. He lectures to organizations and associations nationwide about homeowner association related insurance issues: fraud, claims, property manager claims, and association risk management.

Mr. Treese is a nationally recognized practitioner in common interest community underwriting, risk management and insurance. His community association management experience includes asset management, information services and technology, human resources and payroll processes, and national quality award criteria and ISO
9000. Cliff has worked with developers and general contractors in all phases of the association development and construction.
He is a past national president of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) and its Research Foundation and a recipient of the Institute’s Distinguished Service Award. He has been involved for over two decades in CAI professional management development programs and has authored several publications for the institute.

Additional information on the seminar is available at this link.

Live Blogging The Managers' Munch -- Problem Board Members

I’m here at the Utah CAI Chapter's Monthly Manager’s Munch; the presenters are John Morris, Jamie Nopper and a law clerk, Michelle Kasteler, from the firm of McKay, Burton and Thurman. Today’s topic is “Dealing With the ‘Problem’ Board Member”.

The first archetype of the problem board member is “No Show Ned”. That description is pretty self-explanatory. Recommended suggestions include the creation of expectations for attendance and follow-through; in-person communications with Ned about his obligations; possible removal (with a strong recommendation of legal counsel.

“Power-Crazy Patty” is a common participant on association boards; characteristics include decision-making and acting alone; failure to share information, and the bullying of members. Suggestions for dealing with Patty include education about her status as a member of the board; standard procedures for distribution of information; and (once again) removal. (And another reminder about the importance of obtaining legal advice.)

Next is “Rules-Don’t Apply to Me Ronald” First, the board (or manager or counsel) needs to remind this board member that he will be treated like others; excuse him from voting on issues in which he is directly concerned; and lastly, “seek legal advice on removing him as a board member”.

"Agenda-Pursuing Agnes" is the somena who ran for the board with a personal agenda; the example given being the woman who wants to get her cousin hired as manager. She only wants to focus on her agenda, and has little or no concern about the well-being of the association as a whole. Suggestions inclued the identification of her conflict of interest and dealing with them pursuant to the association's governing device. Then you may need to resolve that issue (which they ironically refer to as her "pet" issue); with timeframes for reconsideration, if necessary.

"Contentious Carl" thrives on conflict, is insulting and offensive; he turns every meeting into a shouting match. Sometimes these individualys threaten violence. Suggestions inclued formal procedures and protocol during meetings; call the police if necessary.

"Terri Traitor" leaks the association board's privileged information; she may be suspected of aligning herself with dissident owners. Suggestions for her type include reminders of the importance of confidentiality, including a written acknowledgement of the need for confidentiality. If the board member's opposition is known, she can be excluded from strategic sessions; if it is suspected, a separate committee can be formed to consiere and address the meetings. John Morris is considering an amendment to his stock documents requiring the preservation of confidential and privileged information.


"Penny Pincher Pete" never wants to spend association money or raise assessments, defer major projects, and complains about all of the bids being "rip offs". First suggestion here is to advise him of his duties and responsiblities; secondly, get advice from the manager and other professionals; lastly, invite Pete to seek and obtain other bids.

"Suzy Stickler" is described as "the one board member who always reads the documents and knows what they say". (Most of the "Suzy Sticklers" that I know only think that they know them.) The panel's position (probably related to their definition as opposed to mine), is that these types are not a problem. The board's suggestion is that she may not, in fact, be a problem. Compliance with the rules, they say, is a problem.