Page 7 - New England Condominium May EXPO 2019

NEWENGLANDCONDO.COM NEW ENGLAND CONDOMINIUM — MAY 2019 7 QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Legal A See us at Booth 206 Show Me the Money! Q I live in a condo complex in Rhode Island. I only receive a fi nancial statement once a year. I would like a monthly expense sheet and income tax re- turn sent to me. Th e management company and the treasurer have not answered me. Is there anything I can do to receive these cop- ies? — Looking for Transparency A “Th e Rhode Island Condo Act, specifi cally, RIGL 34- 36.1-3.18 (Association Re- cords) states that ‘the Association shall keep fi nancial records suffi ciently detailed to en- able the association to comply with section 4.09,’” says Frank Lombardi, a partner at Goodman, Shapiro and Lombardi, a law fi rm with offi ces in Massachusetts and Rhode Is- land. “Th at would be the resale certifi cate re- quiring a statement as to how much the unit owner owes on his or her unit; fees payable by unit owners; capital expenditures anticipated over the next two years, reserve account amounts for capital projects, if any; balance sheet and income and expense statements. “Th e Act states: ‘All other fi nancial and other records shall be made reasonably avail- able for examination by any unit owner and his or her authorized agent.’ In my opinion, ‘reasonably available’ means the unit owner and/or his representative can come at a time convenient for the board and/or its own property manager, at the offi ce where the docs are stored, subject to privacy and secu- rity conditions. Copies should be at the unit owner’s expense. Th e number and content of the copies should be reasonable as well — not ‘everything you got.’ “Ditto, if and only if monthly expense sheets are done, they can be made available for examination and copying within reason. Unit owners shouldn’t be permitted to con- stantly hound the fi nancial services person- nel and question every single expense every single month. Mailing them to unit owners is unreasonable in my opinion. Tax returns, again, available for examination and copying only, not by mail.” Questioning Quorums Q When we had our annual own- ers’ meeting in November, there was one trustee position up for election and one candidate for the position. I have asked the trustees and property man- ager to confi rm the percentage of benefi cial interest represented at the meeting and the phone calls. I encountered the Chair in the SOP for the minutes to include names of at- percent voting for trustee — that is, did we common area and tried to speak with him, tendees and those who proxied (to support reach quorum (51% or more of benefi cial in- terest required by our condo docs), and did the candidate achieve 51% of the benefi cial the minutes of the owners’ meeting be sent to Th e trustees have not distributed the draft . interest required by our condo docs? Nei- ther the trustees nor the property manager ing. It is standard operating procedure (SOP) stance in which the property manager claimed respond to my emails. I have also called the for the draft to be sent to owners no later than we had quorum when we didn’t. Only when property manager and he does not return my two months following the meeting. It is also but he ignored me and drove away. Also, our condo docs require a draft of benefi cial interest voting for each candidate. owners for approval at the next owners’ meet- achieving quorum) as well as the percent of By the way, we have had at least one in- continued on page 42 Q &