Q. A few years back, the prior board passed a motion to charge all future unit owners with dogs a $50 fee per month because of an existing dog that would occasionally defecate in the building. There was no analysis conducted to determine …
Q. I own a condo unit in Massachusetts. I have a persistent mold problem, stemming from water damage coming in through the outside bricks. I hired a mold assessment company and they took air and material samples. It was determined that th…
The more things change, the more they stay the same. This French adage, generally attributed to French novelist Alphonse Karr, could have been penned as a tagline for the community association world. There’s no doubt that advances in techn…
No one likes to feel left out or ignored. Sometimes that is how condo residents may feel if they believe their board or managers are not responding to their requests for information or sharing enough up front. What they may not realize, how…
Maybe it was a bad day at work, the dog had an accident on the carpet or a disgruntled call was received from the school principal; whatever the reason, there are times when the last thing a condo board member, trustees or resident wants to…
Most of us wouldn't know what to do with ourselves if we didn't have a smartphone or tablet to help us communicate, navigate, and otherwise organize our lives. Property managers throughout the country—whether they handle urban high-rises, s…
We live in a world of add-ons. Ever since the term supersize was coined by the fast food industry back in 1994, the idea and its implications have spread to many aspects of the American lifestyle. We've become accustomed to ‘value added ele…
Q. In a situation wherein a person refuses to pay maintenance fees, what can be done? Every time we ask whether we can cut off snow removal from the person's driveway, we are told that it could be considered a "gray area." What if the per…
The largest city in the state of New Hampshire, Manchester is the largest city in northern New England. It ranks high is affordability, lifestyle and economic opportunity. The Granite State community is also the birthplace of Gilmore Girls’…
Disasters, whether big or small, most often strike from out of the blue. They catch us unawares, flatfooted and feeling helpless at their impact. This is especially true when these disasters hit us at home—or within our shared co-op or cond…