In a residential community, the rules are the rules—unless they are faulty, not in compliance with the law, or simply not enforced. When a developer creates a multi-family community, he usually isn’t overly concerned with how that communit…
Say you’re in bed, and you hear what sounds like the shower going. It’s late, and you’re tired, so you pay it no mind. You wake up at 4 a.m. to get a glass of water and find half the rooms in your apartment flooded— you forgot to turn the …
The experts who advise condo associations on insurance matters admit that the basic policies are pretty standardized and often seem to be all the same. Trustees may tend to gloss over the details and assume that anything important relative…
Ahhh, lawsuits. People suing people. Companies suing companies. People suing companies. Residents suing boards. A quick surf of the Internet and you can find many instances across the country where condo boards are sued. You can also find …
Flood” might as well be synonymous with “dread.” Or “mess.” Or “insurance hassle.” Think back to the devastating footage after Hurricane Sandy, and you may have a number of questions about flood zones and flood insurance. Knowing the…
Many people dream of a place to call their own, and thanks to a rebounding housing market and a birth of new developments under construction, shiny new condominiums await. However, despite the appeal of a new condo development—such as wire…
It goes without saying that individuals and associations alike need to be properly covered by insurance; that’s just common sense. But the wide variety of choices can make obtaining that coverage a daunting process. To help boards and HOAs…
The headline of a recent Walpole, Massachusetts newspaper article reads: “Fight between Walpole selectmen cuts meeting short.” The first sentence of the article stated, “Selectmen came to verbal blows on Tuesday night, prompting other boar…
Running the day-to-day business of a condo development or an HOA of any size—be it a sprawling, multi-building community, or a single self-contained building—requires not just a functional board but a team of competent outside professional…
Sometimes it’s a shady developer or a crooked contractor. Sometimes it’s the unit owner you just can’t get rid of. There are times when it’s actually nobody’s fault and just the Byzantine nature of some state or federal laws, but the lawsu…