Enacting Oversight Of Misguided HOA Boards: The Problem
When you suspect your HOA board is breaking the law, making poor financial decisions, or is routinely hostile and combative, do you know where you can go to resolve your concern? Nowhere. And that’s because boards, often the president, have the final say.
Background
Two common, serious complaints about HOA boards are poor financial decision-making and abuse of power. HOA boards are typically staffed with well-intentioned volunteers who, for various reasons, may make bad decisions. Sometimes board members have poor management skills, have little/no knowledge of their HOA rules, and have a tendency toward making uninformed, reckless decisions. However, there are board members who are not so well-intentioned. They seek out powerful roles and impose their way of living on homeowners. They may fail to follow procedures that relate to transparency and power, they may cross the line and engage in conflicts of interest, and they may even commit a crime such as embezzlement or fraud.
Objective
Currently, we see two possible solutions to this problem, but our research will ultimately shape our objectives.
Firstly, impanel a commission whose primary mission would be to examine complaints, file an injunction if necessary, achieve resolution, and enforce resolution of complaints that homeowners have about their HOA boards. These complaints would be of a serious, chronic, and widely-impactful nature. The criteria for advancing through the review process will be defined during the research and solution phases of this initiative.
Secondly, we will explore the possibility of extending the Sunshine Acts that many states already have to be applicable to HOAs. The Sunshine Acts require open meetings for all government agencies. This means that every meeting must be held in public. If we extend this law to HOAs, it would mean that their boards would have to conduct all of their meetings in front of owners. This is a summary of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act.
Thirdly, provide individual owners with a means for settling disputes with their boards through arbitration or mediation.
Five Key Steps for this Initiative
- Research the issue. We are currently in the research stage. Solutions will only be proposed after all of the components of the problem are understood.
- Propose a solution.
- Engage stakeholders.
- Implement the solution.
- Verify the solution.
Owners Are Asking: How can I help?
- If you have some time we need a lot of help with the Initiatives. Please consider volunteering.
- At the very least all owners should complete these anonymous questionnaires. (When you complete the forms we will use that data to show legislators what the problems are).
Do you live in Pennsylvania? We need your stories!
We are currently preparing to meet with legislators. Please send us your experiences that have had a negative impact. Especially those impacting your whole community with serious financial consequences. Please contact us at [email protected].
Recent Progress on this Initiative
Progress on Regulating HOA Boards in Pennsylvania
Beginning with Pennsylvania, we will determine if there is progress on regulating HOA boards in any state.