Well, this is a first—I’ve never done a community association legislative update just before Christmas. After all, the General Assembly doesn’t meet in December. But what’s been normal about politics in 2016? Earlier this week the General Assembly convened for a special legislative session to deal with issues related to hurricane disaster relief. At the end of that session, legislators issued a proclamation convening a new special session to deal with other unnamed issues. A number of bills have been filed, ith many dealing with restructuring aspects of state government following the recent elections. However, at least one proposal has … Continue reading →

Political Signs in NC & SC Associations With a month to go before a major political election, questions about political signs are rolling in. Can we do something about political signs on association property? How many signs can an owner have in his yard? Can the association remove signs from a homeowner’s yard? One reason we get so many questions about political signs is that North Carolina has one of the most complicated sign statutes in the country. (South Carolina has no such statute). Adopted in 2005, the NC statute provides different authority for community associations based on when the … Continue reading →

This week’s opinions from the North Carolina Court of Appeals contained three cases involving community associations. That’s about a record, and further evidence of the growing trend in terms of the number of reported HOA/condo appellate cases. One case, Kimler vs. The Crossings at Sugar Hill Property Owner’s Association, Inc. (August 2, 2016), involves the process for amending a declaration in a homeowners association created prior to 1999. While the case doesn’t provide groundbreaking new law, it does support a position HOA attorneys have argued for several years. In short, the Crossings at Sugar Hill (the “Association”) was created as a … Continue reading →

For those in the community association industry watching this year’s legislative session, it was fairly quiet. Of the 10 or so legislative proposals specifically dealing with homeowner or condominium associations still alive for the two-year session (see this recent Legislative Update), only a few bills even received discussion. None were adopted. In that regard, 2016 was uneventful. That said, one significant legislative act NOT specifically related to HOA’s and condos will almost certainly cost community associations money. And may require some community association budgets to be increased. And it has to do with sales taxes. For many years North Carolina … Continue reading →

Since my last update, the North Carolina CAI Chapter has realized some great achievements! Annual Conference & Expo The 2016 Annual Conference in Greensboro was a huge success! There were more than 225 attendees representing 32 management companies and 5 communities. That’s one of our largest attendance figures ever, and certainly a record for the Triad! Sixty exhibit booths were sold. And a little more than a quarter of this year’s attendees were first-time attendees, which speaks well for the future. Evaluations by conference participants also provided other valuable information. 89% of attendees rated the overall Annual Conference experience as … Continue reading →

For attorneys who practice community association law, there has been ongoing discussion at national HOA/condo legal events about whether a community manager is covered by the attorney-client privilege. In general the attorney-client privilege shields communications between an association and its attorney for materials prepared in anticipation of litigation or trial. Such communications usually lose their privilege if made in the presence of a third party. The concern has been that if legal communications that would otherwise be privileged are between the attorney and manager or if a manger is copied on a legal communication to the association, does that waive … Continue reading →

As 2016 President of the NC Chapter of the Community Associations Institute, I provide an update in each issue of “Serving NC,” the state CAI Chapter newsletter. Look for the new issue, which should arrive this week. However, I wanted to provide my most recent update, which provides information on some of the Chapter’s many activities.  For more details, visit the Chapter website at www.cai-nc.org. Also, mark your calendar and register ASAP for the 2016 NC-CAI Annual Conference and Expo on April 7-8 in Greensboro at the Sheraton Four Seasons. This will be a great event! Julie Adamen of HOA Manager Newsline is the keynote speaker. Learning sessions include excellent … Continue reading →

The City of Charlotte’s next fiscal year draft budget proposes to stop trash service for multifamily units. Such a move would be exceptionally unfair to owners of townhomes and condominium, who pay property taxes like other homeowners. While a Charlotte based dispute might not seem to directly impact you if you don’t live in the city, it does. Cash-strapped municipalities around the country are looking for more ways to push costs for previously provided services from the city to homeowners, often in planned communities or condominium associations. If such reductions in services become the norm in Charlotte, you can be assured they will soon appear elsewhere. Below … Continue reading →

Homeowner and condominium associations have become a major force in our state. North Carolina’s population recently passed 10 million, making it the 9th largest state. However, we are the 5th largest state in number of community associations. That equates to almost 14,000 associations with more than 2 million residents! With this growth has come an explosion of media coverage and legislative proposals concerning homeowner and condominium associations. Such changes mean the education, professional credentialing, online and printed resources, networking opportunities, and advocacy that CAI provides are more important than ever. There are four CAI membership categories Information on membership category dues and benefits can … Continue reading →

A rather unusual community association decision was issued yesterday by the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Without question, the facts are rather convoluted and not of that much interest to other associations, but there’s one takeaway worth noting. In Bilodeau v. Hickory Bluffs Community Services Association, Inc. et al., owners in a homeowners association were called to a hearing before the board pursuant to NCGS § 47F-3-107.1 for alleged violations of the declaration. The owners were fined, but during the pendency of a lawsuit about the hearing and fine a new board was elected, which immediately voted to cease imposition of … Continue reading →

Senate Bill 119 “General Statutes Commission Technical Corrections 2015″ was ratified by the NC General Assembly on September 30, 2015 and signed by Governor McCrory last week. SB 119 becomes the sixth (and final for 2015) piece of legislation to impact community associations enacted into law this year (see First Community Association Bill Signed into Law, Second Community Association Bill Signed into Law, Third Community Association Bill Signed into Law: Landlord/Tenant Foreclosure and Eviction Changes, Fourth Community Association Bill Signed into Law: Streets & Traffic Safety Devices, and Fifth Community Association Bill Signed into Law: Increased Register of Deeds Indexing Fees). For a full list of filed HOA/condo bills, … Continue reading →

Senate Bill 332 “Register of Deeds – POA Indexing Fees” (with a full title of “An Act to Enable Register of Deeds to Collect Additional Fees for Indexing Instruments that Contain Exhibits with Multiple Enterable Parties”) was ratified by the NC General Assembly on August 19, 2015, and signed by Governor McCrory this week. SB 332 becomes the fifth piece of legislation to impact community associations enacted into law this year (see First Community Association Bill Signed into Law, Second Community Association Bill Signed into Law, Third Community Association Bill Signed into Law: Landlord/Tenant Foreclosure and Eviction Changes, and Fourth Community Association Bill Signed into Law: Streets … Continue reading →

Senate Bill 581 “Study Subdivision Streets / Traffic Calming Devices” (with the full title of “An Act to Direct the Department of Transportation to Study the Process for Accepting Subdivision Streets Dedicated as Public on the State Highway System for Maintenance and to Amend the Percentage of Property Owners Needed to Approve Traffic Calming Devices in Certain Subdivisions by the North Carolina General Assembly”) was ratified by the NC General Assembly on August 10, 2015, and signed by Governor McCrory on Tuesday, August 18, 2015. SB 581 becomes the fourth piece of legislation that could impact community associations enacted into law this year … Continue reading →

House Bill 174 “Landlord/Tenant-Foreclosure & Evict. Changes” (with the full title of “An Act to Amend and Enhance Certain Notice Requirements and Protections for Tenants of Real Properties in Foreclosure and to Allow for Purchasers of Real Property Under Option Contracts to Pursue Monetary Damages Separately from Summary Ejectment Proceedings and Other Amendments to the Homebuyer Protection Act”) was ratified by the North Carolina General Assembly on July 28, 2015, and signed by Governor McCrory on Thursday, August 6, 2015. HB 174 becomes the third piece of legislation that could impact community associations passed into law this year (see First Community … Continue reading →