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Last week the NC Chapter of the Community Associations Institute hosted a free live webinar on “Coping with COVID-19 for NC Community Associations.” The hope was to get out timely, helpful information about how HOA and condo associations should respond to the coronvirus pandemic and included participant Q&A. The webinar clearly served a need—attendance was capped at 500, and far more than that wished to attend. If you did not see the program (or did and wish to share it with someone), the NC Chapter of the Community Associations Institute has made it available as a recording on the Chapter’s … Continue reading →

Questions to our firm about how homeowner and condominium associations should respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic have come in waves.  When news of the virus broke, we were asked by HOAs and condos how to keep homeowners safe. (See: Coronavirus: What Should Homeowner and Condominium Associations Do?) Then, once health concerns cancelled board and membership meetings, questions turned to how to transact association business without having physical meetings. (See: The Coronavirus, Flu, and HOA/Condo Association Meetings and “Let’s Have Our Meeting Online!”) Now, with the extended health and economic crisis, association boards are concerned both about the association’s finances … Continue reading →

This is one of three articles on dealing with the Coronavirus and its impact. This blog looks at how associations can protect the association as well as responsibilities. See also The Coronavirus, Flu, and HOA/Condo Association Meetings and “Let’s Have Our Meeting or Convention Online!” Since our blog last week on The Coronavirus, Flu, and HOA/Condo Association Meetings, there has been an increase in U.S. Coronavirus cases, including one death in Washington state. That has led to a number of questions from association boards to the effect of: “Thanks for the blog, but what should we DO to protect the … Continue reading →

Community Association Law Day is always one of the most popular programs of the North Carolina Chapter of the Community Associations Institute. This year there are TWO: Charlotte on Friday, February 28 and Raleigh on Friday, March 13. Attendees include HOA/condo board members, community leaders, and community managers. Speakers include many of the best community association professionals in the state. Five Law Firm Carolinas attorneys will be presenting at the 2020 Community Association Law Days (a record!). Here are their topics: What HOA/Condo Leaders Need to Know About Meeting Procedure & Robert’s Rules of Order – Jim Slaughter. Running community … Continue reading →

Yesterday, January 28, 2020, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) released new assistance on guidance animals. Notice FHEO-2020-01 (“Assistance Animals Notice”) includes two parts: “Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act” contains best practices for complying with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) when assessing a person with a disability’s accommodation request involving animals in housing, including . “Guidance on Documenting an Individual’s Need for Assistance Animals in Housing” provides guidance on information that an individual seeking a reasonable accommodation … Continue reading →

Obligation to Pay Assessments Homeowner dues (legally called “assessments” by statute) are the lifeblood of an association. Most all HOAs and condominium are nonprofit corporations. That is, community associations are not designed to make money; they are designed to pay the association’s bills. Associations basically act as agents for collections by other entities—water, garbage, electricity, landscaping. The funds collected are not kept by the association, but are forwarded to other parties, including the government. For example, many of our associations pay the premiums insuring all units each year. Unless assessments can be collected the association will owe debts but not … Continue reading →

In an opinion issued yesterday (December 18, 2019), the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that an HOA foreclosure for $250 was unconscionable given the specific facts of that case. The ruling is in Winrose Homeowners’ Association, Inc. and Regime Solutions, LLC v. Hale. In Winrose, the homeowners bought their property in 1998 for $104,250, but in 2011 fell behind in their association assessment payments. The HOA filed a Complaint seeking foreclosure for nonpayment of dues. After the Complaint was filed, the homeowners received and paid a bill to the Association for $250, which they thought resolved the assessment dispute. Because … Continue reading →

In a decision issued today (December 17, 2019), the North Carolina Court of Appeals examined the authority of an association to review and deny submitted architectural plans. This is the second architectural committee decision from the Court of Appeals this year. (See “Don’t Screw Up Your Architectural Committee and Approval Process”) Duff v. The Sanctuary at Lake Wylie Property Owners Association, Inc. is an “unpublished opinion,” which means the decision is not controlling legal authority and should not be cited in other cases. However, even unpublished opinions give a sense of the Court’s thinking as to specific issues and how … Continue reading →

The term for owner payments to a homeowner or condominium association in North Carolina is “assessments.“ That’s because the term “dues” doesn’t appear in any statute. Instead, “assessment“ is used to describe the payment that owners of an HOA lot or a condominium unit make to the association to pay for common costs of the community, such as real property taxes, insurance premiums, or other expenses to maintain, improve, or benefit the common property. General assessments are the topic of other blogs—this article is specific to special assessments. However, the phrase “special assessment“ also doesn’t appear in any statute. As … Continue reading →

The differences between service animals, therapy animals, and emotional assistance animals in HOAs and condominiums can get confusing, even to those of us that deal with them all the time. The Community Associations Institute (CAI) has created this attractive and helpful chart to distinguish between such animals! To download the chart, visit CAI’s Guide to Assistance Animals

Recently on a national HOA/condo list serve, a community association professional lamented that civility has fallen in HOAs and condos and asked about how to deal with homeowners who regularly bully or harass. Based on numerous instances, our firm’s attorneys would agree that there has been an increase in the number of “in your face” owners, whether that behavior is directed at other owners, directors, or the community manager. While there was a discussion online of “changing the community’s rules,” such language would not generally fly in North Carolina or South Carolina due to case law and statutes (but might … Continue reading →

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Prior to Hurricane Dorian our firm again sent out emergency contact information (emails and cell phone numbers) for all our community association attorneys. The thought behind doing this before significant storms is that in the event of HOA or condo damage, immediate advice may be needed on who is responsible for making and/or paying for necessary repairs. (And, yes, we have gotten calls in the middle of the night about water pouring into a unit or a tree through the roof.) Even in quiet times, issues related to maintenance, repair and replacement are some of the more difficult ones we … Continue reading →

Yesterday, August 14, 2019, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued significant policy revisions to its condominium approval process. In addition to changes to the condominium project approval policy, the new policy provides a “single-unit approval process” for individual condominium units to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance, even if the condominium project is not FHA approved. In addition, the new guidelines extend the recertification for approved projects from 2 to 3 years and will allow more mixed-use projects to be eligible for FHA insurance. Here are a few more specifics as to changes to FHA’s Single Family Handbook: The new … Continue reading →

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