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 →

The Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status. For years, homeowners association boards of directors have been mindful of the FHA’s requirements and taken care that board decisions do not discriminate against any of these protected classes. The Supreme Court of the United States recently heard and decided a case from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. At issue in this particular case was whether a legal theory that has been applied in other discrimination contexts, … 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 →

Most homeowners associations have some sort of architectural review process. Of these, many spell out how that review is supposed to proceed. Generally, the homeowner submits an application for some sort of change to the property, and the board of directors or an appointed architectural review committee (often abbreviated as the “ARC,” “ACC,” or “ARB”) will determine whether the submitted application will be approved. Many associations require some sort of drawing or rendering of what the change will look like, along with pictures or samples. This helps the ARC to understand how the proposed changes will look when completed. There … Continue reading →

House Bill 511 “Credit Unions/Statutory changes” (with a full title of “An Act to Make Various Statutory Changes Related to Credit Unions”) was ratified by the North Carolina General Assembly on June 10, 2015, and signed by Governor McCrory on Friday, June 19, 2015. HB 511 becomes the second piece of community association legislation passed into law this year (see First Community Association Bill Signed into Law and NC Community Association Legislative Roundup – May 14, 2015). The bill concerns details in the early stages of a condominium. The NC Condominium Act previously required that funds for the purchase or reservation of a … Continue reading →

House Bill 513 “Real Property/Technical Corrections” (with a long title of “An Act to Make Technical Corrections and Other Conforming Changes to the General Statutes Concerning Real Property”) was ratified by the North Carolina General Assembly on May 28, 2015, and signed by Governor McCrory earlier today (June 4, 2015). As a result, HB 513 has the distinction of being the first of many pieces of community association legislation to make it into law this year (see NC Community Association Legislative Roundup – May 14, 2015). The bill is a follow-up to last session’s adopted changes to NCGS 47F-3-104 HB 330: … Continue reading →

If you cannot attend the annual meeting for a homeowners association but you still want your vote to count, then voting by proxy might be for you! The planned community act allows a member of most homeowner’s associations to appoint a proxy to vote (or take any other action) for that member at a meeting (though this provision of the planned community act does not apply to all homeowners associations). The best way to appoint a proxy is to sign and date a form designating someone else to vote in your place at the meeting. If your proxy appointment form … Continue reading →

Thursday, April 30, 2015 was the all-important “crossover deadline” in the North Carolina General Assembly. Without getting too much into the weeds, bills that are “non-budget” must generally have passed one chamber or the other by the crossover deadline to be eligible for consideration during the 2015/2016 session (although House and Senate rules are slightly different when it comes to crossover). CAVEAT: legislation referred to as “dead” doesn’t always mean “completely dead.” As the News & Observer noted several years ago: “[Legislative] rules are made to be circumvented, so there are many ways to keep legislation alive.”) Still, now seems a logical time to look … Continue reading →

With warmer weather, we’re getting our usual barrage of pool questions. Many deal with appropriate pool rules and pool signs.  Without question, pool issues are one of the more confusing areas of our practice in that there are few absolutes. That’s particularly the case when it comes to dealing with Fair Housing Act issues. The Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) was originally adopted in 1968 and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The FHA was amended in 1988 to add protected classes of disability and familial status. The short version as to familial status is this: associations should not treat … Continue reading →

Have a condo or HOA association question you’d like to ask a lawyer? The North Carolina Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI) is hosting an “Ask the HOA Experts: Q&A on Legal Issues Affecting Community Associations” on Wednesday, May 13, 2015, from 5:30-7:00 pm (sign-in begins at 5 pm) at the Employer’s Association, 3020 W. Arrowood Road, Charlotte. I’ll be participating along with my friend and community association attorney Mike Hunter with Horack Talley. (FYI, Mike and I were suitemates at UNC-Chapel Hill many years ago, but questions for this event will be limited to community association issues!) Topics could include: But it really depends on what … Continue reading →

As noted in my last legislative blog post, today (April 14) at 5 pm was the deadline for filing legislative proposals for this session other than appropriations or finance bills. Since most all bills that could impact North Carolina homeowner or condominium associations have now been filed, let’s take a look at them. Proposed NC Community Association Bills (listed in order of most recent filings first): ** This blog has been updated to include HB 931 filed on April 16 ** (1) House Bill 931: Const. Amendment/HOA Forecl. & Debt Setoff was filed on April 16, 2015, by Rep. Rodney Moore (D-Mecklenburg), Kelly M. Alexander, Jr. (D-Mecklenburg), … Continue reading →

Contrary to popular belief, most property owners fulfill their financial obligations to their association. As a result, the number of actual association foreclosures is very, very small. Of that percentage, almost nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to stop paying a mortgage or condominium or homeowner association dues. The facts of life, however, intervene. Taking care of loved ones who are sick, loss of a job, or other life-changing experiences happen more than one would expect. When a person is dealing with these difficulties and trying to make mortgage payments and pay homeowners association dues, it is an … Continue reading →