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Board/Owner Relations
Anger Management
For most people, “foaming at the mouth” is just an expression. Attorney Ellen Hirsch de Haan has encountered the real
thing – and not at an animal shelter, but at a condominium owners’ meeting.
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A Day Well Shared
The date is fast approaching for New England Condominiummagazine’s first annual New England Condo Expo, a one-day trade event featuring over 120 exhibitors from all over the region. The show makes its debut on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center. Read More
A Diamond in the Rough
After 15 tumultuous years of delays and construction costs that soared from $2.6 to $14.8 billion, Boston's "Big Dig" highway project officially came to an end at the stroke of midnight on December 31. Read More
Civilian Again
For board members, the time spent serving their association and fellow residents
can be among the most strenuous yet rewarding periods in their lives. For
years, they make decisions that affect their community in the present and may
continue to impact them years down the road.
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Staying out of Court
That very sentiment, penned by our 16th president, is just as relevant today as it was when written in the 1850s. Lincoln, like many experts in the field of law, would likely favor and encourage a different option – alternative dispute resolution (ADR) –as the means to settle differences. And with many of the more typical conflicts that plague condominium residents and board members, it’s well worth heeding Lincoln’s wise words and forgo the mad dash to the courthouse. Read More
Self-Management
It's not uncommon for condo associations in the New England area to have outside management companies handling the day-to-day business of running their buildings. Managers do everything from collecting maintenance checks to responding to homeowner issues to hiring maintenance contractors—and all manner of tasks in between. Read More
On and Off the Record
To disclose or not to disclose? That is the question community association
boards wrestle with on a regular basis. If homeowners want to see the
association’s financial records, should the books be open to them? What about a list of
owners who are in arrears with their condo fees? Or details of the current
snowplowing contract? Should boards let neighbors know that a registered sex
offender has moved into the community? What if an association employee is under
investigation for stealing or other criminal activity?
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Top 10 Leadership Traits
Perhaps you are entertaining the thought of running for your association board presidency. Or maybe by altruistic desire, default or coercion, you already find yourself wearing that hat. Read More
Keep It Civilized
In a community association or HOA meeting without procedural rules and organization, it's amazing how quickly a room full of adults can devolve into a room full of toddlers—everyone talking over one another and no one listening, insuring that no actual objectives are achieved. Fortunately for anyone who has been spared the annoyance and aggravation of meeting turned kindergarten classroom, over a century ago, an Army engineering officer named Henry Martyn Robert really embarrassed himself. Read More
Overdue Overhaul
On July 1, 2010, a variety of sweeping changes to Connecticut’s Common Interest Ownership Act will take effect, and associations throughout
the state will need to change the way they approach building management. “It’s the biggest change to Connecticut condo law in 25 years,” says attorney Adam J. Cohen, the chairman of community law with Pullman & Comley in Bridgeport.
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