Periodically, I check in with the state Homeowners Association Committee to stay current with what's being discussed in this area down in Olympia.
Here's a link to a nice summary of what this committee is, and what they've been up to in the past year.
http://www.leg.wa.gov/documents/joint/HOAA/928Report.pdf
Most of what's being talked about it consistent wiith what we're doing here in Conifer Park 6, but there was one thing that jumped out at me that I'm concerned about. One of the proposals is to create a statue of limitations, of one year, for challenging recorded covenent amendments.
How does this apply to us? We've discussed the 2002 CC&R change regarding vehicle parking extensively at the past few meetings. If this 'statute of limitations' proposal goes into effect, that change, even though it was not properly done, will become permanent. This bumps up the urgency of resolving this issue in my opinion.
Also, just for reference, here's all the other documents this committee has put out, many of which have been linked in earlier posts.
http://www1.leg.wa.gov/joint/committees/hoaa/reports%20and%20publications.htm
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Draft Bylaws Revision
Here is a draft copy of the bylaws, incorporating the changes from the annual meeting. The originals had been typewritten, so I had to retype them completely in order to make the changes.
Everyone is encouraged to review these and compare them to our previous bylaws (also posted on this blog). Please report any errors or discrepencies back to me, so I can correct then before the official copy.
There also were several errors which we did not catch until I sat down and retyped them. Subsequently, there are still many typos that we did not correct at the meeting. I have highlighted these in red, while the revisions that we voted on are marked in blue.
Here is the first draft of the revised bylaws.
Everyone is encouraged to review these and compare them to our previous bylaws (also posted on this blog). Please report any errors or discrepencies back to me, so I can correct then before the official copy.
There also were several errors which we did not catch until I sat down and retyped them. Subsequently, there are still many typos that we did not correct at the meeting. I have highlighted these in red, while the revisions that we voted on are marked in blue.
Here is the first draft of the revised bylaws.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Articles of Incorporation
The Articles of Incorporation, which were signed on March 124, 1986,, have been scanned and placed in the internet archive at http://www.archive.org/ and may be accessed there by keyword search of 'Conifer Park 6' if the links below do not work. (sorry I couldn't figure out how to get all the pages into one file)
Archived Bylaws
The Bylaws in effect until the 2007 summer meeting, have been scanned and placed in the internet archive at http://www.archive.org/ and may be accessed there by keyword search of 'Conifer Park 6' if the links below do not work. (sorry I couldn't figure out how to get all the pages into one file)
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Update: 1/16/2008
It appears that this copy was not the same copy as the one on file with the county. Due to the poor quality of the originals, someone retyped them a while back. Unfortunatly, the retyped version contained many errors that were not in the originals. The original, "on-record" copy will be scanned soon, as will the updated, corrected, typo-free (I hope) version incorporating the changes from the summer meeting.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Update: 1/16/2008
It appears that this copy was not the same copy as the one on file with the county. Due to the poor quality of the originals, someone retyped them a while back. Unfortunatly, the retyped version contained many errors that were not in the originals. The original, "on-record" copy will be scanned soon, as will the updated, corrected, typo-free (I hope) version incorporating the changes from the summer meeting.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
More legal stuff
The issue of legislative intent for RCW 64.38.20(11) came up at the summer meeting. I'm looking very closely at the issue, to make sure that our interpretation is correct, and am listing resources here for anyone to review. If anyone has other resources, please share.
Anyway, here's the original bill S-4301.1 SENATE BILL 6624
http://browsedocs.leg.wa.gov/.../PDF%20Documents/1995-96/Senate%20Bills/6600-6699/6624.PDF... not much special here unless I missed something.
From http://www.wscai.org/Frequently-Asked-Questions~54508~294.htm
"Rules and Rule Enforcement
Q: Can we impose fines for the violation of association rules?
A: Both the Washington Condominium Act (See RCW 64.34.304 (k)) and the Homeowners’ Association statute (See RCW 64.38.020 (11)) give associations the power to levy “reasonable” fines for the violation of association rules, bylaws or covenants. Rules and fines must be properly voted upon by the board or owners and a written schedule of fines distributed to the members of the association. In the event of a violation, the board must be careful to give violators adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard before any fine is imposed, any fines that are not paid may be treated as any other unpaid assessment. The Horizontal Property Regimes Act says only that failure to comply strictly with the covenants, bylaws or rules of an association shall be “ground for an action to recover sums due” (See RCW 64.32.060)."
Here is a good example of a 'schedule' passed by another HOA. This will serve as a good template for our own.
http://www.stonebrook.net/docs/Fine%20Schedule/Rules.fines_schedule.right_to_request_hearing.Stonebrook_HOA.5.10.07.htm
It's also worth reviewing their covenants, which are very similar to our own, especially in terms of 'enforcement', which are nearly identical to our own (allowing us to correct the problem and bill the homeowner). http://www.stonebrook.net/docs/Covenants/covenants.htm
And here's another HOA that went the board of directors approval route, not a change to the bylaws. Their 'schedule' also serves as a good guide http://themeadowglen.org/publications/MN20051114.pdf
And one more http://lhhawoodbridge.com/page6.html, that has a good template for the 'notice'. This HOA also went the board of directors route, and their bylaws, http://lhhawoodbridge.com/page4.html, do not explicitily grant the authority to the board, as ours do now, with the passing of the amendment at the summer meeting.
And additionally, Google turned up a memo from an attorney to another HOA, affirming the legality of such a program.
http://www.innisarden.com/commonlinks/fineopinion.html
Interestingly, this HOA chose to list the entire process in the bylaws, unlike stoneybrook above, which issued a seperate schedule, by the board of directors.
I feel that we have taken a good path, and are on very firm ground, in passing an amendment to the bylaws, explicitly granting the board the authority to approve such a 'schedule'. This gives us the opportunity to design the schedule with the feedback from members that we got at the meeting. Primarily, I think that the 'schedule' should have a provision, requiring a community vote, to increase the fines beyond the initial amounts. Basically meaning, if a future board wants to increase the fines, or modify the types of fines, they would need a community vote to do so.
Anyway, thats all for now.
Anyway, here's the original bill S-4301.1 SENATE BILL 6624
http://browsedocs.leg.wa.gov/.../PDF%20Documents/1995-96/Senate%20Bills/6600-6699/6624.PDF... not much special here unless I missed something.
From http://www.wscai.org/Frequently-Asked-Questions~54508~294.htm
"Rules and Rule Enforcement
Q: Can we impose fines for the violation of association rules?
A: Both the Washington Condominium Act (See RCW 64.34.304 (k)) and the Homeowners’ Association statute (See RCW 64.38.020 (11)) give associations the power to levy “reasonable” fines for the violation of association rules, bylaws or covenants. Rules and fines must be properly voted upon by the board or owners and a written schedule of fines distributed to the members of the association. In the event of a violation, the board must be careful to give violators adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard before any fine is imposed, any fines that are not paid may be treated as any other unpaid assessment. The Horizontal Property Regimes Act says only that failure to comply strictly with the covenants, bylaws or rules of an association shall be “ground for an action to recover sums due” (See RCW 64.32.060)."
Here is a good example of a 'schedule' passed by another HOA. This will serve as a good template for our own.
http://www.stonebrook.net/docs/Fine%20Schedule/Rules.fines_schedule.right_to_request_hearing.Stonebrook_HOA.5.10.07.htm
It's also worth reviewing their covenants, which are very similar to our own, especially in terms of 'enforcement', which are nearly identical to our own (allowing us to correct the problem and bill the homeowner). http://www.stonebrook.net/docs/Covenants/covenants.htm
And here's another HOA that went the board of directors approval route, not a change to the bylaws. Their 'schedule' also serves as a good guide http://themeadowglen.org/publications/MN20051114.pdf
And one more http://lhhawoodbridge.com/page6.html, that has a good template for the 'notice'. This HOA also went the board of directors route, and their bylaws, http://lhhawoodbridge.com/page4.html, do not explicitily grant the authority to the board, as ours do now, with the passing of the amendment at the summer meeting.
And additionally, Google turned up a memo from an attorney to another HOA, affirming the legality of such a program.
http://www.innisarden.com/commonlinks/fineopinion.html
Interestingly, this HOA chose to list the entire process in the bylaws, unlike stoneybrook above, which issued a seperate schedule, by the board of directors.
I feel that we have taken a good path, and are on very firm ground, in passing an amendment to the bylaws, explicitly granting the board the authority to approve such a 'schedule'. This gives us the opportunity to design the schedule with the feedback from members that we got at the meeting. Primarily, I think that the 'schedule' should have a provision, requiring a community vote, to increase the fines beyond the initial amounts. Basically meaning, if a future board wants to increase the fines, or modify the types of fines, they would need a community vote to do so.
Anyway, thats all for now.
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