Synopsis:

Unit owners in a Chester County condo community who were not Board members of their homeowners’ association were being actively barred from running for office by the independent management company, who was at the same time actively working to keep these clients from having any input into the management of the Association, hence violating the statutory requirements for planned communities and this Association’s recorded governing documents.

Challenge:

This case was multi-faceted. In addition to enforcing both the applicable statutory requirements for planned communities, which the Association Board was violating, as well as the individual Associations recorded governing documents, there was an urgency to mitigate the legitimacy of an attempted sale of a building owned by the Association, by the Board, without a vote of the entire Association. Additionally, required reports were not being prepared or provided to the Association members, and the clients asking questions were being actively barred from running for office by the independent management company.

Strategy/Solution:

In a planned community like this, all owners in the community own a portion of any property owned by the Association, and as such, have a right to vote on the disposition of any property owned by the Association. Further violating unit owners’ rights, funds were being spent and the details not reported to all Association members, and requests for review of financial information were being routinely refused.

A complaint was filed, and a Lis Pendens, which is a record of equitable rights when another party believes they have a right to the property, was filed as to the building.

Results:

As part of the case settlement, our clients were able to gain rightful access to land record documents that had previously been recorded incorrectly. Additionally, the clients were able to change the direction of the Board as it related to governance and voting rights. The Judge issued an Order that the clients be placed on the ballot, and one of the clients was elected to the Board.  After the election, the management company changed and the Board changed direction as to its’ handling of various issues, resulting in settlement of the various matters.  We were able to secure an award from the Board of the Association itself, and full payment of the legal fees to the clients.