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To Tow or not to Tow - Part II If a member of your board of directors suggests towing, be careful. Occasionally, you have the board member who always wants to tow vehicles to “send a message.” I always wonder what message it sends in a community association if the Board is actively looking for v...

To Tow or not to Tow - Part I People do the darnedest things with cars. They park on the grass; they take the space or spaces of other Units; they take up three or four spaces when assigned two spaces; they fail to move for the plow. The list can be long. When these types of things occur, usua...

Some Light Thoughts “You do not lead by hitting people over the head -- that's assault, not leadership.” - Dwight Eisenhower It has been a bit of a bad time for many lately with the pandemic limiting activities for some and having much more extreme effects on other families in condos and elsewhe...

The Rainy Day is Coming As a Board you've come to the long dawning realization that you can't put off replacing the rot around windows, the failing roofs, the cracked and pothole filled parking lot and other needed repairs that have turned your once lovely association into something closer to a ...

It's Getting Worse It's getting worse, not better. And I don't mean Covid-19. I mean the interactions with owners. I get it. These are frustrating, scary, even dangerous, Covid-19 times. Either people know someone sick, worry about getting sick, are out of work, know someone who is, or if worki...

The Petri Dish that is a Condominium Association There is a movement afoot to open up condominiums. Open up the pool; open up the clubhouse; open up the workout room. Simply put, don't do it. Some around the country have claimed they will sue if they can't gain access to the pool/clubhouse/gym....

Pandemic Meetings at the Condo “If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.'” ― Dave Barry Despite the nugget of truth in Mr. Barry's comment, the New Hampshire Condominium Act requ...

Pandemic Duty I know I wrote at the end of the last column that this column would be about how to hold meetings during the time of the pandemic, and I will write about that … in the next column. In the time since I wrote that column, I have had more questions about what to do about delinquent o...

Coronavirus Condos This is not the best of times in the world right now. But it is not the end of the world, either, as my Mother wondered aloud to me. And there are many things condominium boards of directors can do to help its fellow owners and to mitigate. The virus knows no boundaries, of c...

Noise or Nuisance? “Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!” - The Grinch It is the rare condominium association whose board of directors has not had some complaints about noise from a unit, either above, below, next door, outside or all of these. It could be the loud television at 1:00 a.m., ...

Defibs and Dogs A couple of things that aren't quite long enough for a column each, but important enough to ponder. Defibrilltors. Just when you think you've seen it all, something new comes along. Apparently, some over-55 associations around the nation have been having discussions about having...

Who's Robert And Why Does He Get to Make All The Rules- Part II A few weeks go I wrote about the difficulty of properly abiding by Roberts Rules of Order, probably in any meeting, but certainly in condominium association meetings. In response to the column, I received a number of comments, rangi...

Who's Robert And Why Does He Get to Make All The Rules- Part II Last time I wrote about the difficulty of properly abiding by Roberts Rules of Order, probably in any meeting, but certainly in condominium association meetings. In response to the column, I received a number of comments, ranging fr...

Contacting the Contractors There are, generally, two types of contractors in condominium associations, those who charge a set fee for their work regardless of the amount of time they spend, such as landscapers and snow removal contractors, and those who charge by the hour, such as accountants an...

Reading is Fundamental in Your Association “You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library.” - Will Hunting Reading is Fundamental is the largest non-profit children's literacy organization in the United States. My memory says when I was a kid, it...

Silly Condo Rules “If I studied all my life, I couldn't think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of Congress.” - Will Rogers A friend recently sent me an email with a picture his son took at a law conference of a bill introduced in theTexas House of Representatives to allow...

Condo Potpourri Here are a few tips/thoughts I've gathered over the past year that either are to small for an entire column, something I could not squeeze into another column, or something I've learned since then that I thought might be helpful. As a Board, never ask for a copy of a lease an o...

Executive Action No, this is not a column about Washington and the current President. Rather, it's about executive sessions in board of director meetings in condominium associations. The Condominium Act requires at least quarterly board of directors meetings that are open to all members. But e...

The History of Condominiums As a former high school social studies teacher, still the best and toughest job I've ever had, and after so many columns (thank you seacoastonline), I thought it long overdue to actually explain the history regarding where where condominiums originated.1 Let's start ...

Zombie Homes Last time I wrote about Ghost Owners, i.e. investors who rent out their condominium unit or owners who are away for long stretches of time. This time, it's about Zombie Homes, i.e. homes left vacant for long periods of time because of a foreclosure or more likely because an owner ha...

Ghost Owners Hopefully the title got your attention. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with spirits, real or imagined. Rather, it is a name within the industry for owners of condominium units who are either off-site owners who rent their unit or owners who leave their unit for extended periods...

Community Creation in a Condominium Community Here are some ideas for creating community in your community association. There are always some who will disparage such attempts. Let them know by doing such things, word gets out in the large community about what a wonderful place yours is in which ...

Kid Concerns in the Condo It's summer and kids are outside. And too many owners in too many condominium associations want them to go away. Not only is that too bad, it's illegal. The only way to get rid of kids is to have them grow up and, hopefully, move out. Until then they are allowed to be i...

Drones Update - Part II “You need to put drones under control; you need to lay out certain rules of engagement in order to prevent or minimize collateral casualties. It is extremely important.” - Vladimir Putin Following up on the last column, as with many things in life, with regard to Drones t...

Drones Update 2019 - Part I “How has the sky been transformed by drones? How has the ocean been transformed by the fact that over 90% of the world's information travels in underwater cables?” - Trevor Paglen, 2017 recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant who writes about, among other topics, mass su...