REPORTING OWNERS
TO THE CREDIT BUREAU

QUESTION: We have several owners in arrears on their dues and we cannot lien them because there are no board meetings for the next few months since directors are out of town. In the temporary absence of other remedies, is it lawful to report these owners to the credit monitoring agencies? The threat of their credit being harmed might give some impetus to them to pay what is owed.

ANSWER: There are two reasons why you should not report delinquent owners to the credit bureaus. First, since the directors are out of town and there are no scheduled board meetings, you do not have the board’s authority to take any action. Second, credit bureaus will not accept your reports of delinquent assessments since they only collect data from select sources with which the bureaus have a relationship (e.g., creditors, lenders, debt collection agencies and public records). Once the board votes to record an assessment lien the lien becomes a public record and will show up in credit reports.

BLIND DIRECTOR

QUESTION: One of our HOA clients has a homeowner who may be interested in running for the board. However, she is blind. Does the association have any legal obligation to provide her with board packets that she will be able to utilize electronic software?

ANSWER: There are enough statutes and case law protecting the disabled that the only sensible course of action is for the association to reasonably accommodate her blindness. In this case, you can simply scan her board packet into a PDF format and email it to her prior to meetings so her computer can read the documents to her (a feature of Adobe Acrobat). This will enable your blind director to prepare for and participate in meetings.

VIBRATING BED

Feedback #1. “Nuisance” complaints are clearly on the rise. My observation is that, in general, people are suffering from stress and anxiety and are hyper-sensitive to disturbances that are just a part of urban community living and would otherwise go unnoticed. Boards are needlessly insinuated into neighbor disputes incurring costs for all members, including the complainer. Boards are not your mother mediating a sibling fight. You are not the center of the universe. Not all life’s “disturbances” require litigation that clogs our courts. -S.Y.

Feedback #2. I have been an HOA manager for going on 30 years and we have all seen the fact that many laws put more and more of the burden upon the Board, shifting from the individual owner. While your comments say the board “may” become involved and “may” make a determination, I believe in this case the emphasis should be upon the unit owner to take action to enforce the CC&Rs. To ask a board to come to the unit at night and listen to a vibrating bed, I do not believe is reasonable. -S.F

RESPONSE: I agree that too many burdens are being placed on boards. However, if I owned a unit and a neighbor made it impossible for me to sleep at night, I would be demanding that something be done. The board can send a representative to listen on the board’s behalf and a test can be arranged during the day. If the board determines the complainer is being hyper-sensitive, no further action is needed. If the complaint is legitimate, the board should do something to stop the nuisance. -Adrian Adams

QUORUM

QUESTION: If an association amends the bylaws so that no quorum is required for an annual meeting, does the Corporations Code requirement of a majority kick in? I have had differing opinions on this.

ANSWER: I don’t see any conflict between the Davis-Stirling Act and and Corporations Code §7512 on this issue. The Corporations Code applies if your bylaws are silent as to quorum. If you amend your documents to eliminate quorum for the election of directors, they are no longer silent on the issue and you satisfy both the Act and the Code.

COMMITTEE AGENDAS

QUESTION: Can the board of directors or a single board member remove items from a committee’s agenda?

ANSWER: The objectives of the committee are set by the board but committee agendas are set by the committee chair. Boards should not micromanage their committees nor should individual directors interfere with the committee’s work. If the board is unhappy with how a committee is being chaired, it can appoint someone else to head the committee.

  Sincerely yours, 

Tina Wang, Esq.
Adams Kessler PLC