QUESTION: My HOA is managed by a horrendously unethical management company. We retained a new management company and gave our old company a 60-day notice of termination but they refuse to provide us with an accounting of our finances. What recourse do we have against this company? Should we report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Real Estate?
ANSWER: Most management companies are ethical and hard working. They are diligent in producing financial records and stoic when dealing with difficult owners. Unfortunately, there are a few truly bad companies that are unethical in the handling of accounts.
Duty to Return Records. Whenever the services of a management company have been terminated, the company must immediately turn over all association records. Refusal to turn over records is a breach of the professional code of conduct for management companies.
Report Behavior. You can report the company to CAI and CACM as well as the Better Business Bureau. This may help curb the company's abuses against other associations but probably will not get your records any time soon. Suing the company may be the only effective means of recovering your records.
RESOURCES: Contact information for CACM and the eight chapters of CAI in California can be found in our Business Directory. Associations needing legal assistance can contact us. To stay current with issues affecting community associations, subscribe to the Davis-Stirling Newsletter.
