When I bought my home, I was told to read the association documents before I signed for my mortgage. I read them, but no where in them did it say that my dues would be raised whenever the board felt like it and I would have no say in it - three times in 18 months and one of those times included paying for a shed to store bird feed for birds the DNR doesn't recommend feeding.
The documents didn't say that the board would be appointed by the management company, despite the requirements in the CCRs that they be voted in by homeowners.
The documents didn't say that the board would not be allowed to talk to us, would not have control of the financial assets of the organization or wouldn't even be the signers on any contracts.
The documents never told me that the board's alliance would be solely with the management company and they wouldn't care how the management company treated us. Note that as we are not allowed to talk directly to the board, we'd have to tell the management company to tell the board we are being inappropriately treated, even when the conduct of the management company put the sale of one person's home in jeopardy - as if that makes any sense to anyone but them.
The documents didn't say that there would be no one who cared if the board didn't make sense.
The documents didn't say that the unlicensed management company would be able to tell the Secretary of State that they were the president of the association and that they would have our money in accounts that were not in the state.
The ethical issues, conflict of interest issues, and even legal issues in how the board conducts business is extensive, but they do it because they can. The board chair was strutting like a peacock at the annual meeting when he told us how he manipulated a vote to raise our dues because someone told him there was a new law that allowed him to vote on behalf of members who never gave him a proxy was breath taking. There is no law and there were no other board members interested in honesty and truthfulness, either.
When I asked why none of the information we get ever has the board's name on it, the response was "we pay the management company to do the mailing". You pay them to lick the stamps, not sign the letters.
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