Traps for the Unwary

What you don’t know about your CCRs, your Budget, and your Buildings

    The responsibility for building maintenance and repairs in a community association most often falls to the Board of Directors of the association as assisted by the community association manager. It’s an awesome responsibility in that
the economic well-being of the owners
 is often co-extensive with the health
of the building. But maintaining any building properly requires a very sophisticated understanding of building components. Maintaining a community association building also requires a thorough understanding
of the association’s governing and budget documents.

But buildings, budgets and governing documents are not always what
they seem—they can contain traps for the unwary. Community associations are prisoners of their budgets. Nothing can be repaired without adequate funding. Proper funding, in turn, is dependent upon a proper analysis of the maintenance and repair requirements of a particular building. If the conditions of the building are not properly reflected in the budget, the association will not be able to adequately maintain the project.

The “traps” in buildings can be placed there accidently or intentionally.
The “traps” in governing documents are almost always intentional. In
either case it is essential for boards and managers to be aware of them
and to know how to avoid the pitfalls they present...

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