Coast Management of California provides property management services for commercial condominiums in California including office building condominiums, industrial condominiums, retail condominiums, and dental office condominiums. See: Commercial Condominium Management. For commercial condominium sales and leasing, contact our affiliate: Pacific-Realtors.net.

For reasons unknown, some people who reside in condominiums, choose to live without email service. These people do not get timely notices of emergency actions such as water shutoffs or changes in gate codes necessitated by criminal activity. If you live in a condominium you need to have email service and you need to check it at least once each day.

HOA management companies should not attempt to write construction specifications for homeowner associations unless they have a knowledgeable, experienced, and licensed contractor on their staff. Bid specifications should be prepared by an expert in the work to be done. The expert should not submit a bid for the work in order to keep him or her as objective as possible. For large projects, boards should consider hiring a construction manager.

Homeowners who want information about registered sex offenders in California can find information by visiting meganslaw.ca.gov. Searches can be made by location or by name. In most areas, the number of offenders within a five-mile radius is substantial.

Architectural committees should be concerned about compliance with the CC&Rs, Rules and Regulations and the appearance of proposed modifications. Compliance with building codes should be left to the local city or county. If your architectural committee assumes responsibility for making comments on possible code violations, it places your association in a position to be held liable in the event that it makes an error in judgment. There is no reason for an association to assume that responsibility.

Minutes of meetings are required by law to be taken at board meetings and should be maintained by the corporate secretary. They should never be discarded. Aside from being required by law, they are sometimes used to defend an association against legal claims. They must also be provided by the management company to escrow companies and lenders when an owner is refinancing or selling a unit or lot. See: Minutes of Board Meetings and Minutes – Sample Form.

The Davis-Stirling Act requires associations to provide notice of all board meetings, including an agenda of each meeting. Posting the notice and the agenda on a bulletin board is permitted, provided that it is in a prominent location accessible to all members. If the bulletin board is not large enough, associations need to install larger ones or, in the alternative, deliver notice to every member. In addition, associations must mail a notice to any owner who requests notice by mail.

On November 1, 2021, we reported that mortgage interest rates were skyrocketing. They have increased and are continuing to increase. If you intend to refinance, you should do it now as rates continue to climb in response to out of control inflation.

Whenever an owner of a condominium refinances their home or someone buys a condominium, the lender will require the completion of a Lender’s Questionnaire. Lenders require these questionnaires for more than one reason which should be understood by both board members and the person making the written disclosures. See: Lender’s Questionnaire – Purpose.

Board members who are interviewing HOA property management companies should also interview the person who will be primarily responsible for the management of their association.

If the company is a start-up with less than a three-year history, it would be prudent to determine where the manager was previously employed and why he or she left. Contacting the former employer may provide important information concerning the manager’s ethical standards and much more. See: How to Interview an HOA Management Company