Real HOA Member Questions and Expert Answers from an HOA Manager

As an HOA board member you're faced with issues in your homeowner’s association day in and day out. Sometimes you have questions that you don’t know the answer to or scenarios where you aren’t sure how to respond. Odds are, other board members are in the same boat. We’ve compiled some questions we’ve recently received and provided expert answers from an HOA manager. Read them below and maybe you’ll be able to relate.

Question:

We are a 55+ mobile park community. I am part of a 5 member HOA [board]. My question is 1 of the board members resigned (we were going to ask them to step down). The other member only participates at member’s meetings. She does not attend board meetings or participate at scheduled functions/events. The last 3 members want her to step down or we will remove her. The president says we do not need to take this to a membership meeting for a vote. Members got mad the last time they were not consulted on a replacement.

Expert Answer:

If the mobile park community is in fact a common interest development you can’t fire a board member. The Board doesn’t have the power to remove an officer from their position of office unless it’s referenced in the documents and everyone is aware. However, an HOA board member can step down or resign.

Once the position is vacant, the Board then has the authority to appoint someone new to the position, but as a best practice should first go to the membership to announce there is a meeting and invite anyone interested in being on the Board to apply. This protects the Board from members claiming they didn’t know of a vacancy.

If a Board member doesn’t step down, then they just have to deal with this “difficult” member until their term is up.

Question:

Should we continue to be self-managed? Do we have enough money (or too much) in our reserve fund?

Expert Answer:

This is one of those questions that can only be answered by asking more questions to clarify. Have you done a reserve study? It will tell you whether or not you have enough money in your reserve fund. If you in fact do have “too much,” you may be able to lower the collection amount that is contributed to the reserves.

Who’s handling the funds in your HOA? How are you handling collections in your community? If you don’t know the answer to this then an HOA management company can help, even if it’s simply guiding you through the process of a reserve study.

If you have to ask the question “should we continue to be self-managed?” you probably shouldn’t be! Ultimately the board makes final decisions, but the actual work can be passed on to an HOA manager that has the knowledge or knows the experts.