Can a Dog Serve on Your HOA Board?
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While many board members have likely been tempted at some point to utter under their breaths that a fellow director can at times be a "dog," reports of actual dogs being appointed as directors of community associations are few and far between.
So it raised a few eyebrows when the Washington Post reported the other week that a shaggy white dog named "Ms. Beatha Lee" was recently elected the president of the Hillbrook-Tall Oaks Civic Association in Annandale, Virginia. The Post reports that certain members, frustrated at the difficulty of having to continually recruit members to serve on the board, decided to offer the dog as a candidate.
While it does not appear that the Association is a property owners’ association or condominium association, as defined under Virginia law, certain smaller community associations may experience similar frustrations in attempting to recruit and retain board members.
Here’s our free legal advice for the day: don’t even think about trying to nominate a dog (or any pet for that matter) for a board position. There is a large list of reasons why it would be improper, not the least of which is that most association documents require directors to be members of the association, something animals can not be by virtue of the fact that they can’t own property. Furthermore, the law imposes upon directors duties of care and loyalty to the corporation. While dog lovers will universally agree that dogs are some of the most "loyal" creatures there are, the legal concept of "loyalty" is quite different from faithfully retrieving a frisbee or curling up on the couch.
