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.

 

 

In a post several months ago, we noted the General Assembly’s adoption of amendments to the Property Owners’ Association Act and the Condominium Act　that address associations’ ability to regulate the display of the United States flag.　 As we reported then, the amended Virginia Code sections (Va. Code § 55-513.1 [POAs] and § 55-79.75:2 [Condos]) follow the language of the federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, signed into law on July 24, 2006. It provides that no association (POA or condominium) shall prohibit an owner from displaying the U.S. flag on his own property (lot or unit) as long as the display conforms to federal law, rule or custom.　 You can find the official rules　governing flag display in Title 4, Chapter 1 at the U.S. House of Representatives’ website at　http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?search.

Continue Reading Will Your Association “Fly” Into Trouble With the New Virginia Flag Law?

This weekend, several members of LeClairRyan’s Community Association Industry Team attended the CAI National Law Conference in Las Vegas. The conference featured speeches, panel presentations, and educational sessions presented by a variety of industry speakers on topics ranging from the federal mortgage agencies, to new legislation affecting the industry, to cutting edge issues such as transfer-fee covenants.

One of the highlights of the conference featured a mention of this blog! During one of the first sessions of the conference, the speaker discussed recent trends in the industry, and commented that community associations were facing unique issues, including "rent a goat" issues. The speaker proceeded to mention the blog post on this very blog, which discussed the issue.

All in all, the conference was very informative. Below is a picture of St. Mark’s square in the Venetian hotel (where the conference was held).

 

CAI will be hosting its annual Community Association Law Seminar on January 13 – 15 in Las Vegas. The LeClairRyan Community Association Team will once again have a strong showing at the conference. We will be blogging live from the seminar, so be sure to tune in to the blog for updates throughout the weekend.

For more information on the seminar, including registration information, click here.

 Are your association’s governing documents free of typos? Many are not. The danger that typos pose to association documents was brought home with force recently when LAW.com published an article about a $16 million lawsuit related to a typo in the public offering statement for a condominium in New York City.

According to the article, the attorney who drafted the offering statement inserted a provision that said that the buyers of condominiums would receive their deposits back if the first closing in the condominium didn’t occur by September 1, 2008. The attorney intended to draft the statement so that it provided a deadline of September 1, 2009. When the first closing did not occur until February 2009, several buyers filed suit demanding a return of their deposits. Litigation is currently pending before the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Though a public offering statement is directed towards the initial purchasers of a condominium unit, typos in associations’ articles of incorporation, declaration of restrictive covenants, and bylaws can wreck havoc on a community for years to come. If your association knows that it has a typo or typos in your governing documents, it should consult with its legal counsel to determine whether the typo can be fixed through a corrective amendment.

And if you haven’t read through your association’s governing documents lately to check for typos, we’d strongly recommend that you do so. It’s always smarter to take a proactive approach than to allow a small typo to lead to major legal problems.

LeClairRyan’s Community Association Team doesn’t just represent developers in the legal creation of associations; rather, it also physically creates them too! The Team is a strong supporter of Habitat for Humanity, and pictured below are several LeClairRyan attorneys with friends from Capital One, outside a current Habitat for Humanity build in Richmond.

 

 

The other week the Wall Street Journal published an interesting and somewhat amusing article about the latest trend in upscale neighborhoods: renting a goat as a means to trim a yard and eliminate weeds.

Apparently renting a goat constitutes an environmentally-friendly "carbon-emission-free" way to trim grass. The Journal reports that: "Prices can range from $200 a day for a dozen goats to upward of $1,000 for larger herds of 100 or more."

If this trend catches on, it will pose some unique issues for associations throughout Virginia. Many associations will likely look skeptically upon goat trailers carting goats smack into the middle of their neighborhood as they’re let loose to chew-up the grass throughout a lot. Many associations’ covenants contain restrictions on maintaining or raising cattle, livestock, and non-domesticated animals on lots, but those covenants may not explicitly prohibit those animals from coming on to a lot for short periods of time. Therefore, if an association encounters this situation, it may want to consider amending its covenants to prohibit non-domesticated animals from coming on to lots.

So if you serve on the board of an association and wake up tomorrow morning to the sight of a flock of goats roaming around a yard, it might be smart to try to have the association address the situation through the covenants rather than having neighbors become angry with each other and try to "chew each other out".

Will Sleeth and Liz White were recently quoted in a Virginia Lawyers Weekly magazine article reporting on the challenges that associations and their attorneys face when attempting to collect unpaid assessments. The article (subscription required) discussed the importance of associations and their attorneys strictly complying with the requirements of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The article illustrates an important lesson that all associations should keep in mind: when an association attempts to collect on a debt, it should consult with legal counsel to ensure compliance with all applicable laws.

The General Assembly recently adopted amendments to the Property Owners’ Association Act and the Condominium Act that address associations’ ability to regulate the display of the United States flag.  The amended Virginia Code sections follow the language of the U.S. Code (The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005), which is the federal law regarding the U.S. flag in Title 4, Chapter 1.  POA and condominium boards and managers, and declarants and their attorneys who are preparing covenants and rules for POAs and condominiums, need to be aware of the new law.  The amendments to Va. Code Sec. 55-79.75:2 of the Condominium Act and Va. Code Sec. 55-513.1 of the POA Act are essentially the same, so I will discuss them together.

The new law provides that no association (POA or Condominium) shall prohibit an owner from displaying the U.S. flag on his own property (lot or unit) as long as the display conforms to federal law, rule or custom.  You can find the official rules governing flag display in Title 4, Chapter 1 at the U.S. House of Representatives’ website ( http://uscode.house.gov/search/criteria.shtml).  (There are also several helpful non-governmental sites run by non-profit organizations that you can find by performing an internet search of "flag protocol.")  However, an association may continue to "establish reasonable restrictions as to the size, place, duration, and manner of placement or display of the flag on such property provided such restrictions are necessary to protect a substantial interest of the (unit owners’) association."

In addition, be aware that, in any legal action brought by an association for violation of a community flag restriction, the association bears the burden of proving in court that its restrictions as to size, place, duration, and manner of placement are necessary to protect a substantial interest of the association.  Therefore, these criteria should be carefully considered when drafted, and existing regulations should be evaluated to ensure they protect your association’s substantial interests.  If not, you may want to consider amending or revoking them.

Associations may continue to restrict the display of flags in the common elements/areas of the community, but any limited common element (i.e. any area over which an owner has "exclusive possession or use"), such as, for example, typically a unit’s balcony or porch, should be treated the same as the lot or unit with respect to flag display. 

Remember that POAs must disclose any community restrictions regarding flag display in the disclosure packet.  If an association fails to do so and then brings an action against a homeowner for flag display in violation of the association’s rules and/or covenants, the homeowner can assert as a defense that the required disclosure was not contained within the disclosure packet.

LeClairRyan’s Liz White was recently featured in an article on Board Meetings that was featured by several national media outlets, including Forbes magazine, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Baltimore Business Journal, the Business Journal of Phoenix, and the Cincinnati Business Courier. Locally, the article was featured by NBC12. To view the article, in which Liz discusses tips for an effective board meeting (and in which she shares some humorous tidbits about board meetings gone awry), click here.