COLUMN: Barbara Holland

Q. Our association continues to send a ballot to homeowners pertaining to an approval of our assessments. The ballot states that it will be sent until the association has received votes from 67 percent of the owners. How often can the association send this ballot to the owners?

A. State law addresses the issue of approving the annual budget. The law specifies that after the adoption of the budget by the board, there is to be an owners meeting within a specific time frame to ratify the budget after it or a summary of it is mailed to the owners. Unless a majority, or a larger percentage of voters specified by governing documents, reject the budget, the budget is ratified.

The ballot that was sent to the owners gave them two choices: one was to approve increasing the assessment to $140 per month, the second was to not increase the assessment by $38.05 per month and to approve the closure of the pool, and the termination of the landscape and management services.

The board wanted at least 67 percent of the owners to vote for either one of the choices. It does not have to wait to receive that percentage. If it had approved the assessment increase, presented a budget with the increase to the owners, and at least 51 percent of the owners did not vote no, then the budget and the increase would be ratified.

Q. We live in an ungated, limited landscape association that apparently has no enforcement authority. We have a problem with the enforcement of the parking regulations. Should the association at least have an obligation to mail letters to the violating owners? Is litigation by one resident against another the only way to enforce observance?

A. The bulk of state regulations do not pertain to associations that were created for the limited purpose of maintaining the landscape of common elements in a common-interest community.

If your association does not have a board of directors, then the only way to enforce rules is for you to file a lawsuit against your neighbors. If you have a board, then they could enforce your regulations, through warning letters, towing of vehicles and fining the homeowners.

Questions for Barbara Holland may be sent to Association Q. & A., P.O. Box 7440, Las Vegas, NV 89125. Her fax number is 385-3759.

Barbara Holland, Certified Property Manager, is president and co-owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. She is a member of the Institute of Real Estate Management and is the author of two books on the subject. Holland is a past president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

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