Taking a stand against a condo board’s wasteful actions

Question: I’ve owned and lived in my California condo for more than 25 years, and every time I hear the word “beautification” I cringe, wondering what it’s going to cost me and what the board is trying to cover up.

This year the board raised our monthly fees 20% and afterward assessed owners thousands of dollars, claiming they needed to spruce the place up. For months they’ve been bombarding owners with fliers announcing their grand plans of planting bushes.

The board bought a couple of bushes, refreshments and paid gardeners to be at the planting ceremony. Not one owner attended.

The costly endeavor was successful in diverting the owners’ attention away from the association’s books and records, and its present management company’s interference in how our association is run. What can owners do to prevent wasteful actions?

Answer: There comes a time when you and other like-minded titleholders have to take a visible and vocal stand against board actions you consider wasteful.

The fact that no owners showed up for the planting party suggests that it was not important to the titleholders.

Although the bush planting in and of itself is unlikely to be fraudulent, your board may be using “beautification” as a sort of catch-all ploy to cover up other expenditures that may require in-depth scrutiny.

Although waste of any kind should be avoided, boards that intentionally misrepresent the state of the association’s operations, or take steps to cover up illicit actions or expenditures, may be prosecuted.

One way to get a grip on the situation is to view, inspect and copy the association’s books and records. Don’t wait. Do it now. To understand where the money is going, be consistent and demand access to such records on a regular basis.

If necessary, do not hesitate to bring your own representative or accountant to do an analysis of the association’s books and records.

Should there be indications of waste, you have the right and obligation to inform all titleholders. If you are supported by the facts, bringing an action against board directors and the association would not be unreasonable.

The concept of association self-management and shared ownership requires that all titleholders be actively involved and that they be super-vigilant in tracking board actions. Preventing wasteful actions by your board may require owners to repeatedly stand up and hold the board accountable.

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Send questions to P.O. Box 11843, Marina del Rey, CA 90295 or e-mail noexit@mindspring.com.