utahcondolawblog

I received a copy of the 2012 College of Community Association Lawyers Law Seminar Brochure; the seminar will be held from January 26-28, in Palm Springs, California. I’ll be there, as I have been for every one of the last nine years, and once again, I’ll be presenting. I don’t have an assigned topic; I’ve been asked to join several other distinguished lawyers on the Panel of Pundits, and we’ll be answering questions from, and posing questions to, the audience.
Other topics will include the always-popular case law update; several sessions on insurance and mortgage trends and issues; sessions on governance, fair housing, and construction defects.

While the majority of attendees have historically been attorneys, recent years have seen an increased attendance from managers, reserve professionals and even board members. An insurance masters program runs concurrently with the conference, so the insurance and risk management fields are also well represented.

Here, for the attendees of the seminar who requested access to the bills discussed at today’s seminar, are links to the bills:

Senate Bill 167 — the major bill, referenced as “UCIOA lite,” which significantly amends association governance, collections and insurance.

House Bill 104 — requiring all Utah community associations to register as a prerequisite to lien-based assessment collections.

House Bill 175 — dealing with record keeping and disclosure requirements

Senate Bill 89 — modifies associations’ obligations respecting reserve accounts

Senate Bill 117 — modifies the voting requirements for community associations that want to amend their declarations.

And here, as requested, is a link to the Community Association Institute’s service provider directory.  This list will lead you to members of the Community Associations Institute, which indicates commitment to that professional trade association; you may also wish to find providers that have received professional designations from CAI.  This database allows you to locate community managers who have earned their Certified Manager of Community Associations (CMCA) certification through NBC-CAM; Association Management Specialist (AMS), Large-Scale Manager (LSM), and Professional Community Association Manager (PCAM), through CAI. Also listed are professionals who have earned the Reserve Specialist (RS) and Community Insurance and Risk Management Specialist (CIRMS) designations, members of the College of Community Association Lawyers (CCAL), and companies that have earned the Accredited Association Management Company (AAMC) designation.

NBI has posted the materials for my February 21 seminar on Amending C, C & Rs and Bylaws.  I’m assuming it’s intended to be available to the public; their letter was rather unclear.  This repeat of the seminar will follow my attendance at the Community Association Institute’s Annual CCAL Law Conference, so I’m certain to have lots more knowledge to share.

• · Jim Strichartz, from Washington, says that his firm has 75 active foreclosures pending against lenders, with their goal being to get title to the property, and collect rent through a court-appointed receiver.  Other associations are seeking to remove bank-owned units from the association’s blanket insurance policies, so as to force the lenders to obtain (and pay for) their own insurance.  Obviously, that decision creates some significant risk, particularly where the uninsured units are integrated with other units.
• Several attorneys in the audience have obtained loans for their client associations through the Small Business Administration to cover uninsured casualty losses arising from earthquakes in California and floods in Georgia.  There are some interesting issues as to how (or if) those loans are being secured.
• The firm of Hindman Sanchez, in Colorado, offers a monthly “foreclosure hotline” to which homeowners can call in their foreclosure questions.  Loura Sancez reports that they’re not getting many calls, and the services would otherwise be free to their flat-fee clients, but she thinks it’s good marketing…
• Much of the discussion has now moved to how to deal with the confusing collection issues that are arising daily in today’s economy.  Lots of firms report that clients are moving based upon dissatisfaction with their attorneys’ collection success rates based upon historical expectations.
• David Swedelson is concerned about his associations that are deferring maintenance and repairs on their associations.  He was watching the news and saw an interview with a client board member, who was explaining that they couldn’t afford to repair the crater.  Needless to say, he called his client the next day to tell him to advise that they fix it immediately.  Some things cannot be deferred.
• George Nowack  and the members of  his firm are adding language to their declarations specifically providing that apathetic unit owners who don’t respond to several overtures for a vote will be deemed to support “whatever the association wants.”
• Several panelists and audience members are seeing their clients get unintentionally immersed into collection agency contracts that take not only past due, but also future assessments.   And no one on the panel or in the audience believes that credit reporting is of assistance.
• George Nowack reports that many of his firm’s associations are offering amnesty or partial amnesty on getting something.  These decisions, made on a case-by-case basis can be warranted by the business judgment rule.  Furthermore, associations have some flexibility in connection with late fees and interest.

today was frustrating, to say the least.  Some rooms had wireless; others did not.  And I foolishly left my wireless modem at home, or at the office.  Wherever it is, it’s not here.

At any rate, I was typing away during several presentations. And though they’re far from live, I will post them.  One in just a moment, and a few others in the morning.

Don’t forget that the College of Community Association Lawyers’ 31st Annual Law Seminar will be held in sunny (and less polluted) Tucson two weeks from tomorrow; you can still register here.

And if you can’t go, you should watch this site for information from the conference.  I’ll be live-blogging the sessions that I attend, and if Julie Ladle is at another, she’ll post a summary as well.  Topics to be discussed will include (among many other matters): difficult people, the economy (of course), rental restrictions, Chinese drywall, contested elections and the unauthorized practice of law.

And, of course, there will be case law and legislative updates.

at 10 a.m.

That is the scheduled time for UtahCondolaw’s Las Vegas / New Orleans update, which will be a 90 to 120 minute summary of what Julie Ladle and I learned in our trip recent trip to Las Vegas (for the College of Community Association Lawyer’s Community Association Law Conference), and my trip to New Orleans (for the ALI-ABA “Drafting Documents for Residential…Communities Conference).

There will be a $15 charge for the seminar, but that will be waived for clients, and most likely, (depending upon demand) for those who ask nicely. We’ll have light refreshments and beverages.

I am confident that the update will be time well spent, and there are very few seats available, so if you are interested, give Linda or I a call at 519-2555 (leave a message if you miss us).

And for those of you who may be too late, we hope (subject to technological abilities) to podcast the event, or even to have it available here on video. Updates on this will be posted on this blog (of course).