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Old Laws, Lingering Problems
Laws on condominiums and common
interest residential associations were written in the late 1960's by
developers, the FHA, and banker-lenders. HOAs were treated as property
issues, not as people’s homes. These old laws gave extensive powers to the
boards who ran the associations with their hired
surrogates, mainly attorneys and management firms. New laws were needed to
replace antiquated systems such as the NJ Condominium Act.
A new
trade association, Community Associations Institute (CAI), stepped in and
became dominated by the attorneys and management firms with membership from
all the trades that service property, everything from roofers to swimming
pool maintenance companies. Most states, including New Jersey, currently
have a chapter of CAI. CAI took on the task of writing the Uniform Common
Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA), a piece of national legislation that should
CAI get their way and have it become law, would allow association to
continue their wrongful behavior. The states that have passed UCIOA have
different versions except for Part V, which gives a state agency minimal
authority to oversee the activities of associations.
New
Jersey's HOAs Exposed
A
similar situation developed in New Jersey. Fortunately, in 1997, the NJ
Legislature enacted the Assembly Task Force To Study Homeowner
Associations, which consisted of three Legislators (Bateman, Gregg, and
Wisniewski), one Developer's Attorney, one Managing agent, two CAI
attorneys, and two HOA Board Members. Although the Task Force was hardly
representative of the interests of the individual homeowner, the hearings
did draw the testimony and recommendations from many homeowners, including
those from Lois and Sam Pratt, two of C-IHC’s founding members.
At
these hearings many homeowners learned that problems in their associations
were not unique and similar conflicts were occurring throughout the state.
It quickly became apparent that boards were acting as they did because they
could! There was virtually no limit to how they exercised their power
despite the negative impact it had on homeowners.
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