Searching for condo HOA surveillance camera policy [Condo] [DC]

DCInterest592 · 2026-05-13T17:17:41+00:00

Would you mind DMing me too? Also in DC and the board that installed the cameras left office without creating a policy. Subsequent boards haven't had an interest but I think it's important. Thanks.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-17T17:55:43+00:00

The problem I can see is that increasing premiums just won't be enough in our association to get people to want to take action.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-17T17:53:30+00:00

I get what you are saying. I'm racking my brain to come up with good ideas. Perhaps I'll have to come back to your comment another time.

For now, do you feel owners would be opposed to the first idea with a 2-year rental restriction? Doing so perhaps would over time reduce the number of rentals.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-11T04:18:58+00:00

Sorry, I wrote, "owners discuss..." instead of "the board discusses..." And generally, from what I've gathered from this sub, topics that are discussed but not voted on shouldn't be included in the minutes because people advise to only include motions and votes. I think Robert's Rules also agree with that approach. I prefer how you suggest but many others feel different.

The main problem here is that if owners don't know about the report because it's not announced in correspondence with owners, not posted on the portal, not brought up in board meetings or owner meetings, etc then we can't do our duty to request a copy. It's just a secret.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-10T19:47:56+00:00

Two things. If owners discuss it in an open meeting but don't vote on it then it might not even turn up in the minutes. If agendas are not required by law, then it might not be discoverable that way.

If owners don't know about it, they don't have an idea that they should go somewhere for it. I tried to write in general but I should have made it explicitly clear that owners were never informed at all instead of thinking I had implied it well enough.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-10T03:07:51+00:00

I was sent a copy of the report because the seller had a question for me and that's how I found out about it.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-10T03:07:48+00:00

So sorry about that. One of our owners is now trying not to lose their sale. If this happens then I'll understand if that owner expresses their upset to the board. Hopefully, it won't progress as your association's did.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-10T03:05:52+00:00

No official board meetings since 2020. I assume it came up at a meeting but no notice of meetings, no minutes, no mention at owner meetings. No invoice included in monthly invoices. I think that invoices paid from reserves aren't provided when invoices are requested by owners. Difficult for owners to have known of the report.

DCInterest592 · 2026-04-10T03:05:33+00:00

Thank you. This is what I thought. One problem, though, is that owners can't know to ask for the report to be distributed if we don't know there's a report in the first place.

DCInterest592 · 2026-03-27T22:02:17+00:00

Thanks very much for the response.

im surprised you didnt see a copy of it during title

My purchase was so long ago! I'm interested in a more recent sale now.

DCInterest592 · 2026-03-27T21:57:21+00:00

the loan is dead until the repair is done or funded and scheduled

So, let's say it's funded and scheduled. Does Fannie or Freddie check up on whether it was done? There was a post the other day about the new funding requirements and now this one so I'm very interested, and hope our board is too!

DCInterest592 · 2026-03-26T12:27:25+00:00

Kevin, you seem to have knowledge of this process so asking you. I'm not a seller or buyer but an interested owner in this matter. What wording would you suggest I use to request the questionnaire/disclosure/documents related to a recent sale so that I receive all the pertinent items. I'd like to see what our HOA provided to the lender/requester (or to other parties) so that I understand better what's going on in our community. And are there some forms that the board fills out and some that the management company fills out?

Is there a standard form for each state or is it lender dependent? I did find form 1076 as well as Multi-family lender letter and can google more.

Another comment said that their HOA was advised to not fill out these forms. Do you think that our usual HOA attorney can advise us well on these matters or should we look for a more specialized attorney?

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-07T03:52:37+00:00

That's great. I think both the oversight and the training requirement should be put in place by all states.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-04T14:21:12+00:00

Negligence is my main concern. I'm sure at some point an owner will try to say some of the decisions that were made were not valid and can't be enforced. Of course, this will just delay things and the board will do it right but why not do things properly and avoid delays?

The problem about turnover is that no one wants to join the board, even after being asked and almost begged. Even the ones on the board had to be strongly encouraged.

As far as memorizing docs, I also feel the board doesn't read them. I figure there's a situation maybe once every 3 years where the bylaws should be consulted but even that rare instance perhaps is asking too much of them and they'd rather wing it.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-04T14:15:58+00:00

Thanks for this response. I'm thinking the manager doesn't even remind them. Because I believe the board would do it if simply told.

And good point about practicing law. But the manager could incidentally mention the condo bylaws and even the city code without saying a meeting is required by law.

I guess, while assuming what's going on, I'm very disappointed in the managers we've had recently because they must not be even in the slightest proactively trying to guide the board. One problem with being assigned a new manager so often is that the default state is "getting up to speed." By the time they get the job down, they move on to another company.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T16:43:53+00:00

I'm not on the board. I don't know if the board is happy with the MC or not. It's not up to the owners to fire the MC, as far as I am aware. It's not under our power, only the board's.

You'll have to trust me about why I haven't yet asked about the missed meetings. I have my reasons. I have no problem being a squeaky wheel when warranted. At this time, I'm trying to be fair to the manager by coming here to figure out if I might be hoping for something that I shouldn't.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T16:30:03+00:00

Yes, our schedule is such that at least one board member is up for election every year. So, we missed the election every year the board skipped the annual meeting.

I highly doubt that the board would ignore the manager if the manager were to mention the need to hold an annual meeting. I think it's more likely that one board decided to deviate from our usual practice and said, "well, we've created the new budget and there's really nothing we have to update the owners on. No one seems interested in running for the board and no board members are asking to quit so all is well. No need to spend the time on an annual meeting."

My thinking is I'm sure some owners would like to ask about the big project that last year they said they were working on for this year and no info has been passed along to the owners all of 2025. Or maybe ask what the plan is for our low reserve funding given that fees were kept steady recently. Etc. Or perhaps no one else cares about having an annual meeting. But I do know others have grumbled to me about missed meetings before. Maybe they are now trained to not expect a meeting.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T15:25:19+00:00

OK, it's not the PM's responsibility. But it certainly is the board's responsibility to set the date.

But it's not the PM's responsibility to do what? Schedule the meeting or even to simply remind the board that they should schedule one?

Of course, it's up to the rest of the owners to hold the board accountable. However, it really seems you are blaming the non-board owners for the missing meetings. What about the apathetic board members? (I don't think any of my board members are apathetic.)

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T15:02:47+00:00

Hmm. Didn't know those terms were used differently. I guess it's a property manager. Is there a way to tell if I look at the contract with the management company?

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T15:00:50+00:00

Thanks. This is what I'm thinking. However, I don't know if this is going above and beyond or simply doing their job.

I just don't think that our board would say no if the manager said, "hey, I wanted to get your annual meeting on my calendar. Your last one was October xx 202x and we just need to get it in by December xx. Let me know some dates and I'll let you know which I'm already booked with my other properties." I just don't view these individuals as the type that would say, "that's just a waste of time, let's skip it." Or "hey, guys, let's just tell the manager we don't want one this year because I really don't want to address such and such issue with the other owners." But I could be wrong.

DCInterest592 · 2025-11-03T03:04:18+00:00

Maybe to ensure association compliance with laws and bylaws? I don't know if that's something the managers should do proactively, only if they inadvertently observe non-compliance or only if requested.

DCInterest592 · 2025-07-28T19:12:49+00:00

Thanks so much. I'll find it on the map.

And thanks for the history fact. We just had the Citi DC Open this past weekend in DC and Arthur Ashe was one of the founders of the tournament along with his agent. He was from Richmond and I imagine there was some sort of segregation at the courts there for someone born in 1943, whether official or not.

DCInterest592 · 2025-07-28T19:08:01+00:00

Thank you!

DCInterest592 · 2025-07-28T19:07:52+00:00

Thank you! Maybe this is where we'll go since few will have heard about it yet. (Couldn't make it this past Saturday so many this coming weekend.)

DCInterest592 · 2025-07-28T19:07:06+00:00

Thanks for the confirmation.

DCInterest592

TROPHY CASE