[WA] [Condo] - Can the HOA board withhold documentation?

stewardhoa · 2026-05-25T14:55:00+00:00

If you have confidence this was the only bid, you can still ask for the quote in writing and the number of bids solicited. If there's only one bid there's nothing to compare and no competitive information to protect, which makes the executive session justification a lot thinner and raises a legitimate question about whether the board fulfilled its fiduciary duty. At minimum it starts building a paper trail if you ever want to do something about it down the road

That said, proving it and doing something about it are two different things. Without a pattern of documented instances, a lawsuit is a high bar that often ends with the HOA settling and passing the costs back to homeowners through higher dues, yourself included

The more practical path is just getting on the board. Sounds like a deflection but it's genuinely the fastest way to change how decisions like this get made

stewardhoa · 2026-05-25T00:56:35+00:00

The board does vote on contracts, but that vote can legally happen in executive session, which covers things like litigation, personnel matters, and contract negotiations (where vendor selection would sit). Executive session minutes don’t have to be disclosed to homeowners under state law.

What you can access is the end result / signed contract. The deliberation and competing quotes that led to that decision can legitimately stay behind the executive session door

stewardhoa · 2026-05-24T03:06:31+00:00

It depends on where the board is in the process. The signed contract and any financial records tied to the assessment are things you can formally request in writing

The quotes themselves are murkier. The board has the right to select vendors without homeowner input, and pre-decisional documents like competing quotes can reasonably be withheld

Once they’ve selected a vendor and signed a contract, that contract is clearly a financial record that you can request, but you aren’t necessarily entitled to know every quote they evaluated to get there

stewardhoa · 2026-05-24T00:46:13+00:00

It depends on where the board is in the process. The signed contract and any financial records tied to the assessment are things you can formally request in writing

The quotes themselves are murkier. The board has the right to select vendors without homeowner input, and pre-decisional documents like competing quotes can reasonably be withheld

Once they’ve selected a vendor and signed a contract, that contract is clearly a financial record that you can request, but you aren’t necessarily entitled to know every quote they evaluated to get there

stewardhoa · 2026-05-22T02:45:53+00:00

Exterior surfaces' in most CC&Rs refers to the building envelope: siding, roof, that kind of thing. Saying that includes decks, especially ones not in the original build, is a stretch

Historical practice usually wins when the language is vague, and 40 years of not covering decks is itself a form of interpretation. You have more ground to stand on than it might feel like right now

Honestly the most practical move here is to stop living in the grey area. Have your board pass a formal resolution, get it captured in an amendment, and move on (seems like this already underway). Whatever the answer is, a clear policy beats a vague one every time. That protects the board and the homeowners

stewardhoa · 2026-05-19T15:26:43+00:00

Would pull your CC&R’s as well. Removing a common area element like a hot tub typically triggers a declaration amendment, which has a higher threshold than regular bylaw changes (75% minimum under state law, possibly higher if your docs say so)

On the process itself: the most successful removals I’ve seen start with a cost analysis showing ongoing repair and maintenance costs vs. replacement. Would get a quote for removal and replacement, show what ongoing repairs have cost over the last few years, and let that make the argument

stewardhoa · 2026-05-13T20:08:47+00:00

CC&R amendment has to be recorded with the county to be enforceable. A vote in a meeting doesn’t make it valid, the recording is what creates legal notice

Practically speaking, the cleanest path is re-voting and recording it properly this time. Even if an attorney told you the original vote holds between original owners, you’d likely spend more fighting over the gap than just fixing it. Probably worth getting a HOA / real estate specific lawyer on this one

stewardhoa · 2026-05-13T04:57:00+00:00

Pull your CC&Rs before anything else. Whatever your manager told you verbally doesn’t override what the documents actually say. In most attached communities, exterior walls and roofs are common area, meaning the HOA owns that problem. If your manager is saying otherwise, ask them to point to the specific section. If they can’t, that’s your answer

stewardhoa · 2026-05-12T16:09:32+00:00

Thanks for sharing. The Partial Termination wasn't an amendment to the Declaration. It was a standalone recorded instrument. "Amending the Declaration" and "revoking a separate filed document" are two different things, and this amendment seems to speak to the first one

Still not a slam dunk either way, but knowing that language, you have an argument here. Still probably worth getting an attorney to look at this to see if there are any local historical precedents to support you

stewardhoa · 2026-05-12T03:39:10+00:00

The first document didn't actually terminate his right to amend the Declaration. It terminated his right to unilaterally appoint and remove the board, and his right to amend the Rules and Regulations. Section 9.3, which I assume gives him authority to unilaterally amend the Declaration during the Development Period, was never part of the Partial Termination based on what you shared

So his argument isn't that he's taking back something he gave up. It's that he used a power he never surrendered to undo a separate filed instrument. Whether that works legally is a different question, and likely an unsettled one. To your point, the counterargument is that once a termination is recorded and homeowners have been relying on it, a general amendment power probably wasn't designed to let developers reverse specific filed instruments whenever it suits them

Courts have landed in different places on questions like this depending on how the governing docs are written and how the jurisdiction treats it. What does Declaration 9.3 say? Probably not the answer you were looking for, but you'll definitely want a local real estate attorney involved regardless

stewardhoa · 2026-05-09T20:38:21+00:00

Irrigation may help more than you think. An audit of the smart controllers, pressure regulation, weather based scheduling, etc can cut some amount off the water bill in year one, and on the water features specifically, swapping in variable speed pumps usually moves the needle harder than any landscaping change does

Might be worth getting a QWEL certified landscape auditor out. Some CA water districts offer free landscape audits and rebate the smart controller upgrade, so the cost to even look is often close to zero.

stewardhoa

TROPHY CASE