Posts about Associations

Perspectives on Mitigating Occupational Exposure to COVID-19: A Q&A with Shari Solomon, Esq.

WPM recently interviewed Shari Solomon, Esq., president and founder of CleanHealth Environmental, LLC. Ms. Solomon shared her expertise with WPM about how workplaces and residences can mitigate the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for their residents and tenants. WPM: What can you tell us about the importance of industrial hygiene generally, before COVID-19? Solomon: As an environmental consultant who specializes in industrial hygiene, I focus on occupational exposures to health hazards which pertain to safety concerns in working environments. For example, my colleagues and I may assess indoor air quality exposures, administer OSHA trainings, and/or provide infection prevention support to the healthcare field. My area of expertise is infection prevention. When I first started working as an industrial hygienist for the healthcare industry nearly 15 years ago, the primary focus was on the level of radiation that technicians might be exposed to, or the chemical hazards that pathologists may come into contact with during medical processes, for example. There is now a recognition of the safety hazards that may arise for environmental service technicians (the terminology we use for the housekeeping staff) in the healthcare field. For example, the average environmental services technician comes into contact with harsh disinfectants on a daily basis. We therefore assess procedures that help lessen their exposure. More recently, we have become more focused on biological sources of exposures, which is where our expertise can really help reduce the spread of the COVID-19. WPM: How has COVID-19 changed things for multifamily real estate, commercial real estate, and those organizations who provide services to individuals living and working in these types of properties? Solomon: COVID-19 has significantly affected many areas of our lives, which naturally will impact the “new normal” for where we live and work. For commercial real estate, the stay-in-place mandates coupled with the public’s natural reluctance to venture out means commerce has been curtailed. As a result, one of the biggest things that commercial property managers can do to encourage re-occupancy is to create and communicate a re-occupancy program. We can substantially mitigate the risk of infection by minimizing the opportunity for transfer. To do this, property managers should: Develop a policy that stipulates CDC guidelines, such as maintaining social distancing, wearing a mask, etc. Communicate the policy with occupants and tenants Continue to provide periodic validation that the policy is being followed and enforced. For multifamily real estate, the focus is not on re-occupancy, but on maintaining occupancy. The three steps listed above will also provide reassurance to multifamily residents, encouraging them to maintain occupancy. As for the guidelines that each policy should include (point number one, above), we recommend addressing the following: Adhere to recent CDC guidelines: As our understanding of COVID-19 evolves, it is important to follow the latest guidelines from the CDC. Each facility should appoint at least one person to regularly review these guidelines and update the policy accordingly. Mandate social distancing. Require that employees stand six feet apart and post signage to remind anyone who enters the building about this rule. Create visual cues to help people remember what six feet looks like. For example, one company drew circles around employees’ desks. Managers should also consider installing plexiglass or higher partitions. Require Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): PPE such as masks should be required in any indoor environment. Cleaning and disinfection: Create a cleaning schedule that includes frequent cleanings of the entire building, and in particular the high-traffic areas and high-touch surfaces. Hand hygiene: Encourage frequent hand washing by posting signage throughout the building and creating more wash stations. Create signage that discourages shaking hands and touching. Address indoor quality: Improve air quality by improving air circulation. Ensure your HVAC system is functioning well by continuing regular maintenance, which includes inspecting and changing air filters regularly. Also continue to look for ways to increase access to fresh air. Communication: It cannot be overstated that these safety procedures need to be communicated as the norm at frequent intervals. People get comfortable and will naturally slide into less strict adherence to the policy. It is up to property leadership to continue to communicate, monitor and enforce compliance. WPM: What do you believe are the most important challenges around “re-opening”? Solomon: I think maintaining vigilance about the health risk COVID-19 poses will be an ongoing challenge. It could be tempting to become relaxed about communicating and enforcing a building’s policies. We must not let this happen, but continually reference CDC guidelines to be sure we are offering the best in safety and compliance to our residents and tenants. WPM: Are there any new opportunities or positive changes you anticipate coming out of the pandemic? Solomon: I am glad to see industries more focused on infection prevention. This could be a positive shift toward a healthier lifestyle for all of us. I also think the new flexibility that allows us to work from home could have positive repercussions for both people’s work/life balance and productivity. WPM: What advice would you provide to multifamily and commercial real estate owners and related service providers as they begin to re-open? Solomon: People have a lot of anxiety right now because they feel like they have no power to fight against the spread of this virus. But I want to empower them to know that they can protect themselves if they take right measures to minimize the opportunity for transfer of infection. For example, I had a government client who was trying to figure out how to protect their employees when 90 percent of them arrived to work via public transportation. The manager felt powerless to contain the exposure. But I advised that there are six links in the “chain of infection.” If you break any one of those links, such as washing your hands to remove the pathogen or not touching your face, you can significantly reduce your risk. Or you can take ownership of sanitizing your personal desk space and requiring social distancing when talking to colleagues. You do have the power to reduce your risk! CleanHealth Environmental, LLC offers comprehensive training and consultation services for industrial hygiene fields and infection prevention. These services can both satisfy regulatory compliance in the field and provide valuable risk management solutions. For more information about CleanHealth visit www.cleanhealthenv.com.

WPM – Q&A Blog Interview with Craig Zaller Attorney, Craig Zaller – Nagle & Zaller, P.C.

Your Association’s Legal Questions, Answered! An interview with Craig Zaller, Managing Partner and Principal at Nagle & Zaller, P.C. We recently sat down with Attorney Craig Zaller from Nagle & Zaller, P.C. to get his thoughts on trends in the community association industry and important legal issues facing homeowners and the communities that they live within. WPM: Given the breadth and depth of experience in the community association industry, what trends do you see that you feel communities should be aware of? Zaller: First, I see a lot of aging infrastructure within communities, and a lack of funding for a Board of Directors to make the necessary repairs. This is a huge concern for many communities, and, in Maryland, there has been at least one Condominium that was terminated due to these issues. I worked on that case. As communities age, there is more and more need for physical improvements, especially for communities with common amenities, such as condominiums. If communities have not sufficiently funded their reserves, and do not have assessments that cover all their expenses and funding to their reserves, the Boards will not have the funds necessary to maintain the common amenities. The community then starts to deteriorate and falls into disrepair. To avoid these issues, I strongly urge communities to obtain reserve studies which address the components within each community, their life expectancy, and the estimated costs of replacement at the end of each component’s estimated life. A Board must take this into account in its budget and in setting its assessments. And, if a Board does not have the funds necessary to put money away in reserves and/or pay its bills, it needs to discuss increasing assessments, obtaining a loan and/or special assessing its owners so that the community has the funds needed to preserve, protect and enhance the property values within the community. Secondly, we are seeing significant issues with delinquent owners which can exacerbate the issues noted above and cause serious financial problems in these communities. There are more people today who are buying into communities that they struggle to afford. As such, many owners put less priority on paying their assessments. And, often, these owners do not have the funds necessary to maintain their properties themselves. If owners do not have enough money to paint their home, fix their siding, or install a new roof, for example, when necessary, then the property values of homes within that community may likely decrease. As such, Boards must enforce their “maintenance covenants” and ensure that all owners are properly maintaining their homes. The Board should budget for enforcement issues such as this, anticipating that many owners will not comply with their obligations. This brings up another important point: one of the most important jobs of the community association are the collection of assessments. Funds to operate the community only come from one source – the owners and their assessment payments. Assessments are the lifeblood of the community, and without these funds, a community cannot survive. Boards and their community association managers must aggressively pursue all owners who are delinquent. That can often include foreclosing on non-paying owners if the standard filing of liens and lawsuits does not resolve a case. Third, I see a lot more litigation today than I saw over twenty-five years ago when I started working in the community association industry . Homeowners seem to have become much more litigious. For example, owners are fighting boards and communities over things like covenant enforcement matters. Issues that should be very clear-cut, such as installing a property feature without permission, are rising to the level of litigation. Owners are now employing bodies of the law and coming up with creative arguments engineered by attorneys to try to get their clients/owners around the rules they agreed and consented to when they moved into the community. Some owners are using and/or manipulating the Fair Housing Act, as an example, to try to skirt the provisions in the Declaration and Bylaws of a community to obtain approval for a structure that would normally not be approved. This is not to say that there are not people who deserve to be protected in the manner that the Fair Housing Act was intended. Owners are obtaining notes from doctors to support requests for a “reasonable accommodation,” but the owner may not have a disability and they may be abusing the process. Oftentimes we can challenge these issues, but, the Fair Housing Act is a very complex area of the law and challenging an owner regarding issues such as this can be costly and risky, even if the owner is wrong. Boards are forced to make decisions that they would not otherwise have to make to avoid risky and costly litigation over these issues. This is an area where Attorney advice early is advisable. The point is that when you buy into a community, you are buying into the governance of that community and you should abide by the rules. Finally, most properties for sale today are in planned communities. It’s harder and harder for potential buyers to find properties that are not bound to covenants like you see in a community association. This makes for more owners that may wish to live as they please but are forced in a sense to comply with covenants that they do not personally care about. This sets the groundwork for internal struggle within a community and often creates disputes with owners who fundamentally do not agree with the concept of community association governance. WPM: Are there commonly overlooked issues or areas of legal risk that you see with community associations? Zaller: Failure to have an attorney review contracts with vendors is a grave legal risk. An Association may have large contracts with vendors, but the provisions in the contract do not necessarily protect the Association. They are drafted to protect the vendor. Opting not to have your attorney review the contract to save money in the end can be far more costly. Because of agreed upon contractual provisions, a community’s recourse, and the right to recover the legal fees expended fighting the vendor, even if you are right, can change the whole strategy in a case and may limit recovery should something go wrong. Using attorneys and having them review and revise contracts to protect an association should be deemed a necessary line item in each community’s budget. Too many communities do not budget the proper funds to use attorneys when needed, and, therefore, avoid using them, taking on great and unnecessary risks. I also see communities that do not fully understand their governing documents and the statutory and case law that override the same. Communities often think that the answer to any legal question can always be found in the community’s Declaration or Bylaws. But the provisions in the Declaration and Bylaws are often not correct, as there may be statutory law at the federal, state, or local level that overrides what is set forth in those documents. There is also case law to consider. Communities need to be aware of this and should have their documents reviewed by their attorney who can best advise them of the current state of law. WPM: How often should a community association revisit its legal documents? Zaller: While I don’t believe there is a set timeframe, I do think that your attorney should periodically review your governing documents to provide feedback on how to improve or respond to changes in the law and issues the community is facing. I often suggest a community review their governing documents with counsel as soon as they come out of developer control, as the governing documents for a community are often written from a developer’s angle and to protect the developer. However, everything changes once an owner- controlled board is in place and their goals are often very different than a developer’s. In addition, make sure that your attorney is publishing regular updates in the law through special client letters or on their websites and stay informed. The law can change quickly. WPM: What do you believe are the most important legal issues or protections a community association should implement, plan for, or prepare to address? Zaller: The most important thing a community can do is to protect itself financially and be financially sound. In addition, they need to ensure that their community’s governing documents provide the board with the power to do what is necessary to properly run the community. Finally, they need to be aware of and comply with insurance provisions in their governing documents and statutes on point including, most importantly, obtaining the proper fidelity insurance so that if their funds are stolen, as has happened many times in this industry, they will have coverage. WPM: What advice would you provide to a new incoming Community Association Board president? Zaller: First, it is important that they read all their governing documents. They should join the Community Associations Institute (CAI). They should seek the advice of their professionals when necessary. This includes talking to their managers, attorneys, accountants, and other board members, as well, to get the full picture of how their community operates. Finally, they need to always remember that their job is to preserve, protect and enhance the property values within the community. And, that includes enforcing the covenants, collecting assessments, looking out for the best interests of the community, and making the best reasonable decisions that they can for the community. Craig Zaller is the Managing Partner and Principal at Nagle & Zaller, P.C., a Columbia -based law firm that serves over 700 hundred communities in the Baltimore/ Washington area. The firm boasts more than 150 years of combined legal experience, provided in a personalized setting so you have access to the legal resources your community needs. Learn more about Craig and his team at www.naglezaller.com .

Life of the Streets

You get one chance to make a first impression. And for commercial properties, part of that first impression is based on the condition of the streets, driveways and parking lots that potential customers use before ever entering your building. Therefore, it’s imperative that property owners make a great first impression by Preventing and Preserving , to Prolong their drivable area’s useful life. Prevent. While wear and tear on your property’s asphalt is inevitable, you can slow the deterioration in the following ways: Fix drainage problems. Standing water seeps into asphalt causing it to crack and break down, creating potholes. Stop this problem before it starts by touring your property’s asphalted areas after a heavy rainstorm to see where water has pooled. Then redirect water flow to address these problem areas. Reduce the load. Larger vehicles such as trash trucks and commercial trucks wear down your property’s asphalt. So limit your asphalt’s load by positioning trash dumpsters near the entrance. You can also reinforce areas near loading docks to protect driveways from heavier trucks. Preserve. There are several routine maintenance tasks you should perform to extend the useful life of your property’s streets, driveways and parking lots. Seal it. Sealcoating your lot not only protects it from the elements, but it also keeps it looking fresh and new longer than a non-coated lot. Fill it. Small cracks will eventually appear in any asphalt or concrete surface. The key is to fill those small cracks before they become bigger cracks. Clean it. Keeping your lots and streets clean not only helps you create a great first impression, but also contributes to their longevity. Regular cleaning prevents damage caused by debris. It also makes it easier to see the condition of the lot and attend to problems. Prolong. Performing regular repairs and preventative maintenance to your drivable areas prolongs their life. This saves you money in the long run, as you’ll have to repave or replace your streets and lots less frequently. What’s more, it’s easier to budget for ongoing preventative maintenance. So remember: make a great first impression by Preventing and Preserving to Prolong !

Understanding FHA Certification

We are often asked by our condominium and homeowner Association clients: What is FHA certification? And why is it important for our Association to be FHA certified? Here’s what you need to know about both of these important questions. What is FHA certification? The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a division of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is a government-owned insurance company that insures home loans for buyers who cannot afford a conventional down payment or prefer to use their funds in other ways. The FHA has come up with specific criteria that it believes will help minimize the risk of default on home loans. And if your condo or homeowner Association is FHA Certified, then loans on the units in your development are eligible to be insured by the FHA. This does not mean that buyers obtain their loans from the FHA. Rather, eligible buyers obtain their loans from approved lenders and the FHA guarantees the loan. FHA certification is attractive to lenders because FHA-certified loans are eligible to be sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae is another name for the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), which the government created in 1938. Freddie Mac is another name for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), which the government created in 1970. These large financial institutions were created to stabilize the home mortgage market by purchasing home loans from lenders, in turn allowing lenders to replenish their capital funds to be able to issue more loans. For your Association to be eligible for FHA certified loans, your Association must meet requirements that fall into five general categories: Property type and use, Financial stability, Operational stability, Insurance requirements and Legal requirements. Why is it important for your Association to be FHA certified? FHA certification should be very important to your Association for several reasons: It adds value . FHA approval can actually increase the value of the properties in your Association. That’s because FHA approval makes it easier for more people to get loans to buy into your Association. The general adage is that the higher the demand, the greater the selling price. That’s good news for the value of the units in your Association. Naturally, the opposite is also true: for communities that don’t get FHA approval, it limits the available buyer pool. Less demand results in less value. It makes it easier to sell . When your Association is FHA certified, it opens up the resale of a unit to a greater pool of potential buyers. And, when demand is high, it is likely that units will sell more quickly and at the asking price. It commends your board to Owners . Working through the approval process sends a strong message to Owners that the Board cares about the Association and is positively contributing to the community’s value. FHA certification offers great value to your condominium Association. If your Board is ready to begin the process, you should seek the assistance of your property management firm or a third-party company who specializes in FHA certification.

Handling Homeowner Complaints

Being an HOA board member has its perks: you get to know your community really well, you have a say in your community’s governance, and you have a direct hand in enhancing and preserving the beauty of your neighborhood. But there are also quite a few challenges that any Association board member also may endure. And perhaps chief among those headaches are complaints from Homeowners. Below are some of the most common complaints and a few proactive strategies Board members can use to respond. Complaint: My neighbor is always parking in my spot! Many developments have assigned parking spots with limited spaces reserved for guests. Problems arise when other residents or guests park in their neighbors’ assigned spots. Some Association documents do not permit assigned parking and the problem arises when residents become accustomed to a particular “unassigned” spot and another resident parks there. Solution: When permissible in the Association documents, Boards should clearly establish parking rules and regulations and provide a complete explanation with diagrams. They can also create a parking committee to patrol the lots and tow accordingly after proper notice and hearing (again, dependent upon the documents). Complaint: The common areas are a mess! Cigarette butts on the sidewalks, trash left in the lobby, elevators door tracks that are dirty, overgrown flower beds and more can really detract from the appearance of a community’s common areas. Solution: Boards can respond by forming a committee of members who can monitor the common areas and report frequent offenders. Diligent property managers should also conduct frequent walk-throughs and determine if there is a recurring problem that needs to be addressed. For example, is the lobby trash can always overflowing? Add more trash cans or ask the janitorial crew to empty it more often. Regarding outdoor shared spaces, Boards along with the Manager should meet with the landscaping company or janitorial service before contracts are executed as well as periodically throughout the year to clarify ongoing expectations. Complaint: My assessment fees are too high! While residents may understand and agree to their annual fees before moving in, that doesn’t mean that they have to like them! Solution: Boards can (1) do their best to keep Association fees low, and then (2) communicate the value that these fees enable the Association to provide. In order to keep fees as low as possible for Homeowners, boards, through the Manager, should carefully examine all contracts when preparing the annual budget. Verification that vendors are fulfilling their contracts, as well as routinely securing additional comparable proposals to ensure the association is getting the best services and rates is best practice. Once certain that they are doing all they can to keep costs down, boards should communicate their achievements to the Homeowners! Boards should explain existing contracts and the annual budget to residents in written communications. They may also consider creating a Q&A sheet of frequently asked questions to further explain the amenities, services and maintenance that a Homeowner’s assessment actually supports. Complaint: My neighbor isn’t following the rules! My neighbor’s fence height, or lawn art, or loud music is a violation of our documents! When a neighbor infringes on another resident’s rights, the wronged party is usually eager to air his grievances with the board. Solution: The first step in addressing this complaint is to ensure that residents are clear about Association documents. When dealing with renters, boards may be able to adopt a rental lease addendum that requires a signature from the unit owner and the tenant to ensure that both have received, read and understand the rules of the community. When working with homeowners, hold outreach events that foster a sense of community. This gives neighbors the opportunity to get to know each other on a more personal level, building esprit de corps . Grievances can be discussed candidly and directly with the neighbor. Then the board may not even need to get involved. Complaint: My neighbor isn’t picking up her dog’s poop! While this could have fallen under “The common areas are a mess” complaint, the frequency with which boards encounter this particular problem earned it its own category! In fact, boards regularly receive a whole host of complaints about pets, such as dogs that bark incessantly, animals that are not properly restrained in a fenced yard or on a leash or breeds that are too large and violate an Association’s rules about the types of pets allowed. Solution: Boards can encourage residents to report violations in writing to the animal control division of the municipality as well as management. Neighbors could even try to get photo documentation of the offending dog. Boards should make it easy for residents to dispose properly of pet waste by providing bag dispensers and animal-waste stations. And for animals that routinely violate the noise ordinance or are not on the list of approved breeds/size, then it could mean (depending on the Association’s documents) that either the dog goes or the resident must go! As long as there are people living in close proximity to other people, there will be complaints. Good boards know that addressing complaints is not just a chore and a headache. Rather, it’s an opportunity to serve community members and help each resident enjoy their neighbors and neighborhood to the fullest.

Today’s Digital Customer Base

Before the internet, if you needed to get in touch with your property manager, you picked up the phone or marched down to the front desk in person. Obviously, all of that has changed for today’s renters and homeowners. They have multiple channels through which they can seek answers and access information about their community, including websites, Facebook pages, email and text. And increasingly, residents are managing more and more of their community needs through their personal online account. For example, WPM Real Estate Management makes it possible for residents to create an account, then download an app to their phones. The app allows them to address all their management needs—such as submitting a maintenance ticket, paying rent, checking their account balance or getting information about amenities—right from their phone. Benefits of Property Management Software For the most part, digital access has proven extremely helpful for both managers and residents. Modern property management software offers many benefits: 1. Communication. Using software helps to eliminate errors, as the software maintains an electronic record of all communications between property manager and the resident. Also, it helps property managers keep residents informed about the status of their requests—from confirmation that the request was received, to estimated time of a repair, to notification that the job is completed. Such regular updates might be difficult for a staff member to provide, especially if that individual is managing multiple properties. 2. Efficiency. Property managers can track and respond to needs more promptly. Plus, the software can help prioritize requests so that the most urgent ones are attended to first. Also, the software automates a lot the tasks that property managers used to have to oversee. 3. Customer Service. Because property managers can be more efficient, it’s easier for them to stay on top of resident requests and ultimately ensure resident satisfaction. 4. Convenience. An app that allows residents to manage all of their community needs via smart phone provides a valuable amenity for residents. Despite these many benefits, there are some disadvantages that savvy property managers work hard to avoid. “While the benefits of property management software are many, using software exclusively to communicate would virtually eliminate face-to-face communication,” cautions WPM Director of Multimedia Marketing and Communications Brent Gratton. “At WPM, we encourage managers to go out of their way to build rapport with residents and to look for opportunities for in-person interactions. For example, many of our communities host social events. Our managers make an effort to be present at these events and meet residents and hear about their experiences.” Gratton also cautions that, when it comes to communicating with residents, there is no “one size fits all” solution. “Software doesn’t always perfectly fit everyone’s needs,” explains Gratton. “Residents may have varying comfort levels with managing their community via an app. And some may prefer to receive communications through text messaging, while others may prefer email, while still others rely on paper communication.” Luckily, Gratton has a simple solution for property managers trying to determine their residents’ preferred methods of communication: “Ask them!” “When residents first apply to live in our communities, this is one of the first questions we ask. We want to make sure that our information is reaching them. But we also don’t want to annoy them by contacting them through too many channels or reaching out through media they don’t monitor.” Associations’ Digital Customer Base Property management software can also be advantageous for Associations. In addition to the benefits listed above, Association-specific management software centralizes the community’s information and makes it easier for board members to access and perform their responsibilities, such as managing contracts, financial reports, tracking delinquencies and submitting work orders. WPM recently adopted an association website software platform called SenEarthCo. “It’s so helpful to have all of a community’s information in one location,” explains WPM Association Management Support Supervisor and Executive Assistant Rita Dore. “Board members can tend to their responsibilities in real-time. And residents appreciate the convenience of accessing their information online.” Today’s digital customer base expects options when managing their community’s account. Good multifamily and association managers will do their best to communicate with their customers by whatever individual manners they prefer. Software often makes the job easier for managers and more convenient for residents. But there’s no substitute for a dedicated, attentive manager.