2011 Amendment to CIOA Concerning When and How an Association Must Hold Hearings for Unit Owners
The Connecticut General Assembly adopted Public Act No. 11-195 Sec. 4 during the 2011 legislative session. This made additional amendments to the Common Interest Ownership Act (CIOA) and manager registration statute. These amendments became effective October 1, 2011 and are attached through this link click here
One of the amendments (Section 47-278) concerns when and how an association must hold hearings for unit owners. This amendment raises some serious administrative concerns including additional workloads on volunteer Board of Directors and their committees. It also raises practical concerns to achieve compliance. There are also interpretative terms that need further clarity. We expect to vet these issues further to create greater clarity and best advise our managers and client communities how to best respond to these changes. In short summary the changes include the following requirements (for the full texts of the act please see the link to amendment above):
1. Notice Requirements - before an association brings an "action or institutes a proceeding" against a unit owner it must do the following:
a.) Schedule a hearing (regular or special meeting).
b.) Send a written notice (at least 10 days before the date of the hearing).
c.) The written notice must: i.) be sent by certified mail return receipt; requested and regular mail; ii.) include a statement of the nature of the claim and; iii. include the date, time and place of the hearing.
2. Hearing Requirements - At the hearing the rights of the unit owner include the following:
a.) The opportunity to give testimony (orally or in writing).
b.) The unit owner's testimony can be given personal or through representation.
c.) Board needs to consider testimony.
3. Post Hearing Requirements - The Board needs to make a decision after the hearing to do the following:
a.) Provide the unit owner with the Board's decision in writing.
b.) Send the decision by certified mail return receipt
requested and regular mail.
c.) Send the letter no later than 30 days after the
hearing.
4. Exceptions to the Notice and Hearing Requirements - These provisions do not apply to an action brought by an association against a unit owner in the following situations:
a.) To prevent immediate and irreparable harm, or;
b.) To foreclose a lien for an assessment attributable to a unit or fines imposed against a unit owner pursuant to 47-258.
Some of the new hearing requirements can be achievable by advance planning and by including opportunities for a hearing into the normal meeting structure. Even though the Executive Board is responsible for making the final decision after a hearing is conducted, it may be allowable to have a smaller committee of board members actually conduct the hearing in lieu of the full board and then make a recommendation to the board for final approval. The exception categories to the hearing requirements require further interpretation to determine exactly what might be considered as preventing immediate and irreparable harm. From a practical standpoint these changes warrant further discussion and coordination between the board and the property manager.
Although the ultimate decision on how a community complies with these new regulations rests with the Board of Directors, we will continue to explore how best to advise boards on how to achieve compliance, while respecting the difficult practical considerations that these requirements create. We wanted to share these changes with you and will look forward to having further discussions with you as we adapt together to these new CIOA amendments.
Thank you for reading the Imagineers Board Newsletter. If you have any question or need any additional information on any articles provided in this newsletter, please contact us at 1-800-560-7268.
Imagineers LLCEmail: Gpassacantando@imagineersllc.com
Phone: 1-800-560-7268
Fax: 860-236-3951
Web: http://www.imagineersllc.com
