Condos and Condon'ts: Best practices in association management.

• Author: Rhode, Scott

Homeowners' associations (HOAs) are, in a way, the smallest unit of government, Neighbors follow a charter that defines their rights and responsibilities. Alaskans, being famously individualistic, might perceive this arrangement as a nuisance.

For example, "If you leave your trash can and your HOA has a rule about how long you can leave it on the sidewalk, your HOA is the city in that instance, and they will fine you $25 or whatever the rules are," explains Chris Hoke, president and founding lawyer of HOA Legal Services in Anchorage. "It really is another little government that you agree to live in and abide by the rules."

Annoying as it might be, some Alaskans do agree to those rules. "The reason people choose to live in these communities is to retain property values and also to get the services that the HOA is obligated to provide by their declaration and rules," says Sarah Badten, an attorney with Birch Horton Bittner & Cherot. "I too live in an HOA, and I love my HOA. I've donated many hours to my own personal HOA. It's a little community within a community."

Badten pays association dues on top of housing expenses for a property she already owns. The service may be costly, but she says members get what they pay for,

Hoke agrees. "The magic of HOAs is that you share common expenses, so in your parking lot instead of having twenty different snow plows come through when we get a dusting, we all agree that we're going to have one company do it, and we all pay," he says.

Community associations--the broader term for HOAs, whether for detached homes or connected condos-are nominally not-for-profit business entities governed by corporate law, yet the comparison to a tiny hamlet is unavoidable.

Talk to the Manager

In the mini government of an HOA, the board of directors is the legislative branch, setting policies and priorities. It is also the executive branch, in theory, yet that authority is often delegated to a property manager. As the board's agent, the manager is hired help, as surely as the contractor that changes the light bulbs or picks up the trash.

Although subordinate to the board, a property manager wields enormous power. Managers handle day-to-day business, while resident members interact with management on a month-to-month basis, if at all. Relying on a manager's expertise is exactly why the board pays them.

It shouldn't be that way, says Dannielle Mellor with Association Management of Alaska (AMA). "My job is to facilitate the governing body to run their community," she says. "I am not there to make those decisions for them."

Mellor oversees twenty-one associations in the Anchorage area in tandem with an...