Condo Media - September 2013 - 62

HOMEOWNERS

How Were the
Documents Created?

It is the responsibility of the developer
to generate (or have generated, usually with the assistance of an attorney)
the condo documents. Although, as
explained above, documents contain
common sections, and hopefully the
developer has taken the trouble to craft
your documents to reﬂect the unique nature of your condominium community.
“‘Off the rack’ documents may be good
enough for some condominiums, but
there is nothing like custom tailoring.”5

Local documents must be in compliance with the Condominium Act of
the state in which the development is
located. The state condominium act is,
itself, superseded by the federal rules
and regulations that pertain to condominiums, very similar to the pecking
order that applies to other laws in
the United States. In fact, “There is
no federal condominium law,” states
Janet Aronson, Esq., “but there are
federal laws that apply to condominiums — such as Federal Fair Housing
Act—which prohibits discrimination.

Federal trumps state law and condo
docs. So regardless of what documents say — applicable federal law will
control.”
Because state and federal regulations change, unless you have had
your condo docs subjected to a “legal
audit” within the past couple of
years, it is entirely possible that your
documents contain language that
violates state or federal standards. “In
determining the need for amending
the Condominium Documents, it is
wise to undertake a ‘Legal Audit’ to:
(1) ensure that all legal requirements
have been met and followed (i.e.,
properly establishing the Condominium and the Condominium Association, and that the required governmental filings have been submitted),
and (2) determining the overall
effectiveness of the Condominium
Documents in terms of ensuring they
are clear, reasonable, and suited to
the individual needs of your project,
while dealing with critical issues such
as insurance coverage, restrictions,
collection of assessments, clear and
specific pronouncement of prohibitions, enforcement procedures, and
director and officer indemnification,
among other things.”6 Your attorney
is the person to consult with about
this. Amending the condo documents is not always an easy process
because a 67 percent super-majority
is usually needed to enact changes
and, depending on the nature of the
amendment, sometimes a 100 percent
unanimous vote is needed.

Usability

If your condo documents are anything
like ours used to be, their usability
(already impeded by the hard-to-interpret, “legalese” jargon in which they
are written) is further hindered by the
quality of the document printing. In
condominiums that were established
prior to the advent of word processors
and Xerox copiers, antiquated typing
and poor duplication make the reading of the documents difficult on the
eyes. For this reason, our association
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Condo Media - September 2013

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