Condo Media - August 2017 - 26

Legislative Update
minutes of board meetings and the
other with their access to association
financial information. On the first, the
legislation requires boards to respond
within 15 days to requests for the minutes. The LAC suggested, and legislators approved, language requiring that
those requests be submitted in writing.
"We thought it was important to create
a written record on which boards could
rely, in the event of a disagreement,"
Daddario explained.
The LAC also suggested, and won,
language specifying that boards are
required to provide only the "official
minutes," prepared by the secretary of the
association or someone designated by the
board to perform that task. Additionally,
the legislation authorizes boards to approve minutes by email, eliminating the
requirement for a formal vote in a regular
meeting. Absent that authority, Daddario
explained, boards that meet monthly or
less frequently could not comply with a
15-day request for the minutes.
On the second measure, dealing with
access to financial information, law-

makers added language excluding "personal" financial information of owners,
and authorizing boards to charge a fee
for information that is more than three
years old.
The amendment process for the
two measures "has gone well" in both
the House and Senate, according to
Daddario, who said he expected both
bills to win final approval before the legislature adjourned (after Condo Media's
deadline) in July.
RHODE ISLAND
Focusing again on condominium foreclosures, the Rhode Island legislature
is considering a two-part measure. The
LAC supports one of the provisions,
dealing with the advertising requirements
for foreclosures, but strongly opposes
the other, giving owners a 30-day right of
redemption after a condominium foreclosure action. The Rhode Island super lien
statute gives mortgage lenders that redemption right, allowing them to reverse
a foreclosure by paying all of the owners'
delinquent fees and the association's
attorneys' fees, not subject to the limitations (six months of delinquent payments
and $5,000 in attorneys' fees) that would
apply to pre-foreclosure actions.
The lenders' redemption right recognizes that in large financial institutions
with far-flung offices in multiple states,
foreclosure notices may not always
reach the individuals who can act on
them, Edmund Allcock, Esq., CCAL, a
partner in Marcus, Errico, Emmer &
Brooks, P.C., and co-chair of the Rhode
Island LAC, explained. But there is no
need, and no justification, he said, for
providing a similar redemption right
for foreclosed owners. "Owners have

gotten notices of their delinquencies,
they know they haven't paid their fees,
and they know they're being foreclosed
on. Why should they also get a postforeclosure redemption right? It makes
no sense," Allcock argues.
The measure has been referred to a
committee for further study, and, he
predicts, "it will probably be stuck there.
But bills can be released suddenly, sometimes on the last day of the session," he
noted, "so we're watching it carefully."
The LAC is also watching, and opposing, a measure that would allow
condominium owners or associations
to insist on non-binding arbitration for
most disputes. The LAC's position is that
the legislation is both pointless and unnecessary. The arbitration requirement
simply adds a step to the process and
increases the costs, but it doesn't resolve
disputes, Allcock observed, because either
party can reject the mediator's recommendation and pursue court action. If
condominium boards want to pursue an
alternative dispute resolution process, he
noted, they can ask owners to amend their
governing documents accordingly.
That argument prevailed last year,
when the arbitration measure won
committee approval, but never came
up for a vote. This year, the House has
actually approved the bill, but "we don't
think its prospects are very good in the
Senate," Allcock said. "We're hoping it
won't come up at all, or that it will be
rejected if it does."
MASSACHUSETTS
The Massachusetts legislative docket
includes more than 50 measures affecting condominiums in some way. Two
of them are bills the Massachusetts

The Rhode Island super lien statute gives mortgage lenders that
redemption right, allowing them to reverse a foreclosure by paying all of the
owners' delinquent fees and the association's attorneys' fees, not subject to
the limitations (six months of delinquent payments and $5,000 in attorneys'
fees) that would apply to pre-foreclosure actions.
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CONDOMEDIA

Condo Media - August 2017

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