Condo Media - September 2013 - 60

by Barbara Reilly

HOMEOWNERS
COLUMN NAME

Time to Dust Off Those Condo Docs
Musings and Misadventures of a Condo Owner

T

he term “condominium”
refers to a form
of property ownership. A condominium
contains two distinct areas — private units and
common elements (to
which all owners share
access). The “units”
within a community can
be apartments, commercial spaces, townhouses,
or separate homes. All
are governed by legally
recorded documents, the
condo docs, that bind
and place restrictions on
owners. Even though they
impose constraints of conformity, their enforcement
ensures the quality of living within the community.

The Documents

With a little bit of research, I discovered that
condominium documents
are made up of three basic
sections: 1) Declaration,
or CC&Rs; 2) Bylaws; and
3) Rules and Regulations.
The sample documents I
looked at ranged in length from 26 to
120 pages! However, even though the
length was different, they shared those
three commonalities in make-up. Perhaps a good place to start would be to
explore what’s in each of these sections.

1

Declaration (or CC&Rs). “This
document is basically the charter
document for your condominium or

60

Condo Media • September 2013

Declaration or CC&Rs in
order to be enforceable.
This is one mistake many
boards make — they
adopt restrictions on use
(such as bans on smoking
or pets in a unit) in their
Bylaws or Rules and Regulations without realizing
that those provisions are
unenforceable.”1 Additionally, the Declaration
“establishes the boundaries of the Condominium as a whole, as
well as the boundaries of the Percentage
Interest appertaining to
each Unit.”2 “Special
property rights within
the Condominium,
such as easements,”3
are also included in this
section.

2

Bylaws. “The
bylaws basically tell
you how your association should be run,
Poorly duplicated documents hinder usability.
administratively and
procedurally. Bylaws
contain information
homeowners development. In theory,
about voting processes, quorum
the Declaration/CC&Rs should conrequirements, how your Board is
tain all of the property- and use-related elected, how Board meetings and Asinformation about your association.
sociation meetings are run, and more.
Examples of what should be in this
Your Bylaws may not contain restricdocument include a description of the
tions on use or other property-related
development as a whole, descriptions
restrictions/information, nor should
of the units/lots within the developthey address issues such as rules of
ment, percentage allocations for each
conduct in the common areas. Conproperty, restrictions on use, and more. sider the Bylaws your how-to manual
In fact, restrictions on the use of your
for running your association, not for
unit/lot must be contained in the
controlling what people do in their



Condo Media - September 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Condo Media - September 2013

Condo Media - September 2013
Contents
From the CED’s Desk
Editorial Board
CAI News
CAI Regional News
Asked & Answered
Homeowner’s Corner
Pests
Maintenance
Legal
Vendor Spotlight
Insurance
Volunteer Spotlight
Self-Managed Association Boards
Homeowners
Classified Service Directory
Advertisers Index
Condo Media - September 2013 - Condo Media - September 2013
Condo Media - September 2013 - Cover2
Condo Media - September 2013 - Contents
Condo Media - September 2013 - From the CED’s Desk
Condo Media - September 2013 - 3
Condo Media - September 2013 - Editorial Board
Condo Media - September 2013 - 5
Condo Media - September 2013 - CAI News
Condo Media - September 2013 - 7
Condo Media - September 2013 - 8
Condo Media - September 2013 - 9
Condo Media - September 2013 - 10
Condo Media - September 2013 - 11
Condo Media - September 2013 - 12
Condo Media - September 2013 - 13
Condo Media - September 2013 - CAI Regional News
Condo Media - September 2013 - 15
Condo Media - September 2013 - 16
Condo Media - September 2013 - 17
Condo Media - September 2013 - 18
Condo Media - September 2013 - 19
Condo Media - September 2013 - Asked & Answered
Condo Media - September 2013 - 21
Condo Media - September 2013 - Homeowner’s Corner
Condo Media - September 2013 - 23
Condo Media - September 2013 - Pests
Condo Media - September 2013 - 25
Condo Media - September 2013 - 26
Condo Media - September 2013 - 27
Condo Media - September 2013 - Maintenance
Condo Media - September 2013 - 29
Condo Media - September 2013 - 30
Condo Media - September 2013 - 31
Condo Media - September 2013 - Legal
Condo Media - September 2013 - 33
Condo Media - September 2013 - 34
Condo Media - September 2013 - 35
Condo Media - September 2013 - 36
Condo Media - September 2013 - 37
Condo Media - September 2013 - 38
Condo Media - September 2013 - 39
Condo Media - September 2013 - 40
Condo Media - September 2013 - 41
Condo Media - September 2013 - 42
Condo Media - September 2013 - 43
Condo Media - September 2013 - 44
Condo Media - September 2013 - 45
Condo Media - September 2013 - 46
Condo Media - September 2013 - 47
Condo Media - September 2013 - 48
Condo Media - September 2013 - 49
Condo Media - September 2013 - Vendor Spotlight
Condo Media - September 2013 - 51
Condo Media - September 2013 - Insurance
Condo Media - September 2013 - 53
Condo Media - September 2013 - 54
Condo Media - September 2013 - 55
Condo Media - September 2013 - Volunteer Spotlight
Condo Media - September 2013 - 57
Condo Media - September 2013 - Self-Managed Association Boards
Condo Media - September 2013 - 59
Condo Media - September 2013 - Homeowners
Condo Media - September 2013 - 61
Condo Media - September 2013 - 62
Condo Media - September 2013 - 63
Condo Media - September 2013 - 64
Condo Media - September 2013 - Classified Service Directory
Condo Media - September 2013 - Advertisers Index
Condo Media - September 2013 - 67
Condo Media - September 2013 - 68
Condo Media - September 2013 - 69
Condo Media - September 2013 - 70
Condo Media - September 2013 - 71
Condo Media - September 2013 - 72
Condo Media - September 2013 - Cover3
Condo Media - September 2013 - Cover4
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