Condo Media - December 2017 - 41

NEW ENGLAND UPDATE
Familiar issues continue to dominate the agendas of CAI's Legislative
Action Committees, as the current year ends and they contemplate
what the new year is likely to bring. Some things may have changed
since we compiled this information in October, but here are the highlights the LACs were reporting then.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Lawmakers approved two laws affirming the right of owners to obtain
information about association governance: The first requires that
boards make the minutes of meetings available within 60 days of
the meeting or within 15 days after the board has approved them,
whichever occurs first. The measure includes wording the LAC had
requested, specifying that the "official minutes" are those recorded by
the secretary of the board or someone the board designates.
The second measure affirms that owners must have access to
financial information about the association, but clarifies that personal
information about individual owners is excluded. Under this measure,
Gary Daddario, chair of the New Hampshire LAC and a partner in
Winer and Bennett, LLP, explained, a lien against an owner would be
accessible, but a delinquent payment would not be, unless a lien had
been recorded because of it. The LAC had wanted to exclude lien filings, Daddario said, noting, "I wish we hadn't gone down that road." But
since liens are recorded at the Registry of Deeds, "we couldn't argue
that this was private information."
Both access-to-information measures specify that owners' requests
must be in writing, and both took effect in August.
The LAC has been watching closely the actions of a permanent
legislative subcommittee charged with studying laws related to condominium and homeowner associations. The committee, which had been
almost dormant for several years, has begun holding regular meetings,
Daddario noted, and is now working on legislation to counter a decision
by the New Hampshire Supreme Court that triggered an outcry from
the condominium community. The decision allowed a developer to
circumvent statutory limitations on development rights, creating serious problems for condominium communities, which, Daddario noted,
"the committee is working very hard to correct." If they don't meet the
deadline for submitting legislation this term, he added, "they're going
to seek a filing extension."
MAINE
The last legislative session ended in July and the new one doesn't start
until January. During the long hiatus, lawmakers have been focusing
intently on the new law authorizing recreational use of marijuana, "and
there are many issues still being debated," Bruce McGlauflin, the LAC
chairman and a partner in Petruccelli, Martin & Haddow, LLP, reports.
Primary among them: how many marijuana plants individuals will be
able to grow in a residence. "Nothing is set in stone yet," he said. "It's
still a moving target. And we're keeping an eye on it."
Most of his condominium clients have been focusing on how to
respond to owners who want to smoke marijuana-"they haven't been
talking about growing it." On the smoking question, he's recommending that associations amend their governing documents to enact a
smoking ban that covers marijuana.
December 2017

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Condo Media - December 2017

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