Matthew Winton's Oklahoma Condominium & Homeowner Associations Blog

2010 Neighborhood Alliance Basic Legal Issues for HOAs slides

Here are the power point slides for the 2010 Neighborhood Alliance Basic Legal Issues for HOAs presentation: Download NA Basic Legal Issues For Homeowners Associations Workshop - 2010 - June and July

Matthew L. Winton, community association lawyer.

Oklahoma State Association of Parliamentarians 2010 Seminar - Slides

Download 2010 - Oklahoma Parliamentarian Workshop for the slides of my 2010 Oklahoma State Association of Parliamentarians presentation on Oklahoma condominium and homeowner associations, corporate law, and parliamentary procedure.

Thanks to Rod Davidson, professional registered parliamentarian and 2010 president of OSAP, for a great educational weekend.

When green meets the black letter…

In recent years, society has seen an increased interest in the "green movement."Loosely defined, the green movement seeks to incorporate more sustainable and Earth-friendly building and living practices into daily life. How does this comport with established guidelines for living within common interest communities?

For example, one aspect of green living may be to eschew the machine dryer for a clothesline. Yet, many if not a significant majority of real property covenants on file restrict clotheslines. What about edible landscaping? Perhaps such landscaping design doesn't meet the community's standard for yard maintenance. How are we to reconcile the urge to live more softly within the common interest community framework?

Of course, the community may amend their governing documents to expressly allow certain sustainable practices. But, governing document amendment projects may be difficult or impossible depending on the interest level among the owners. In some areas, legislation is being adopted to "trump" restrictive covenants, such as laws expressly allowing solar panels and private wind generators to be installed on lots within community associations. Some owners simply ignore covenants risking lawsuit – see for example the story of one Flower Mound, Texas couple who did just that (the link isn't to recommend this course or endorse either the owner or HOA, or any comments to the story).

For further thoughts on this topic, several blog articles exist: how to help your condo board go green; green your HOA; integrating solar installations.

 

Matthew L. Winton, Esq.

Practicing community association law since 2000

Slides for 2010 Edmond Neighborhood Alliance Summit

If you want a prior look or will be unable to attend the ENA Summit on February 27, 2010 at the Edmond Multi-Activity Center (the MAC), here are the slides [Download ENA Legal Seminar - 2010] for my breakout session.

Matthew L. Winton, Esq. - Oklahoma condominium and homeowner association lawyer

Leadership Training Available through Central Oklahoma Neighborhood Alliance

Neighborhood Alliance (NA), an Oklahoma City based nonprofit resource for community associations offers free leadership courses. Space is limited and much sought after, so get your application completed here or register online. From the NA website at www.nacok.org:

Neighborhood Alliance is accepting applications for their 2010 "Neighborhood Leaders for Today" leadership course.  This 8 week course begins on Thursday, February 25, 2010 and meets from 6pm -9pm every Thursday evening through April 15 (graduation).  The schedule also includes two Saturdays, TBD, 9-4pm.  The class is free of charge and is limited to only 30 participants.

This one-of-a-kind leadership program is designed to give citizens the tools they need to create, promote and sustain productive citizen-based neighborhood associations and to help create sustainable community improvement projects.  Utilizing over 30 community leaders as guest speakers, the class will learn the basics of grant writing, organizing crime patrol and crime watch programs, how to navigate City Hall, parliamentary procedures, establishing membership drives, effective communications, and team building.

Edmond Neighborhood Alliance 2010 Summit

On February 27, 2010 at the MAC in Edmond, Oklahoma the Edmond Neighborhood Alliance will host their annual summit. Attorney Matthew L. Winton of the law firm Vaughn, Winton & Clark^pllc will be presenting information at one of the break-out sessions regarding: real property covenants, changes in FHA rules, community association taxation and the law.

A link to an Edmond Sun article on the summit is here. More information regarding Matt Winton and his legal practice is found here.

New FHA loan rules for Oklahoma unit ownership estates (condominiums)

One result of the recent real estate troubles has been a heightened scrutiny of condominium loans. A result of this scrutiny is FHA revising, and re-revising, and putting on hold the rules that apply to approval of mortgages for condominium developments. Under the proposed rules, all FHA approvals for condo projects will expire every two years. Another aspect is some percentage limitation of FHA loans within the development, although the actual percentage doesn't seem to be fixed as yet. Also, the new rules will contain some minimum owner-occupancy requirement, which will be good news to many in projects that have started down the path of investor-controlled developments.

 

For a review of the initial rule, and then the subsequent rule, see Mortgagee Letter 2009-46A and Mortgagee Letter 2009-46B.

 

Matthew L. Winton, Oklahoma community association lawyer.

If your community association operates a swimming pool or spa, you should already know about the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act

If your community association does operate a swimming pool or spa and you are not aware of the federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Act, you need to familiarize yourself with the Act and its mandatory requirements. The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Act (named after former secretary of state James Baker's granddaughter who drowned because of a spa drain in 2002) was adopted in 2007 and is effective for all "public" pools and spas December 19, 2008. The Act includes condominium, homeowner association, and neighborhood swimming pools within the definition of public. The pool/spa must be compliant with the act before opening. Essentially, the Act requires existing pools to be retrofitted with certain drain anti-entrapment devices, and new pools must be constructed with such devices. The Act specifies the minimum requirements.

Should a pool/spa open in violation of the Act, severe civil penalties may be levied against the community association. Contact a qualified pool technician versed in the requirements of this Act before opening your community association pool this season.

Matthew L. Winton, community association attorney

Handouts for February 21, 2009 Edmond Summit – HOA Legal Issues Breakout sessions

On February 21, 2009 from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Edmond Neighborhood Alliance will be hosting their annual Edmond Summit at the MAC at Mitch Park in Edmond, Oklahoma, which is co-sponsored by the City of Edmond and Edmond Economic Development Authority. I will present two 40-minute breakout sessions on community association issues. Time will be saved for audience questions and we will discuss topics such as:

• Amending governing documents
• Conflict resolution
• Collecting assessments
• How to enforce structural and use restrictions

Handouts for the two breakout sessions may be viewed here.

Matthew L. Winton, Esq.

Vaughn, Winton & Clark^pllc

3233 East Memorial Rd., Suite 103

Edmond, Oklahoma 73013

mlw@vwlaw.net

405.478.4818 office

405.478.4819 fax

HOA Websites and Communications Services

For Oklahoma community associations looking for a web development/presence and communications service, Joy and Judy with okhoa.org provide such services. From their website:

"A website is like having a receptionist that never goes home, who doesn’t need time off, who doesn’t expect overtime pay, who will give out consistent, accurate information 24/7, professionally represents you to the public, never loses his/her patience, always a smile, and does this for an unbelievably low salary!

OK Hoa will provide you with a dynamic website that does this and much more!"

A link to their website is provided here.

Matthew L. Winton, Oklahoma homeowner association lawyer.

Vaughn, Winton & Clark, PLLC - Oklahoma attorneys