Mission Accomplishedįor a condominium association, effective governing documents are essential for its successful management and financial well-being. Without the Board members’ active participation, the amendments will not pass. As a result, Board members should knock on doors, make phone calls, and enlist owners’ help to get the necessary votes. Owners generally ignore these notices or are too busy to submit their votes. In order to successfully pass an amendment, the board members must put forth time and energy to acquire the necessary votes. They’ll also help you prepare a notice to condo members announcing the meeting to be held to vote on the amendments. Sometimes they’ll write a detailed summary of the amendment for members. Once drafted, the board’s attorney will let you know which areas of the governing documents need to be amended, how many votes are needed to pass it, and so on. To help ensure the successful passage of an amendment, the condo, and its attorney prepare correspondence to explain the amendments that is as easy as possible to understand. Getting Amendments ApprovedĪmendments to the condo association governing documents use legal language that can often be hard to understand by its members, most of whom are likely not attorneys themselves. In addition, the rules and regulations that govern one South Florida association may be substantially different than another’s, including those in the same neighborhood. written or electronicĮach governing document may have provisions that are vastly different from the others, including the required number of votes to make the amendment binding.

The manner in which the voting process will take place, i.e.

The notices required in accordance with the governing documents and Florida Statutes.

Which document needs to be amended and the voting requirement.

The proper procedures for amending the documents.

There are several considerations that the association’s attorney should make. Once the Board has approved the basic principles they wish to amend, they should present it to the Association’s attorney so that he/she can draft the actual language and review the governing documents. That must be left to the Association’s attorney. Neither the committee or board members should attempt to write the actual language.

The goal of the discussions, at least initially, should be to write down the key ideas.

If a committee cannot be established, then the board members themselves should act as a committee for this purpose. It is important to note that committees must hold their meetings under the same protocols for board meetings and minutes of the discussion should be kept. The committee should only make recommendations to the Board and should have at least one (1) board member chair the committee. We recommend that a committee be established to help the Board identify outdated sections in the governing documents and help write basic ideas as to the changes they wish to see happen. The board members of a condo association should first determine the sections they wish to amend and determine the key points they wish to add. After all, the members’ vote is required. When changes are necessary, instead of rewriting and/or replacing the governing documents completely, a condo association board should select a few key issues that must be updated and that they feel they can get support from the community. In Florida, the governing documents are made up by the following documents: The governing documents for a condo association set out the rules, regulations, and other contractual obligations board members are bound by. Governing Documents for Condo Associations Mitigating that stress can be as simple as understanding the procedures involved in making changes. The process can often be a lengthy one, with board members becoming frustrated and stressed out. There comes a time when every condo association is faced with amending its governing documents.

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