Baltimore Sun Sunday

Dealing with disruptive condo board members

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A: This is a problem in many boardrooms. People are human, have emotions and get angry. However, not everyone can control his or her emotions and sometimes disruption or violence occurs.

In most associatio­n legal documents, board members are elected by the associatio­n membership (the owners) and can only be thrown out of office by that same membership. However, board members themselves typically elect the officers (such as the president and vice president) and can also remove them from office — but not from the board. So, the very first thing would be to take away any official status that disruptive board member may have, especially if he happens to be the treasurer.

You can also mount a campaign to have that board member removed from the board entirely. Your bylaws spell out the process. And either as president — or simply as an owner — you have the right to try to get the requisite number of votes so as to remove that board member.

If you are dealing with a difficult situation, as president you can create a small committee (say three or four members) to discuss the issue. In this case, that committee could meet privately (subject, of course, to any restrictio­ns or limitation­s in your condo law and your condo bylaws) and exclude that board member.

Finally, some associatio­ns have actually taken an obstructiv­e board member to court to obtain an injunction forcing the board member to behave. Failure to do so might be considered contempt of court, which I doubt that board member wants to face. A: Interestin­g question and dilemma. Other than you reaching out to a real estate brokerage for help, I am not aware of any such legitimate companies.

There are a number of other options. Here they are in no particular order: (1) Dramatical­ly lower the condo prices, so long as you are able to pay off any and all mortgage and tax obligation­s; (2) See if a local church, or local charitable organizati­on, will agree to take the properties; (3) If there is a lender, try to arrange a deed in lieu and give the lender the properties. I suspect, however, that if you have been unable to sell or lease, the bank will not want to touch them.

Another route: Don’t pay the real estate tax and let the city government sell the properties at a tax sale and auction off the properties.

 ?? MARTIN BARRAUD/CAIAIMAGE ?? Elected condo board members can usually be removed from office only by owners who voted them in.
MARTIN BARRAUD/CAIAIMAGE Elected condo board members can usually be removed from office only by owners who voted them in.
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