Transition is the due diligence process required by the board members’ fiduciary duty. In sum, the homeowner-elected board members must determine if the sponsor did what it was supposed to do and, if not, take action to get the deficiencies corrected.

Upon assuming board control homeowner-elected board members must:

  1. evaluate the association’s physical and financial condition
  2. communicate the findings to the members and the sponsor
  3. negotiate for repairs, money or a combination of repairs and money.

Evaluate.

Due diligence begins with evaluating the association’s physical and financial conditions. These evaluations must be undertaken promptly. Delay may result in losing some or all claims due to expiration of warranties, statutes of limitation and/or the statute of repose.

Engineers, architects, accountants and other experts are enlisted by the board and the association’s attorney to ferret out deficiencies and “connect the dots”. “Connecting the dots” requires experts to:

  1. Identify the duty – statutes, architectural drawings and specifications, building codes, industry standards, manufacturer’s specifications, etc.
  2. Specify how the duty was breached – for example, required building wrap was not installed
  3. Specify the damage – for example, moisture got behind the siding and was not shed down and out; instead the moisture damaged the substrate and structural members
  4. Specify how the breach caused the damage – for example, if the required building wrap had been properly installed, water that got behind the siding would have been shed down and out of the building envelope without damage to the substrate and structural members. Instead, the water was absorbed by the substrate and structural members resulting in rot and mold growth.

After “connecting the dots”, the association’s experts should carefully determine how much it will cost the association to fix the various physical and financial defects. This “cost to cure” report provides the board with a basis for prioritizing the deficiencies and evaluating how much the association should spend on attempting to compel the sponsor and others to remedy particular deficiencies. Without reputable experts solidly connecting the dots and determining the cost to cure, the association has little prospect of transition success. Assuming the experts connect the dots and accurately estimate the cost to cure, the board, its experts and counsel must finally evaluate the probability of recovery.

Is there an individual or entity that has the resources to cure the deficiencies or pay the association so that it may cure the deficiencies. Is it the sponsor? Is it the sub-contractors? Is it one or more insurance companies? Typically transition is resolved with contributions by all of these but, if there is little or no prospect of recovery, the association should carefully consider other options such as self-funding repairs, obtaining a bank loan to fund repairs or phasing repairs over time while using “Band-Aid” fixes in the meantime.

Communicate.

Many boards are reluctant to communicate expert findings to the membership. This is a mistake. Everyone hopes that the transition process will be smooth and amicable. However, transition can be long, contentious and expensive. If the membership does not support the board, management, its attorneys and experts, half of the battle is already lost. The board must share as much information as possible with the membership during the transition process so that the members know what it going on, know why various items have not yet been fixed and know why it is important for the association to spend the time and money to see the transition process through to resolution.

Negotiate.

Once the board has a comfort level with the experts’ findings and recommendations, the board and counsel will negotiate with the sponsor, developer, sub-contractors and others. In most cases this negotiation results in an amicable transition agreement whereby the sponsor and other responsible entities make repairs and/or pay the association so that it may make the repairs. In exchange, the association gives the responsible entities a release and hopefully everyone lives happily ever after.

But…should we litigate? If there is no amicable resolution, should the association litigate? This is a big decision and the “cost to cure” and “viability of recovery” evaluations become that much more important. There are many times where a litigated transition is necessary. The board should not shrink from turning to the courts on behalf of itself and its members. But, before doing so, a cost-benefit analysis must be carefully considered.

If the cost to cure and probability of recovery outweigh anticipated expert fees, attorney fees and other expenses, litigation likely makes sense but if the board finds that it is more economical, certain and timely to merely fix the deficiencies itself, it may do so and sign no release. In any case, transition releases should not be signed in exchange for nominal or no consideration. In sum transition is due diligence involving attorneys, experts, managers, board members and association members to cost-effectively resolve physical and financial deficiencies.