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DOCUMENT ACCESS REQUESTS AND ASSOCIATION FEES/CHARGES
- A Homeowner requesting to examine and/or have copies of records of the Association must do so in writing, sign the request, and the written request must (a) reasonably describe the records so requested and (b) state the reason for the request (i.e., why or for what purpose the owner wants or needs the records).
- Since the Association does not have an office, the location for access for records requests by a Homeowner of any substance or significance will be at the Association’s attorney’s office (especially if the requesting owner has a present issue or dispute with delinquent assessments or other Association charges or an enforcement issue with the Association). However, the Board may in its discretion choose to arrange the access place at such other reasonable place as may be established from time to time by the Board. The appointment for access review by an owner will be set at a reasonable time and date coordinated with the attorney’s office or other location provider.
The requesting owner must pay the Association the following (in lieu of a pre-established fee set forth by the association):
- For the hourly charges for the time of an assistant, paralegal, or clerical person of or retained by the Association, or its attorney’s office or its property manager, who shall attend the owners’ examination of records, and who will be there to monitor the review and documents involved, and to make or arrange for the making of copies of those records requested by the owner to be copied. The hourly charge payable by the requesting owner for the assistant or paralegal of the Association's attorney's office will be the regular hourly rate of that person when doing work for the Association, but at a minimum of $85 per hour. If, however, the access review location is not at the Association attorney's office, and no legal assistant or paralegal attends during the access review, the minimum charge for a clerical or other assistant of the Association will be a $25 per hour, payable by the owner. Furthermore, owner must pay to the Association in advance a minimum of three (3) hours’ worth of the attending persons charges, at least two (2) days before the date scheduled for the appointment to review the records, or the access review appointment will be cancelled and not occur.
- For all copies requested at a per printed page copying cost of ten (10) cents, or if done at the attorneys office, their going rate for copies.
- For small scale records requests, if the Association determines it can reasonably comply with the request by itself, by conducting a short search and copying/mailing to the requesting owner (without need for the requesting owner to examine and search through the Association records), the owner will be charged and must pay a flat search fee of twenty five ($25.00) dollars per request plus ten (10) cents per page copied for the owner. The fee and copying costs must be paid by the requesting owner at the time of or before the Association provides the copied records to the owner.
- Unless otherwise required elsewhere in this Policy , the requesting owner shall issue and deliver payment to the Association for all charges and copying costs at the time of or before the requested copies are actually provided to him/her. The charge is based upon the Association or Association’s attorney providing owner with the amount(s) so incurred, charged and payable for that particular request.
- If a Homeowner makes a record’s request and the Association makes the search/examination effort and incurs charges and costs in doing so, and the requesting owner fails or refuses to pay the Association for the charges and costs described above, for whatever reason, and even if the Homeowner thereafter decides he/she does not want the requested records, the charges and costs shall automatically become an assessment and a lien on the property or properties owned by that owner within the Association community, and thereafter will be subject to all assessment collection provisions under the Declaration of Covenants of the Association. This means the Association may apply the assessment covenant provisions regarding collection enforcement in pursuing requesting owner for payment, including without limitation the recording of a formal assessment lien and its foreclosure, and the Association may recover its attorneys’ fees and costs in doing so, whether or not litigation is filed.
- The Association Board retains the ability and authority to create and follow their own records request fee policy, and may pay the management or the attorney for the actual records request charges and then collect from the owner based on their own pre-established policy, if one exists, and ensures that management and/or attorneys recover all costs and charges arising from complying with owner access requests. The Association is responsible for ensuring that any costs incurred by them as a result of the records request shall be recovered from the requesting owner.
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