Help? One Board Member taking over Rules and Regs

Please help? Advice? I am very sorry I bought into a relatively new and small condo complex--the opposite of what I expected (less muck, less people=less problems. Wrong). Our three person Board has been somewhat taken over by one person (an attorney!) who silently seems to have stripped the President and Secretary from their duties by imposing his thoughts and ideas into our newly developed rules and regs. When a homeowner disagrees with brand new Rules and Regs and I am getting no answer from the other Board Members or the one running the show, what do I do? What are my rights and what is the next step before consulting an attorney? The original attorney who worked with the developer is semi retired so the condo complex may not even have one now. I am not a litigious person. However, if I am getting no response from the Board, what next??

Doreen,

Most assn docs give the board the authority to adopt rules w/o a vote of the members. These rules carry the same weight as the CCRs. Is this a board-adopted rule you are having a problem with? Please give us more info so we can better understand your problem and hopefully give you our opinions.

Do Rules and Regs have to be voted upon by homeowners?

The answer to this question should be in the CC&R's (governing documents) that you received when you purchased your condo.

Doreen,
I am somewhat baffled as to why a crawl space would send you into such a worry. What are they doing with the crawl space that is a problem? The crawl spaces in a jointly owned structure become either common limited area or shared area. Maintenance is done by the association or is it the owners responsibility. You need to give us much more detail. I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH RULES AND REGS? This should be in the ByLaws under maintenances, etc, not R.and Rs.

I quote you-- "My issue has to do with construction design---i.e. the "sharing of crawl spaces to get to hot water heaters" that is not being identified properly in the Rules and Regs. Not to mention I remain concerned that the one Board Member who is self appointedly running the show is not answering back or doing selective answering.

I want everything to be honest so any construction/developer issues regarding access to shared crawl spaces and reasonable access that are in my building (there are two) is clearly placed in the Rules and Regs. This Board member has placed only their building as having this issue and is disregarding mine."

In many association, probably most, the Rules and Regs are enacted by the BOD and need no members vote for acceptance. But these R. and Rs must be written off of the original CC&Rs which you should have been aware of and accepted when you purchased your unit.