Resigning from the board

We have 197 homes, with 54 late in paying. This has caused us to not have money to pay the electricity bill, our property taxes, etc. We are in hopes our neighborhood will approve a vote to increase the dues, so that we can contract with a management company to aid in "daily functions". With this said, I am the treasure and am tired of doing all this work. The board, what board? We can't get people to run for office, I've served two, two year terms. Me and one other board member have been doing all the work. Can I resign? If so how? How do I go about getting my name off of every account, and off the list of board members? Thanks!

I'm not sure we have done thing correctly when we took over from the developer. I'm not sure a federal tax return has been filed. What do we do about that? We are in the process of getting a management company, but that requires and increase in dues, and the neighbors are voting on that by mail in vote now. I don't see it passing.

There are no new board memembers. Nobody wants to serve on the board. This is why most of us have served for 3 years.

I want out of it, but I legally want to cover my butt. I want to be sure all that I have done on the board was done legally before I get out. Suggestions?

Amen Robert.

Nothing more to be said.

Dana

Wow, Robert, no offense, but it might have been reaching a tad to suggest that the original poster might have something to hide!

I think what she/he is looking for is a way to get her/his name off of all the legal documents, especially the ones associated with the money, in order to prevent something coming back and biting her/him on the back side later on down the road.

That doesn't mean she/he may or may not have done anything tricky or unethical, just looking to protect herself from future problems if the association goes under.

Plus, keep in mind that we never, ever should be offering "legal advice" in any of our posts here. Generally we can provide some insight or suggestions, and offer generic advice, we've all done that, but it's important to point out that none of us is qualified to offer specific legal advice to any posters, especially in this venue.

I don't know when the annual meeting is, or when the board members are generally elected and the length of their respective terms, but the letter of resignation that Susan suggested works for that portion of it.

It might be in the poster's best interest to actually go into the bank (since she is the treasurer) and talk to a bank officer/representative to see if she can get some direction there on what to do about removing her name/contact info from the bank account.

Even then, I don't know what FUTURE protection that would provide, but a banking official might be more qualified to give her some insight on what else might need to be done.

Also, the original poster could contact the Secretary of State for Alabama and talk to someone in that office about how to remove oneself from the officer/directer positions of a corporation such as an HOA.

With luck the treasurer is not also the "registered agent," which would mean it would be a little easier.

They might also be able to provide some direction on who else the poster can contact to get additional advice as well.

Good luck to you!

SM,

The fact that you are wondering if you performed all your duties as a board member legally, tells me you have never "knowingly" done anything illegal; therefore, I don't believe you could be held individually accountable for any illegal acts undertaken by the board.

The tax return matter can be resolved quite easily. Simply call the IRS to find out if any tax returns have been filed by your HOA. If not, hire a CPA and have all back tax returns filed. The assn may not even own any money and if they don't I don't believe there will be any penalties or interest to pay either. If they do owe any money, I would venture that it would be very nominal, unless yours is a very large assn with a lot of interest income earned on savings. Also, make certain to check with your State revenue dept to find out if filing a state income tax return is required.

SM3,
Your By-laws should state how a Board member can resign. Usually it simply takes giving a written notice to the Board. Your association should have D&O insurance which will cover you so long as you acted in good faith with no wrongdoing or fraud.

The important question is how to get your assocition back on track by getting owners to volunteer to serve on the Board; raising assessments and hiring a Managing Agent; and have the MA work on collecting delinquent accounts.

Mary,
I think that Robert was replying to SM3--(right Robert?)

Robert,

So you goofed! Welcome to the club; I've done that many times. LOL You're still a teddybear. :-)

Can you answer the questions I posted Nov. 28?

SM - to incorporate, you would have had to have a Federal ID number (EIN Number)
So . . . was the group incorporated as the HOA?

What is your annual budget?

We do have a EIN number.

Our budget is 10,000.

If your budget is that little, don't worry about the tax filing.

Check with your CPA, but I think that they (the IRS) is not even worrying about corporations that earn less than $25,000.

Yes, you should file anyway, but your budget is really small, in the scope of things.

Tax returns should always be filed even if no tax is owed. If an HOA only has "exempt income" (assessments) there will be no Fed. tax to pay. Regarding delinquent returns or nonfiling; if there is no tax owed I don't believe there is a penalty.