Board fails to comply with bylaws

We have an HOA president who made it clear at the last board meeting (I observed it, only a member now), he was not going to follow the bylaws. As a result, the board just follows in lock step, with no backbone to confront him. The bylaws were approved by the members. He is bold and not above insulting the person who asks any question about the bylaws. Cannot find an attorney who represents the members in an HOA, only attorneys who will represent the HOA boards. What do we do?

You read your documents to see what's required to hold a special homeowners meeting - usually, a certain percentage of homeowners has to sign a petition that formally requests the meeting. You also have to explain the reason for the meeting - this won't be a free for all, but a meeting to discuss recalling this person. Actually, if the rest of the board is "following lockstep" behind the guy, the meeting should discuss recalling the entire lot.

When the petition is presented to the board, it should schedule the meeting, but the president (along with the board) may refuse, so consulting an attorney may be necessary to determine what happens next. I've never heard of it happening, but if your group has the special meeting and votes out this board, but they won't leave, you might be able to go after these people in small claims court and ask the court to compel them to step down. You wouldn't need an attorney for small claims court, but you need to prepare carefully, otherwise, you'll be laughed out of court.

There ARE attorneys that will consider representing the homeowners, but you'll probably need to look harder to find them. There's also the matter of money - no one works for free, so you'll need to gather together like-minded neighbors who are willing to throw some money in the pot to pay for this.

A third option would be to lean hard on the other board members - one person can't dominate anything unless there are others (the rest of the board AND the homeowners) who allow it. Usually, the homeowners elect the board and the board appoints officers (president, vice president, etc.) from among themselves. Check your documents - the rest of the board can vote out this guy as president (he stays on the board unless he resigns, is recalled or gets voted out in the next election). Perhaps the rest of the board need their neighbors to back them up when someone discusses making a change at the next meeting.

And I do hope you're attending these meetings to see for yourself what's going on - the HOA president may have SAID he's not going to follow the bylaws, but he's only one vote and can be outvoted by everyone else. You should remind the other board members of that. Sometimes people talk smack, but fold like a piece of toilet paper when you put them under a wee bit of pressure. You should go ahead and schedule the meeting if they won't (after the petition is presented and they respond - or not).

There are discussions all over this website where homeowners were in the same position as you - they got together and changed things, but it took time and there were lots of charges, countercharges, name-calling, and in some cases a lawsuit or two. The point is this may not be pretty so if you want something quick and simple, put that out of your mind right now. There has to be a group of homeowners ready and willing to step up and take over - and YOU may need to be one of them, so think carefully about the ish you're about to step into. Do you have the will and discipline to see this through to whatever end? Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Since NM doesn't appear to have an HOA ombudsman, the easiest and cheapest thing is to gather support and vote the individual out at the next election.

Much more expensive thing is to higher an attorney. Look for court cases against HOAs in your State and contact the appropriate attorney.

Vote him out during next annual meeting, Call a special meeting regarding his actions, discuss the issue respectfully during a monthly meeting with the other Board members, document and timeline everything for future legal actions of breech of contract, send emails to have physical proof.

He can be held personally liable if acts beyond his fiduciary duty and can’t use the backing of the HOA attorney.