Absentee owners and notifications

Some owners in our community are absentee owners, 2nd home, rental, etc. My question has to do with notifying them of such things as meetings, fines, violations, rule changes,etc.

You have to send some kind of notification to the owner for such things as mentioned above. We have a list of there last known addresses but for various reasons the list is not accurate. Some owners try to hide on purpose. They even have a way to hide when the dues are mailed out or they just pay them without recieveing the bill. By doing that they hide their address.

So, in order to notify them for such things as fines and violations is it sufficient to send the notification to the last known address and that notification hold up in a civil matter? Is it the responsibility of the owner to supply a good address to the HOA or is it up to the HOA to find the owner and make sure that they receive an notifications should something go to civil court?

Hi Jeff,

I don't have a complete answer either (right now) but we rent a condo here in Howard County and there is some sort of requirement through this process that we are required to have a leasing permit and we (and/or our agent) are on file w/the county. Our condo association updates us on all things as you mentioned above.

The owner has an obligation to the HOA as does the board to the HO so I doubt that sending to the last know address would be sufficient.

I'll try to pull the last permit we filed (it may be annual). I'm sure there's a citation as to the Co. code and maybe a state code too. What I am sure of is that our community documents don't cover this.

Your secretary should be doing everything possible to get an up to date accurate list of the Members of your HOA.

Make this a priority this year. With the economy the way it is, you may have some very important votes coming up. Be sure your board knows who can vote and who can't.

Jeff,

IMO, the obligation lies with the property owner. Do you think the prop. taxing jurisdiction goes out looking for the property owner's correct address? In fact, there may even be a penalty for not providing a change of address. As someone else mentioned, you can check out the tax records for this info; although you shouldn't have to do that. But, if the h/o is not accommodating, what other recourse do you have, especially if it's for sending delinquent notices or anything else relating to the payment of assessments. To be in compliance with any noticing requirements, I would just send the notice to the last address on file.