When an HOA or Condo Association elects certain members to serve on its Board of Directors, the members have chosen to create a self-managed Association. The elected directors are usually volunteers; and setting aside the fact that many of these Associations are well managed, it is important to recognize that the Boards' Directors may be inexperienced and could make costly mistakes. A few major mistakes occur when the Boards: (a) are disinterested in reading and fully understanding the Association’s governing documents, (b) fail to recognize the limits of their authority imposed by state law or their own governing documents; and (c) are disinterested in, or unfamiliar with, keeping adequate books,records, and the Minutes of the Board's meetings. These mistakes create unnecessary problems that can go unnoticed for several years which makes correcting them more difficult than it needs to be; and frankly, some of these mistakes can be attributed to Boards of Directors that have self-servicing agendas, consistent with making decisions that benefit themselves at the expense of other members. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable for a members of self-managed HOAs to ask for performance reviews.... similar to those used to evaluate professionally managed Associations.
Performance standards for a professional manager are stated contractually which means if the contract is breached, the contract can be terminated almost immediately. The performance standards for a Board of Directors of a self-managed Association are either set out in state law or in the Association's governing documents. But, usually these standards leave some leeway for interpretation. Therefore, a Board’s decisions for a self-managed Association should be monitored closely in order to deter possible misuse of funds or authority. An independe