The Hierarchy of Legal Authority for Community Associations*

There is a hierarchy of legal authority for all community associations. At the top is the applicable state or local law. If the law spells out certain requirements, the association must adhere to them.

But lawmakers recognize that this is an evolving area of the law, and do not impose too many restrictions or burdens in the statute. Instead, the law defers to the second level of authority, the association's governing documents. In your case, it starts with the condominium declaration. That is the legal document recorded among the land records in the jurisdiction where the property is located. It is the document that creates the condominium.

The declaration describes with specificity the property, and many of the important details: the boundaries of the units, the things that will make up the common elements (including limited common elements), a determination of the unit owner's percentage interest in the common elements, the purposes and restrictions on the use of the property, provisions for easements and provisions concerning assessments and liens against the units and the liability of the unit owner for payment of the common expenses.

The third level of authority is the bylaws. The document, for all practical purposes, is the constitution of the association. The bylaws contain the rules for self-government of your association, including how the board directs the affairs of the association, administers policies outlined in the bylaws and generally oversees upkeep and administration. The bylaws also cover such matters as requirements for meetings, voting, the manner in which the budget should be prepared, the determination and handling of assessments, including special assessments and the filing of assessment liens, the nature of insurance coverage, and restrictions on the use of the units and the common areas.

The lowest level of authority is the rules and regulations adopted from time to time by the board of directors.

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This section is extracted from the February 19, 2005 “Housing Counsel” column by Benny L. Kass in the Washington Post at page F 03. The URL for the full article is :

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35575-2005Feb18.html