Articles
The Force of the New Board of Directors Awakens
Anyone who’s lived in or worked with a community association knows that the end of the calendar year usually brings a new board. The annual meeting is almost always the setting for a vote on new directors. This vote...
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: When do Declarant Rights Terminate?
Eight years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Smith moved into what was planned to be an upscale community containing one hundred single family detached homes with a mandatory membership homeowners association subject to a declaration of restrictive covenants. Since then, the...
Deconstructing Townhomes and Condominiums
Just as you can't judge a book by a cover, you can't judge a community by the way it looks on the outside. If you are looking at the exteriors in a development and you don't know whether it is a townhome or a condominium community, don't worry, you are not alone!!...
Naming Names: Should an Association Publish the Names of Assessment Delinquents?
We have all heard the expression "that wheel won't turn without any grease!" And every member of a Board of Directors of a community association knows that their Association cannot run without the regular and timely payment of assessments. Generally, a community's...
Magistrate Court – A Viable Choice for Filing Collection Cases?
As a retired Magistrate Court Judge (DeKalb County), I was happy to be asked to write an article about the “Pros and Cons” of filing collection cases in Magistrate Court! A little background on Magistrate Courts in general: The first Magistrate Court was created in...
“Show Me the Money!…(Part II)
...Or How to Collect the Judgment Once You’ve Got It” Part II of II In Part I of this Article, which appeared in the Second Quarter 2002 edition of Georgia Commons, we explored why it sometimes takes so long to obtain a judgment in Georgia. In the collection wars,...