HOA must allow everyone in all pools

Q: I am a homeowner in a large community that has three swimming pools. They are informally called the “club house adult pool,” “the kiddie pool” and the “family pool.”

This summer, some adults brought their children and teenagers to swim in the “adult pool” and were told that they could not use it and they would have to leave.

Did not the Fair Housing Act of 1990-1991 state that this was discrimination and that pools in communities that allowed families had to allow access to all amenities?

The chairperson of the pool committee is the authority on who utilizes the pool.

A: This is not an age-qualified community. This association is violating the Fair Housing laws. I highly recommend that the board review its policies before they face a big fine from Housing and Urban Development Department.

Q: When I was a board member workshop meetings were noticed and held as an open meeting.

Our new board gives no notice of workshop meetings and they are held behind closed doors.

A: There are no specific laws in NRS 116 that addresses workshops as to notification requirements to homeowners. There has been much discussion about workshops over the years between the administrative staff of the Nevada Real Estate Division and the Commission for Common-Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels, which regulates homeowner associations.

One of the last set of documents that I saw, the commission recognizes that workshops can be useful tools to help associations in the management of their communities.

A true workshop is one of fact finding, or training or reviewing different options and techniques. No decisions are to be made in workshops. Decisions are to be made on the board level.

Many years ago, there was a law that required associations to notify homeowners who were known to be interested in a particular topic.

If I knew you were interested in landscaping and if the association was planning to discuss conversion of greenbelt to desert, the association was to notify you. This law no longer is on the books.

Q: The rules say HOAs must keep all records for 10 years. Recently work was done in our community that required three bids. We asked to see copies of the bids for work completed in the past year. We were told the association does not need to keep all paperwork. They need only to keep records of work that was accepted.

A contractor told us his bid was not even looked at. How do we hold the board accountable if they throw away 66 percent of the paperwork?

A: NRS 116.31175 (7) states that all records, with the exception of minutes, are to be maintained by the association for 10 years. Minutes must be maintained for the life of the association (NRS 116.3108 (8) and NRS 116.31083 (10). In the case where bids were requested, the association should have maintained all of the bids, regardless of which company was awarded the contract.

The bids should have been opened in public at a board meeting (NRS 116.31086). Technically, the information as to which bids were discussed should be in the association minutes.

As a homeowner, you can request a copy of the minutes per NRS 116.31083 (7). The association can charge you 25 cents for the first 10 copies and 10 cents per additional page. The labor charge is $ 10 per hour per statute. There is no charge for electronic copies of these minutes. By reviewing them, you should be able to determine whether that contractor’s bid was considered.

Barbara Holland, certified property manager, broker and supervisory certified association manager, is president and owner of H&L Realty and Management Co. Questions may be sent to the Association Q&A, P.O. Box 7440, Las Vegas, NV 89125. Fax is 702-385-3759, email is support@hlrealty.com.