Tips to be a good neighborhood association president.

Welcome to this new blog, where we’ll be sharing a range of tips on how to be a good chairperson of your residents’ association.

If you have been elected to the post, or have been chosen to be chair of your residents’ association, you will have to take responsibility for ensuring that your residents’ association runs smoothly and is properly maintained.

Firstly, it is important to bear in mind that any resident of your housing association, provided they are a homeowner, can serve as chairperson of the association; as a general rule, the term of office is one year.

The selection for this role is carried out in an orderly manner; that is to say, a different owner is chosen each year, unless it is the turn of a neighbour who has an illness preventing them from carrying out the role properly, or unless the owner does not live in the property for most of the year. For example, owners with second homes on the beach.

In this blog post, we’ll share a number of tips on how to be a good chairperson of your residents’ association, and how to carry out the role in a healthy way without becoming overwhelmed. But first, we’ll outline some of the benefits of this role.

What are the benefits of this role?

It’s always been said that being the chair of your residents’ association is a tiring job and that nobody wants to do it, but there are a number of benefits you can make the most of to make the role less of a chore.

• Solve the problems you encountered when you were a homeowner: Being the chair of your residents’ association gives you the power to resolve the issues you’ve identified in the way you consider most feasible.
• Improving the local economy: This is a very common issue, as most people have different views on how the community’s budget should be managed. As chairperson, you can manage the community’s finances in your own way. For example, by replacing the swimming pool’s filtration system, changing the lighting in communal areas or repainting communal areas.
• Resolving disputes between owners within the community: This is probably the most important aspect of being chair of a residents’ association: having the authority to resolve issues between residents, as well as to resolve disputes that affect the whole community.
• Making use of grants for your community: There are many improvements that are subsidised, and you need to keep an eye out so that you can take advantage of them.

What does it take to be a good chairperson of a residents’ association?.

Closeness

• Approachability and empathy: A good chairperson of a residents’ association needs to be approachable to ordinary people and show empathy towards the problems they face. You need to understand and get to know your neighbours, as this will enable you to see what they are like, how they behave and what the best way is to resolve their problems. For example, if there is a dispute between two neighbours, you need to know how to handle the situation in a way that prevents it from escalating into a more serious conflict.

Transparency

• Be transparent with your community: This step is very important, as a chairperson who lacks transparency creates an image of mistrust and uncertainty amongst the owners; therefore, owners must be kept fully informed. This ensures they know that the money they pay in service charges goes towards work that improves their quality of life. We must use every possible means of communication to ensure the message reaches everyone; thanks to technology, these methods are much faster. However, they can also be combined with traditional methods.

Neutrality

• Maintain a neutral stance: By “maintaining a neutral position”, we mean not taking sides when there is a conflict of interest between two owners. This is because doing so could lead to a loss of trust amongst the others. Therefore, the recommended course of action would be, establish your position on the basis of the Condominium Act and always with a view to the common good of all residents.

Proactivity

• Being proactive: When we talk about being proactive, we mean that the chair of the residents’ association must anticipate any potential problems that may arise within the community. If we adopt a proactive approach, we will project an image of competence and responsibility to all the owners.

Personality

• Having your own personality: With regard to this last point, it is important to bear in mind that, however much you might want to, you will never be able to please all the owners; therefore, make the decisions you believe to be in the best interests of the community, always taking the majority’s views into account whilst treating less favourable opinions with respect.

Main duties of a chairperson of a residents’ association.

Administrative and maintenance role

• Managing the community’s finances and accounts: This is the responsibility of the chairperson, who must manage the assets and the budget agreed at the owners’ meeting. This involves contracting, in a reasonable manner, the various services required by the residents’ association for the proper maintenance of the communal areas. In this regard, it is important to meet with the property manager. They are the ones with the real expertise in administration and managing a residents’ association. You cannot place all the responsibility on the property manager; you will need to keep an eye on things in case of any shortcomings. You will need to maintain a close professional relationship with the property manager to ensure the accounts are managed properly.
• To look after the maintenance of the communal areas and ensure they are used properly: The chairperson of the residents’ association is responsible for overseeing the communal areas and ensuring that all owners use them properly and do not cause damage. Their role also involves contracting various services where necessary and arranging any refurbishments and maintenance work that the chairperson deems necessary. There are two tools that can make the chairperson’s maintenance tasks within the community easier:
  • The ITE, or Technical Building Inspection
  • The Book of the Building.

Organisational and mediation role.

• Organise a meeting of the owners’ association at least once a year: This meeting must be held at least once a year to approve the budgets and accounts; it is also at this meeting that the community’s most important responsibilities are discussed, such as: the amendment or modification of the Articles of Association, the approval of the Internal Regulations, the appointment and removal of community officers, the approval of budgets for repair works on the property (whether routine or major). It also covers any other resolutions of general interest to the community. The chairperson shall be responsible for preparing the various important items to be discussed at the owners’ meeting, thereby addressing any neighbourhood issues that have been raised. The owners shall meet whenever the chairperson deems it appropriate, or upon the request of a quarter of the owners, or a number of owners representing at least 25% of the ownership shares.
• To resolve and mitigate any disputes that may arise between the owners within the community: One of the president’s regular duties will be to resolve and arbitrate any disputes that arise within the community. Some of the most common are:
  • Non-payment or late payment.
  • Annoying activities.
  • Antenna installations.
  • Work carried out by homeowners.

That concludes all the advice and interesting facts that may be useful for anyone taking on the role of chairperson of a residents’ association. We hope you’ve found this helpful and that you can approach this role with a more positive mindset – it will undoubtedly help you grow as a person.

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