Services

Your job is to keep up the property and to keep the peace. Our job is to make your job seem easy.

But we know how tough and thankless a job it is to fix a failing building, or bring a stubborn owner into compliance, or fund all that needs doing. We exist to serve you, so you can better serve your members. Here's how we can help you.

The Property. Buildings age. How gracefully they age is up to you. You oversee maintenance, repair and improvement of the common property. We help you

• Manage risk through insurance, inspections and policies

• Set money aside in a reserve fund

• Determine who must do what when repairs are needed

• Fund work with an assessment or loan

• Hire the contractor, negotiate the contract, and monitor the work

The People. A community association is a lot like the Brady Bunch. Both are legal unions of distinct, diverse individuals who share in common a roof, a name, and little else. But blending your diverse co-owners into a functional family is no laughing matter. To meet this leadership challenge, we help you

• Better understand what an owner expects of his board

• Anchor policies and decisions in these shared expectations

• Give an owner a fair say on matters that impact him most

• Clearly mark the line where an owner's rights give way to the rights of the community

• Enforce the common will through communication, fines or court order

The Business. The work you do takes cash. Nationwide, community associations raise and spend about $35 billion a year. Your association is as much a business as the one you work for, retired from, own, or hold stock in. To conduct business professionally, we help you

• Clean up your governing documents, policies, procedures and record keeping

• Comply with a myriad of laws, covering everything from disabilities to disclosure

• Conduct fair and effective board and owners' meetings, enforcement hearings and elections

• Contract with employees, managers, vendors and consultants

• Collect past due assessments from delinquent owners

The Tool. Leahy McLean Fjelstad is an invaluable tool for any board intent on doing the job right. We are smart, talented, knowledgeable, experienced, practical, creative, and - above all else - humble. In fixing your flawed documents, our gifted writers can capture your meaning in words all understand. And knowing how others might mistake your meaning, we've helped many boards avert a costly misstep before it was taken. We are a one-of-a-kind law firm. The very firm you need.

 

Administrative

• We advise on Employment issues
• Contracting with others
• Record keeping
• Protecting confidential information

 Governing Documents

• Interpretation
• Enforcement
•  Amendment
• Full Replacement

Financial

• Statutorily-mandated budgeting
• Assessment-based funding
• Loan-based funding
• Collecting delinquent assessments

Regulatory Compliance

•  Workplace rules
•  Disability laws
• Communications regulations
• Statutory mandates
• Fair Housing

Dispute Resolution

• Negotiation
• Mediation
• Arbitration
• Litigation

Resources

• Board and member education
• Updates on laws, cases and trends
• Articles and sample documents