Posted: | December 30, 2016 12:44 PM |
---|---|
From: | Representative Rosemary M. Brown |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | HOAs and Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection - former HB1774 |
In the near future I plan to reintroduce last session’s HB 1774 which assigns the investigation and mediation of complaints regarding planned communities, cooperatives, and condominiums under Title 68 (Real Property), to the Office of Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. Communities formed under Title 68 are operated under a set of governing bylaws that creates a micro government within these communities. Nearly one quarter of Pennsylvania residents live in these types of self-governing communities. Occasionally, when disagreements or incidences of fraud occur in these communities, residents and unit owner boards feel they have nowhere to turn for assistance in resolving these complaints. While Title 68 already allows for complaints regarding financial documents to be filed with Consumer Protection, it does not assist with other complaints that may be a violation of other portions of Title 68; such as, meetings, quorums, voting/proxies and other association records. My legislation seeks to grant unit owners and board members in these communities the ability to seek assistance and investigation when there may be possible illegal activity occurring. The Bureau of Consumer Protection is already equipped to handle these complaints in a way that will find resolution and justice for these disagreements and violations. This legislation was passed unanimously from the House last session, but unfortunately was not taken up by the Senate. If you’d like to join me in assisting these communities and unit owners with a remedy when they feel that their rights and benefits have been violated, please consider cosponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB595