Hold the statutory calendar
Process failures lose cases.
Usually over process — a late notice, unadopted minutes, an ignored records request.
Associations rarely lose on the merits of a decision. They lose because a notice went out two days late, because minutes were never adopted, or because an owner asked for records and nobody answered within the statutory window. Holding that calendar properly is unglamorous and prevents most of it.
The money question is vendor compensation. A management company taking commissions or gifts from the contractors it recommends has interests pointing away from the association it owes a fiduciary duty to, and boards usually have no way to see it. Refusing all of it is a structural answer rather than a promise.
And reserves are where honesty costs something. Reporting that the roof has eight years left and the reserve covers two is unwelcome, and smoothing it simply transfers a special assessment onto whoever owns the unit when it fails. The board should get the real number and make the call.
Process failures lose cases.
Fiduciary duty means no kickbacks.
Managers administer, not govern.
We will review your records first and tell you what we find.