Cutting-Off Water to a Delinquent Owner
Any condo that has delinquent owners is frustrated by this state of affairs, and is always looking for any pressure they can apply to get these people to pay. Rather than a municipal water supply, some condos have their own water supply (often in the form of a well). They don’t actually own this water… Read more…
Your Condo’s Fiscal Year
In my book, the “Jalisco Condo Manual,” I say that a condo’s fiscal year should run from April 1 to March 31. I get a lot of questions like, “Where does it say this in the condo law?” It’s Implicit Rather Than Explicit Those of you who’ve asked this are right! There’s nothing in the… Read more…
How Condo Boards Can Deal With Difficult People
Human nature is the problem A condominium is a unique way of owning property because it forces you to work with other owners to make decisions affecting the common property. Human nature being what it is, this inevitably means conflict. Potential for disagreement exists as soon as you have more than one person involved in… Read more…
What’s Legal and What’s Not?
Most of the questions I get from book owners start out, “Is it legal to…?”. Sometimes there’s a clear answer, because the condo law covers the issue explicitly. However, sometimes this isn’t the case. What then? Basic legal principle There’s a basic concept in civil law (the type of legal system used in Mexico) that… Read more…
Conferencing in Meetings and Assemblies
In the past week or so I’ve received similar questions from different book owners. They were interested in knowing whether it’s proper for a board member to take part in a condo board meeting by videoconference technology (such as Skype). If you have board members who are snow birds, or if you have board members… Read more…
Don’t Lose a Lawsuit on a Technicality
This post is a bit long, but it’s an important topic. A recent sea change in the attitude of the courts has meant that it’s now more important than ever to follow correct procedures for approving budgets, fees, and improvements, and in documenting the debt. This post contains my opinion on this change, and how… Read more…
Accepting Proxies at an Assembly
Correction to the “Jalisco Condo Manual” On page 268 of the “Jalisco Condo Manual,” I say that before you can use proxies, you must add the ability to use them to your by-laws. This is not correct! You Can’t Refuse a Legal Proxy! It’s important to know that you cannot refuse a legally valid proxy… Read more…
Can Delinquent Owners Vote at an Assembly?
The controversy I think I might have chosen a controversial topic for my first blog post, but I’ve received questions about this topic from multiple condos both on the coast and in the Lake Chapala area, and I think it’s an important one! On page 37 of the “Jalisco Condo Manual” I wrote, “It isn’t… Read more…
