Community Associations

Laws that govern community associations can create challenging issues for condominiums, cooperatives and homeowners associations. The attorneys in the Community Associations group at Lerch, Early & Brewer provide legal advice and counsel to help board members and associations throughout Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia govern appropriately and manage effectively. Our knowledgeable and responsive attorneys serve as general counsel, prepare and review association documents, enforce covenants, represent the association in transition from developer control, defend the association against all claims, undertake and defend litigation matters and collect delinquent assessments.

Accessible and Responsive General Counsel

Our attorneys regularly advise our clients on a variety of legal issues facing community associations, including fair housing issues; document creation, review and amendment; insurance claims, covenant enforcement and assessment collection. Our straightforward approach gives clients the information and guidance they need to make decisions. We work with boards of directors and their management agents to avoid problems and minimize risk.

Clients value the personal attention and responsiveness they receive from our attorneys. We keep clients up-to-date on pending matters and changes to the law that may affect their organizations. We realize that important issues often arise outside of normal business hours, so one of our attorneys is always available for consultation, either in the office or by phone or e-mail.

Strong Dispute Resolution, Covenant Enforcement and Litigation

Disputes and covenant enforcement can raise questions that require complex legal analysis. Our attorneys review individual situations and provide well-reasoned legal opinions. These matters include large construction/renovation projects, routine service and maintenance items, conflicts in enforcing the association’s governing instruments, architectural control problems and managerial problems with individual owners.

From an owner’s hot pink door to the person who parks a car on the front lawn, our attorneys have extensive experience in dealing with the myriad covenant enforcement issues. When needed, we help our clients initiate actions to enforce association covenants and rules.

In addition, our attorneys are skilled litigators who counsel our clients in the defense of all matters, including claims involving employment discrimination, civil and criminal law matters, fair housing, negligence or breach of fiduciary duty.

Effective and Up-to-Date Collections

The collection of delinquent assessments can be a frustrating and time-consuming task. We assist our association clients with collections using a vigorous and consistent approach. We are experienced in filing liens against individual unit owners, initiating lawsuits for the collection of assessments and seeking enforcement of those judgments through garnishments, and, if necessary, foreclosing upon the property.

Our lawyers supervise a team of experienced collections paralegals. To assist our clients, the paralegals obtain deeds to confirm ownership, prepare and forward notices of intention to create a lien, file liens, and perform a variety of other tasks toward the collection and resolution of the delinquent account.

We have an extensive in-house collections system, including a collection agency license, in-house credit access capabilities, the ability to pull land records and foreclosure information, and technology that allows us to track cases from the first notice of delinquency through resolution, including all debtor contact with our office. These capabilities allow us to provide prompt and effective service.

Focused Exclusively on Community Associations

For more than 25 years, our practice has focused exclusively on community associations. We don’t dabble in community association law – we have significant knowledge of the laws and regulations that govern community associations. Our attorneys and paralegals spend all their time on the strategic and day-to-day issues that face property mangers and board members.

Leaders in the Community

Our community attorneys are leaders in the community association industry. The group includes two past presidents of the Washington Metropolitan Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (WMCCAI), the dean-elect of the College of Community Association Lawyers, the chair of the WMCCAI Maryland Legislative Committee and a delegate on CAI's Maryland Legislative Action Committee. This involvement means we always have the most-up-to-date knowledge of the industry and allows us to advance issues important to our clients.

Representative Matters

• Applied the “fighting words” doctrine in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to prevent a resident in a local homeowners association from communicating directly with members of the community; the action resulted from the resident’s history of harassment and intimidation through e-mails and during association meetings
• Drafted and implemented lease addendum to be used by all landlords that allows the association to have the power to initiate eviction proceedings against a tenant for non-compliance
• Prepared documents providing for unit owners to remain obligated for up to $1,000 of the condominium master policy insurance deductible as permitted by state law
• Initiated legal proceedings against homeowners and obtained their compliance with outstanding covenant and maintenance violations
• Represented an association before the Montgomery County Commission on Common Ownership Communities and obtained an order in favor of the association requiring an owner to remove window bars from a unit
• Assisted a condominium association in the collection of more than $350,000 from owners for outstanding assessments in a single year
• Worked with a condominium association in drafting bylaw amendments to restrict the number of units that may be leased at a time and prepared rules regarding the leasing of units
• Defended a lawsuit initiated by an owner against the board and association for actions related to common areas maintenance and use
• Assisted an association in obtaining owner compliance by working with the county agency for enforcement of maintenance and code violations against the owner
• Worked with an association to negotiate terms of a large construction renovation contract
• Assisted an association with drafting disclaimer language for use in its community newsletter and on its Web page
• Negotiated resolutions of developer claims on behalf of condominium association client

Group Chair(s)

Jason E. Fisher
Jeffrey Van Grack