Should I sue my condo association?

I received this question via email:

Hi Keith, I have a question regarding a condo association. We have recently experienced a building fire and are now all displaced. The condo association is requiring all owners to continue to pay monthly assessments. Is this legal? We have been told that we will not be able to live in the building for one year. The building has 80 plus units, imagine all of that money not being used! Help! Do we have any grounds to sue for these assessments back? Any input will be greatly appreciated. I have no where to turn. Also, any suggestions on how we, the homeowners, can get the ball moving? It has been 3 months since the fire and no work has been started. We are all worried that our individual insurance will run out before the building is finished, and then what? By the way, our condo association is not pleased that we are contemplating the possibility of litigation.

Thank you for your assistance

Since I'm not a lawyer and I'm assuming the reader (who didn't want her name used) isn't either, my first and best piece of advice is that she needs to consult an attorney before proceeding with anything. Litigation may or may not be a good option, but qualified legal advice is certainly a great option.

One thing to remember is that as an owner, you are a member of the condo association and technically part of your building's management. In other words, if you brought suit against the association, you'd in part be suing yourself.

Otherwise, I wouldn't necessarily assume that your condo fees aren't being used. The association must continue to operate after a catastrophe like a fire. Expenses like filing insurance claims, getting estimates and yes, legal fees, have to be incurred whether you're living in the building or not. Look into what kind of cash reserves your association has and what kind of insurance policy as well. That will be important.

Good luck.

Did Obama answer all your questions?

In case you missed it, above is the video from yesterday's Q&A session with President Obama on the economy. Did he answer the questions you have about how to fix the problem? If not, what would you have asked him and what answers would you have liked to hear?

Obama's economic town hall

The voting's done and President Obama is set to answer economic questions online at about 11:30 AM. So far, here are the top economic questions that were asked:

"For students graduating from college and graduate school, many of us have obscene amounts of debt. Do you have any plans to help alleviate some of that debt, given the current state of the job market?" -- 4,719 votes

"As a college student, I am very concerned about the cost of tuition and the interest of student loans. What is going to be done to make getting a higher education easier for those of us who have to pay our own way through college?" - 3,196 votes

"What will you and your administration do to help make college more affordable for every American?"

We have been focusing a lot on relief for homeowners, many of whom knowingly overextended themselves. But, what about relief for students who are having trouble paying back tuition loans?"

I'm not sure if there were so many cost-of-college related questions because mostly younger people responded on the Internet or what. Here are some of the top questions from other categories:

"President Obama: What benefits from the stimulus plan are there to those of us who are paying our mortgages, but living paycheck to paycheck?" - 3,661 votes

Do you have a strategy for assisting the small business, to help those struggling against the huge conglomerates to receive government help as the big corporations have received?" 1, 134 votes