residents association?

Question

Can anyone out there help me with the following? any advice at all is greatly appreciated.....We live in a block of 15 flats and have just bought the freehold so we can undertake some refurbishments. All 15 of us own an equal share. However, unwittingly it seems that we have voted in a board of directors (4 other residents) who will spend the money in the communal maintenence fund as they see fit - without consulting any other residents. You see, a letter was put through our door asking if we were happy for 4 people to be voted in who would be in charge of accounts, taking minutes of any meetings etc. We all agreed, but certainly were not aware that we were agreeing to them to make all decisions to do with our property. We thought there would be a vote of 15 with majority getting their way. For example, one of the guys has decided it's appropriate to lay down a black and yellow carpet in communal stairs without consulting anyone, except the 4 other guys. When i asked him about this

I ran out of words!! yes so when i asked the leader of the pack he said that since we'd signed his letter there was nothing we can do until this time next year when we can vote out the current board of directors! is this true?? his letter did not say anything about being a legal document, so can he enforce it? So far i know of 2 other neighbours who also misunderstood the content of the letter, but i cannot contact all the others since they rent out their properties..... can anyone help me?? thanks for any help

Answer 1

No doubt your "association" was formed as a private limited company, owned by all fifteen, and the four on the committee are its board of directors. Obviously, it can sometimes be better to have four people to whom decision-making is delegated, than trying to get a consensus of all fifteen. Directors can conduct the company's business without referring to all the members on everything - I own shares in Barclays Bank, but it doesn't ask me how much interest to charge on the loans it makes, or what colour to paint its branches. However, all management companies (including ones owned by the residents) now have legal constraints on how they go about spending the communal funds, and it is possible for disaffected members to call an extraordinary meeting, kick out any director (or all of them) by a simple majority, and appoint new directors. You need to take legal advice on the situation, which will cost money, but if enough of you are angry enough, that will spread the cost.

Answer 2

Sorry but this depends on exactly how the letter was worded and on the constitution for whatever organisation has been set up. so you must take a copy to a solicitor for advise. It sound to me as though the whole thing has be cobbled together without much thought except on the part of these 4 guys.