With loads of contractors in town for the cleanup and repair following Hurricane Ian, it has meant that we’ve been forced to stay 60-90 minutes away in an Airbnb. There’s just nothing closer available.
The hardest part of being away has been the lack of communication from our leaders — the condo association.
Luckily, a social committee member has been emailing daily updates. However, they are just that — updates (limited, one-way emails that don’t answer questions or address problems).
Our only open channels of two-communication are email and telephone, and neither is being answered.
We also have an unofficial (but also kind of official) private Facebook group that requires proof of home ownership to join.
Unfortunately, any questions or posts that demonstrate a weakness in the process are strictly moderated through permanent deletion without explanation.
It feels like the most significant concerns are:
- We have a contractor in our community with 180 employees, who are allowed to manage themselves with little oversight from our paid and elected staff.
- They have access to every unit, and can enter at all hours of the day, seven days per week, with no supervision from the Association.
- They have the authority to remove anything structural from your unit without notice. This includes drywall, floors, baseboards, and molding.
- If they need to move your stuff, they will without asking — and its possible things will break in the process.
- As an owner with questions or concerns, you must email or call a number and wait indefinitely for a response.
As a result, everyone is circling back to the Facebook group with their questions, concerns, and problems.
Those posts and comments are being deleted with a comment that says, “email or call instead.”
Lather, rinse, repeat!
Consistent communication with homeowners is essential to the smooth functioning of any condo association.
Although critical, mailing out updates and notices only amounts to a partial-bodied homeowner communication strategy.
It only comprises half of what should be a two-way flow between the Association and the homeowner.
Homeowners who feel unheard may take their concerns to social media groups, private forums, or worse… attorneys and the media.
This hurricane has highlighted something we already sort of knew. There are no actual processes in place to handle queries from homeowners. There’s no ticketing system to track and prioritize requests, group duplicate queries together, and simultaneously respond to everyone with the same information.
The result: Angry homeowners. A Frustrated Board. A Condo Association doing the best it can with what they got. And a contractor with carte blanche to our homes.