hoa fraud

[Guest Linda Morris]

We are a lake lot owners association whose rules allow members only one pontoon boat.  After being advised by the Board of Directors 3 times that one of the boats had to be removed from the lake, said member sold one pontoon to is Mother (who is also a member on our lake) for the sum of $1.00, although she has never taken physical custody of the boat, and the boat remains docked at her son's resident.  I believe the son/mother have perpetrated a fraud as she never intended to take custody of the boat only to give him a means of violating our rule.  Is there anything in Robert's Rules that would cover such a situation or should we call our lawyer?

[Guest Nancy N.]

I don't see anything in RONR that would cover it.  But you might not have to call a lawyer either.  (This is not practicing law without a licence.  I mean that as partial disclosure.)

[Rev Ed]

You may want to talk to a lawyer about this as this is outside the scope of RONR.  As far as RONR would be concerned, the two members each own a boat which means that they are following the 'one boat per member' rule.  However, I really do not see the issue here unless the second boat infringes on another member's rights (i.e. does it prevent another member from docking his/her boat on his/her property?)

[Timothy]

From an outsider's point of view, it appears that they made an attempt to abide by the rules of the association. If you don't like the rules, they can probably be changed by whatever method is prescribed in the bylaws.

[Transpower]

Assuming that there is no rule prohibiting one member from sharing or lending a boat with another, I see nothing wrong with what the member did.  If you dislike this, then your recourse is to modify the rules so that boats may not be shared or lent to another.