Aloha,
@Katie Miller, first of all, you should have a copy of your By-laws, Declaration, and House Rules. Read the section in the By-laws that details Membership meeting processes and requirements. The Membership meeting is completely different from the more frequent Board of Directors meeting, and also different from a Special Meeting that could be called. You need to be sure the BOD is following proper procedure for holding each type of meeting, providing proper notice of the meeting, and for tallying and recording the votes. Generally Members cannot participate in votes except at the annual Membership meeting, or at a Special Meeting called for a specific issue, such as amending the By-laws or other Governing Documents, or to authorize the Board to seek a loan or levy a Special Assessment against all of the Membership. Members CAN attend regular BOD meetings and participate to an extent, but are not able to vote and cannot be present for any "Executive Session", which is primarily limited to personnel matters, active vendor contract proposal or contract discussions, and Homeowner delinquencies. These regular BOD meetings is where the bulk of the actual "work" that affects the Membership of the HOA is done.
I am not intimately familiar with Florida HOA laws, but in most states you do receive a Proxy form that you can complete and return to the Managing Agent or Secretary of the BOD. This form will have options for naming the Board as a group; Board as a percentage; Quorum only; or you can Name any specific person to vote on your behalf at a specific meeting. Membership meetings are usually only once a year, and you should plan on attending if you do not have a trusted family member or friend that can attend for you, and do NOT want to support any of the current Board.
If you feel your Board is against investors, you need to make contact with other investors in the HOA and any other "friendlies" to develop a voting block to make an effort to change directions. Or, maybe, just get all of those investors to properly manage their HOA properties and Tenants. Many ARE absent slumlords that do not care about the rules and restrictions that they agreed to when they purchased. One bad apple....
Also, a prior poster was ranting about an HOA that was "fired". The HOA is a legal entity, made up of all of the unit Owners in the project. The BOD is made up entirely of Owners in the project. The BOD, based on the authority granted them in their HOA By-Laws, hires a Managing Agent to be the lawful point of contact and legal service for the Association. The Managing Agent works at the direction of the Board. The Board is responsible to see that the Managing Agent, and all vendors, staff, and other Board members follow all applicable laws, and follow proper practices and procedures. The Board can "fire" the Managing Agent, and, if the HOA has employees, they can fire them as well, but the HOA lives in perpetuity or until dissolved in a Court of Law. Board Members can only be removed by a vote of the Membership. Your Board of Directors is where the Buck Stops, and they should, and CAN, be held personally responsible if they are failing the Membership as a fiduciary.
Every HOA's Board is different, there are good ones, and there are terrible ones. Every Board Member has their own agenda, background, and ideas. By attending regular BOD meetings you can easily figure out who is pushing for an issue, and who is just blindly following the alpha dog. What they DO have in common, is the responsibility to maintain, protect, and preserve ALL of the common and limited common elements. If they are failing at that, they need to be voted out. As a fiduciary, they are also responsible for properly managing the finances of the HOA. The BOD sets the annual Budget, and approves the Reserve Funding Plan. If you do not understand these documents that should be sent to you annually, you NEED to, unless an "unexpected" Special Assessment or large increase in monthly fees would not impact your cash flow.
The problem with many HOA's is that the Board does not care enough to learn about their own Governing Docs or local laws. They erroneously believe since it is "their" HOA, they can do whatever they want. They are often motivated only to keep the monthly fees low, which they accomplish in the relatively short term by deferring maintenance on items they feel are less important, and by "saving money" using unlicensed and often poor quality vendors to make improper or inadequate repairs. This can go on for years, until that "unexpected" Special Assessment has to be made. Money for repairs and maintenance only comes from one place...the Owners pockets.
As to changing rules, sure, States and Cities can make changes to zoning and other aspects that can hinder a short term rental investor, but you need to start with your own HOA documents. They will also limit your use for the benefit of the entire project. The difference is, depending on your specific docs, in some HOA's the Board ALONE can make those changes. In others, they require a significant percentage of the entire membership to approve such a change. There is not much you can do about the State or City changing rules, but at least with the HOA, you can easily determine how difficult it would be for the existing HOA rules to be changed. A small HOA, of less than two dozen units, are more likely to be easy to change, vs. a 1000 unit HOA that requires 2/3 of the membership to approve a change.
https://www.caionline.org/pages/default.aspx is a great resource for HOA Owners and Boards, and they have chapters all across the country. Check to see if there is one near you/your HOA to learn how the HOA should be operating.
