Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey
Electricity to replace propane at summer lake.
90 of us own summar cabins & land on a lake in No.N.J. There
has never been electricity on this land...so everyone uses
propane for gas..and lights but recently have been using
gasoline generators to power t.v. - microwaves..outdoor
flood lights...computers etc. Some of the owners would like
to bring in electric..but the Officers of our Condominium
Association are not in favor of it. As a result..a vote
was taken last year of the owners which voted down electric
due to the slant or bias put on the topic from some of the
officers. Can they stop us for bringing our world to
2002 and denying us of electricity..which I feel is a
necessity of life and is far safer than propane and
gasoline generators ? Thank you for any advice you may
have...a meeting is scheduled for Memorial Day. Pat
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Electricity to replace propane at summer lake.
Condominium and co-op boards have a great deal of discretion, and can do ALMOST anything they want, as long as they treat everyone similarly. They can waste money and make unreasonable decisions. They can require every home owner paint their homes purple if they want. What they can not do is order YOU to paint your house purple, but not the others. IF you don't like their decisions, you should have a process, spelled out in your by-laws, to have a full vote on the issue, or to impeach board members, but this is intentionally difficult to do. You can also ignore a directive of the board, and have ADR with an independent uninterested party to resolve the dispute if you feel the board's directive is discriminatory or patently unfair.
A word of warning... Most associations do NOT know and follow the NJ Condominium act, so you may end up in a fight with them. If you do, you will need help from an attorney, or the Dept. of Community Affairs, to force the association to conform to the requirements of the Act.
Good luck.