This isn't about my home, but about a contract my HOA is about to sign for repairs to the road and parking lot.
How important is it, and who should be listed as the customer on a contract for such work to be done in our n'hood? As opposed to listing the management company as the customer.
A week ago, at a board meeting, we saw a propsal by the company they have decided to do business with and it was signed by the paving company representative, on their stationery, and listed as Customer the property management company we use to collect HOA fees, to pay bils, to look for contractors, etc. It listed as Project Name/Address us, with the address of the president of the HOA's address.
It listed as Project Contact the employee of the management company assigned to our n'hood, and as Contact Phone, her phone.
At the bottom is a line for Customer Authorization, which I'm pretty sure the pres. of the HOA will be signing, but maybe it will be someone from the property man. company, and even if it is the HOA person, I don't know that will help us, since no such name appears anywhere on the contract, and she probably won't include her title, and "Customer Authorization" refers pretty clearly to "Customer" at the top, where it names the property management company.
I suggested that the HOA should be listed as the customer, and if it wasn't and if perchance it was necessary to sue, it would be more difficult, having to get the management company to sign off on everything (and having to get them to agree to any settlement, or keep them from withholding agreement.) I didn't say the part in parentheses.
The others involved gave the impression that they would have the "Customer" changed. They called last week's form a proposal and said it would be followed by a contract.
So now it's a week later and the current form I saw today lists only the three items we agreed to do and not a couple others we decided not to do, but otherwise it is is identical to the previous form.
Anything with a signature by the paving company, and a blank called Customer Authorization and a place for a signature and a date looks like a contract to me.
Not only that, it occurs to me that we don't have exactly the same interests as the management company. I"m not sure how this would cause us problems, but I'm slow-witted. (One thing might be related: They don't really search for contractors when we need one, unless pushed. Usually they have 3 or 4 of each kind and they recommend to all their clients 2 or 3, whatever the building or n'hood wants to see. The management company may think our complaints are unreasonable (even I may think that given the people here) and maybe not want to antagonize a contractor they are happy with. Actually, the board members tend to be pushovers, and it's probably more likely they won't sue when they should. This would be especially true if the management company doesn't want the nuisance, and it will be a nuisance for them, I think, since they are listed as the customer.