Association name change
Our HOA is attempting to change the name of our community without homeowner approval. In other words, the Board has the authority to make that decision. They did mention that it is not a ‘legal’ change of name, so is that how they can do make the change without membership approval? Is that a DBA? So, the governing documents retain the legal name of the community, but other things can be altered, like marketing, the website, publications?
Appreciate your insight.
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Linda,
The legal name of your community was established by the Declaration (CC&R’s) and cannot be changed without an amendment to that recorded document. I cannot understand why any board would want to change the name of the community for any reason? Are you still under declarant control and attempting to sell of remaining lots and homes? The declarant chose the name for the community with marketing in mind so again I cannot understand why a different name would provide any marketing advantage. You can call a website whatever you want as long as the community that it belongs to is referred to by its legal name.
You association by creating a pseudo name for the community is encroaching on false advertising and misrepresentation and could be subjecting the association to legal challenges and suits.
DBA’s (doing business as) cannot be used for a corporation that has been established as such authorized by the Arizona Corporations commission, and are only issued by the Secretary of State. They are typically used by unincorporated entities. I operate this site and provide my support to all homeowners in Arizona under a DBA.
While I’ve never heard of this happening, I do not believe that the association board has any authority to change the name of the community without making that change by legal means by changing the CC&R’s and applying for a name change thru the Corporations Commission.
Dennis