Our Contributions

Our commitment to stay at the forefront of Community Association law in Georgia includes:

Legislative Awareness

Randall "Randy" Lipshutz has appeared before the legislature as a committee witness on adoption of the Georgia Property Owners' Associations Act, having chaired the committee that drafted the original version of that Act, and has also regularly appeared as a legislative witness on Condominium Act revisions and on other legislation related to management or operations of community associations, including the last major revisions to the Georgia Condominium Act and the revisions to the Georgia Real Estate Brokerage Code that first required association managers to hold state licenses.  

Randy acted as the official part-time lobbyist for the Community Associations Institute-Georgia Chapter (CAI)  in the 2005 legislative session and has worked extensively with the full-time lobbyist that CAI  hired for the 2006 through 2018 sessions.

Leadership and Membership

Our firm has sponsored the Georgia Chapter of Community Association Institute (CAI).

Attorneys in our firm have volunteered their time serving on the following CAI committees: CAI National Amicus Committee, Legislative Action Committee, Programming Committee, Membership Committee, and Fundraising Committee.

Randy has served on behalf of CAI as a member of a task force for the Georgia Real Estate Commission to look at revisions to the state code governing real estate brokers and community association managers. Many of these revisions have now been signed into law.

Caselaw

Before the Court of Appeals, we helped to establish the standard which attorneys must apply in association collection cases to prove the amount of legal fees that a debtor is obligated to pay.  (Hershiser v. Yorkshire Condominium Association, Inc., 201 Ga. App. 185 (1991)).

We helped to establish that an association may rely on the court records to determine who may be sued for assessments, and an owner may not conceal or fail to record a deed and thereby claim to be absolved from liability to the association.  (Casey v. North Decatur Courtyards Condominium Association, Inc., 213 Ga. App. 190 (1994)). 

We helped confirm that an association has the right to pursue assessments even if the Secretary of State administratively dissolves the Association (Martin Lakes Condominium Assoc., Inc. v. Williams,284 Ga. App.569 (2007)).

We have prevailed on behalf of one Association in having debt to an association in a mortgage fraud case declared non-dischargeable when the debtor filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
 

In December 2009, Randy Lipshutz was prevailing counsel in a Georgia Court of Appeals decision dealing with the validity of the adoption of a leasing restriction by a homeowners association.  (Charter Club on the River Home Owners Association, Inc. v. Walker, 301 Ga. App. 898 (2009).

In 2011, on behalf of our Association client, we prevailed in holding the heirs of a unit owner liable for unpaid assessments accruing after the death of their parent in a case of first impression in the Georgia Court of Appeals.  (Villas at Stone Mountain Condominium Association, Inc. v. Blair, 311 Ga. App. 718 (2011))

In 2018, we obtained reaffirmation from the Court of Appeals that a tax sale purchaser of a condominium unit cannot devise a creative claim to avoid paying condominium assessments after the tax sale.  (Northlake Manor Condominium Association, Inc., v. Harvest Assets, LLC, 345 Ga. App. 575 (2018)).

Education

Randy teaches continuing education courses on association law to other attorneys, with the most recent seminar on January 10, 2008.

Randy has also spoken on many occasions since the 1980s at seminars sponsored by the Community Associations Institute - Georgia Chapter, the most recent being in Augusst 2019.

In Spring 2007 Randy  taught a three hour seminar for association officers and directors of associations as a volunteer presentation for the East Cobb Civic Association. 

We regularly meet with our association clients and property managers to educate them on current changes in the law and expose them to better methods for meeting the demands of running their Associations smoothly and efficiently.

Articles published in Georgia Commons included discussions of recent court decisions involving collection of attorneys fees on collection cases and the obligations an association has to provide documentation to its members and recent legislative activities.