Washington condo and HOA laws: management company interview questions

Washington association law can expose the difference between a management company that knows terminology and one that runs dependable systems.

A board should not ask a manager to act as its lawyer. It should ask how the company identifies applicable requirements, turns counsel-approved guidance into calendars and checklists, documents completion, trains backup staff, and escalates situations that do not fit the normal process.

This guide is general board education, not legal, accounting, tax, insurance, engineering, reserve-study, or management advice. Washington law, governing documents, contracts, local requirements, and community facts can change the correct approach. Association counsel should determine legal applicability and interpretation.

First question: which Washington law applies to us?

Washington's Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act, Chapter 64.90 RCW, applies in full to communities created on or after July 1, 2018 and can apply through other statutory paths. RCW 64.90.365 extends selected WUCIOA provisions to many older communities, but it does not simply make every WUCIOA section govern every pre-2018 association. Until January 1, 2028, an older community that has not opted in generally remains under its legacy statute, Chapter 64.32 RCW (Horizontal Property Regimes Act), Chapter 64.34 RCW (Condominium Act), or Chapter 64.38 RCW (homeowners' associations), together with the WUCIOA sections listed in RCW 64.90.365 and its governing documents. Those legacy chapters are repealed effective January 1, 2028, when Chapter 64.90 RCW is scheduled to apply to all common interest communities, so ask each candidate how it is preparing clients for that transition.

Ask each candidate:

1. How will you document the statutes and governing documents that control our community? A credible process includes a legal and document intake, an applicability matrix, counsel escalation, and association-specific procedures.
2. How do you prevent staff from applying a rule from the wrong type or age of community? Ask how templates are labeled, reviewed, and tied to the association profile.
3. Who monitors statutory changes and updates workflows? Request a recent redacted example showing a policy, calendar, notice, form, or training change.
4. How is a backup manager trained on our requirements? The company should preserve operational knowledge outside one person's memory.

The strongest response distinguishes legal analysis, which belongs with counsel, from recurring administration that can be managed through an approved system.

Board and owner meetings

RCW 64.90.445 addresses association and board meetings for communities governed by that section and is among the provisions RCW 64.90.365 extends to many older communities. The manager should be able to administer notice, materials, agendas, remote access when used, owner participation, minutes, and follow-up without inventing authority.

Ask:

1. Show us your annual meeting and board meeting calendar. Who owns each notice, material, delivery, and proof-of-completion step?
2. How do you prepare an agenda and packet? Ask when the board receives financials, prior minutes, proposals, action items, owner matters, and draft resolutions.
3. How do you manage executive-session subjects and the return to open session? The candidate should use a counsel-approved process and avoid casual labels that could undermine transparency.
4. How are owner comments, remote participation, voting, quorum, ballots, proxies, and election records handled? The answer should distinguish statutory requirements, governing documents, and meeting rules.

Request a redacted notice calendar, agenda, packet index, minutes workflow, and action-item log. Verify that the staffing model leaves enough time to perform those tasks.

Budgets, assessments, and owner ratification

RCW 64.90.525 contains detailed budget and assessment provisions and is also among the sections RCW 64.90.365 extends to many older communities. A good manager should connect financial preparation to the board's statutory and governing-document process.

Ask:

1. How do you build the proposed budget package? The answer should cover projected income and expenses, assessments, reserve contributions, reserve-study information, special assessments when applicable, explanations, and board review.
2. How do you schedule board adoption, owner delivery, and the ratification meeting? Ask for the responsible person, deadline source, delivery evidence, quorum treatment, and outcome record.
3. How are owner questions and affordability concerns handled without changing the legal process midstream? Look for clear scripts, consistent information, and escalation to the board or counsel.
4. How do budget decisions flow into billing and the general ledger? The company should verify assessment amounts, due dates, owner rosters, special allocations, reserve transfers, and effective dates before invoices are released.

Ask for a sample budget calendar and owner package, then confirm whether preparation, printing, mailing, meeting support, and special-assessment work are included in the fee proposal.

Financial statements, association funds, and reserves

For communities governed by RCW 64.90.530, the association has requirements involving annual financial statements, audits or owner waivers under specified conditions, and custody of association funds. RCW 64.90.535 addresses reserve accounts and disbursements for associations subject to it. Those sections are not among the provisions RCW 64.90.365 generally extends to older communities, so applicability must be confirmed rather than assumed.

Ask:

1. What does your monthly close produce, and who reviews each control? Request a sample balance sheet, income and expense statement, budget comparison, cash report, bank reconciliations, receivables, payables, reserve activity, and variance commentary.
2. How are association funds titled, deposited, invested, accessed, and reconciled? Ask about commingling prevention, bank visibility, signers, approval limits, fraud controls, and manager termination.
3. How are reserve transactions documented? The board should be able to connect each transfer or disbursement to authorization, supporting records, the reserve study or component, and required signers.
4. How do you prepare for the annual statement, audit, review, tax filing, or owner waiver process that applies? The company should describe timing, records, responsibilities, and professional coordination without offering audit or tax conclusions it is not qualified to make.

Have a qualified financial professional assess specialized accounting representations. A polished dashboard is not a substitute for reconciled books and portable supporting records.

Reserve studies and long-range planning

RCW 64.90.545 addresses reserve studies for communities governed by that section and is among the provisions RCW 64.90.365 extends to many older communities. The management company should be able to coordinate the operational calendar without pretending to be the reserve-study professional.

Ask:

1. How do you track the reserve study's preparation, update, and review cycle? Ask who owns the deadline and what happens when a site visit, records request, or board decision stalls.
2. How are reserve components connected to preventive maintenance, capital projects, bids, and the annual budget? The manager should help the board avoid treating the study as a document that sits untouched until budget season.
3. How do you report actual project spending against the study and budget? Look for component-level records, approved contracts, change orders, invoices, and a reserve roll-forward.
4. How are funding gaps explained to owners? The company should present board-approved facts clearly while leaving engineering, legal, tax, and investment advice to qualified professionals.

Association records and data portability

RCW 64.90.495 contains records requirements for communities governed by that section, including categories of retained records, owner inspection and copying, information the association must redact before disclosure, and managing-agent delivery obligations. It is not one of the sections RCW 64.90.365 generally extends to pre-2018 communities, so older associations need a separate applicability review.

Ask:

1. Walk us through an owner records request. Who verifies it, searches, applies required redactions, tracks timing, applies authorized charges, and records completion?
2. Which records live in the association's durable file system? Ask about minutes, budgets, financial statements, tax returns, bank records, contracts, insurance, reserve studies, owner decisions, architectural files, violations, and litigation holds.
3. How quickly can the board receive electronic and written records during the contract and after termination? Compare the answer with the statute, governing documents, and proposed management agreement.
4. What formats can be exported? Require searchable files and structured accounting or owner data where available, not only PDFs or screenshots.

The board should own its records architecture. A vendor portal can deliver convenience, but the association still needs a current index, retention rules, access controls, backups, and an exit-ready export plan.

Rules, architectural review, and protected requests

RCW 64.90.505 and .510 address association rules and rulemaking limits for communities governed by those sections. Other current statutes address subjects such as electric vehicle charging, drought-resistant and pollinator landscaping, wildfire ignition resistance, flags, signs, political activity, and heat pumps. Statutory coverage and effective dates vary.

Ask:

1. How do you verify the board's authority and required adoption process before publishing a rule? The manager should tie the process to the governing law and documents and seek counsel for uncertain authority.
2. How are owner applications date-stamped and tracked to a written decision? This is especially important where a statute creates a decision period or limits unreasonable restrictions.
3. How are violation notices checked for the correct rule, facts, approval, and hearing or appeal path? Ask for inspection standards and a quality-control step.
4. What issues automatically go to counsel or another specialist? The list should include fair housing and disability matters, disputed statutory rights, contested title or parking rights, engineering questions, insurance claims, and novel enforcement.

Use a redacted architectural log and violation workflow to test the answer. Consistency requires evidence and review, not just software automation.

Service levels, complaints, and board oversight

CAI's guidance on hiring a management company stresses communication, mutual trust, and partnership between the board and the manager. Add responsiveness, transparency, financial stewardship, maintenance, and governance, and translate each theme into measurable questions.

Ask:

• What is the response target for owners, directors, vendors, and emergencies?
• Which requests are resolved by the first contact, assigned to the manager, or escalated?
• How many communities and units does the proposed manager serve, and what backup coverage exists?
• What monthly operating report shows open owner issues, work orders, violations, architectural requests, collections, contracts, projects, and board action items?
• How does the board review service quality and correct recurring problems?

Request actual service definitions. “Responsive” is not measurable until the contract or operating plan identifies hours, channels, targets, exclusions, and escalation.

Transition and contract exit

Ask every finalist for both an onboarding plan and an exit plan. The first 90 days should reconcile records, people, money, systems, and pending decisions. The exit plan should identify data ownership, formats, credentials, delivery timing, transition fees, bank changes, open items, and software dependencies.

Key questions include:

• How will owner balances, unapplied cash, payables, bank reconciliations, reserves, and collection files be validated?
• Who obtains governing documents, minutes, insurance, contracts, claims, keys, vendor contacts, access systems, websites, and legal files?
• Which services are interrupted if the prior manager does not cooperate?
• What belongs to the association, and what requires a separate software or banking agreement?
• How will electronic and physical records be delivered when this contract ends?

Make the transition schedule an exhibit or deliverable. A proposal should not receive full credit for a process the contract does not require.

Score evidence, not familiarity

Use a 0-to-3 score for each section:

• 0 — Missing: no workable answer.
• 1 — Verbal assurance: a promise without evidence.
• 2 — Documented process: owner, timing, sample, and escalation path are clear.
• 3 — Community fit: the documented process is adapted to the association's governing framework, size, property, workload, technology, and risks.

Weight funds, financial controls, staffing, records portability, meetings, and transition according to the association's greatest risks. Keep total cost visible beside scope so the board can identify exclusions and optional fees without reducing the decision to the lowest monthly quote.

Official and professional sources

• RCW 64.90.365 — Applicability to communities created before July 1, 2018
• RCW 64.90.445 — Meetings
• RCW 64.90.525 — Budgets, assessments, and special assessments
• RCW 64.90.530 — Financial statements and association funds
• RCW 64.90.535 — Reserve accounts and disbursements
• RCW 64.90.545 — Reserve study
• RCW 64.90.495 — Association records
• Community Associations Institute — Finding the Right Professional
• CAI — Hiring a Community Management Company