SECTION 55-444. Allocation of ownership interests, votes and common expense liabilities  

A. The declaration shall allocate an ownership interest in the association a fraction or percentage of the common expenses of the association and a portion of the votes in the association, or to each cooperative interest in the cooperative, and state the formulas used to establish those allocations. Those allocations may not discriminate in favor of cooperative interests owned by the declarant or an affiliate of the declarant.

B. If units may be added to or withdrawn from the cooperative, the declaration must state the formulas to be used to reallocate the allocated interests among all cooperative interests included in the cooperative after the addition or withdrawal.

C. The declaration may provide: (i) that different allocations of votes shall be made to the cooperative interests on particular matters specified in the declaration; (ii) for cumulative voting only for the purpose of electing members of the executive board; and (iii) for class voting on specified issues affecting the class if necessary to protect valid interests of the class. A declarant may not utilize cumulative or class voting for the purpose of evading any limitation imposed on declarants by this chapter, nor may cooperative interests constitute a class because they are owned by a declarant.

D. Except for minor variations due to rounding, the sum of the common expense liabilities allocated at any time to all the cooperative interests must equal 1 if stated as a fraction or 100 percent if stated as a percentage. In the event of a discrepancy between an allocated interest and the result derived from application of the pertinent formula, the allocated interest prevails.

E. Any purported conveyance, encumbrance, judicial sale or other voluntary or involuntary transfer of the ownership interest in the association made without the possessory interest in the unit to which that interest is related, is void.

1982, c. 277.