Help with HOA

[tskeeter]

Share, if the money is needed for street maintenance and other things the city provides to other town residents, maybe one of the things the Board should explore is deeding the streets or other high maintenance cost property to the city. After all, you pay the same property taxes as other city residents, but you're not getting the same services. Right? Note, this tactic may, or may not work. Our HOA pays the electric bill for the street lights while the city pays the cost of operating street lights in other parts of town. These types of things happen because cities want property tax revenue, but want to avoid some of the costs that come with getting the tax revenue. So the city refuses to issue building permits to the developer until the developer agrees to form an HOA and have the HOA pay certain expenses. The developer doesn't care, because he isn't going to have to pay those bills for the next 50 years. The home buyers will end up footing the bills. Unsuspecting home buyers purchase homes and in the process "agree" to pay for services that the city provides to other city residents from property tax revenues.

If you want to play hard ball, share, you could ask the Board members if they would like to talk with your attorney about their knowingly violating the HOA governing documents. As Board members, they owe a duty to the Association Members to abide by the governing documents. If they willingly fail to do that, the board members could become personally liable for their actions. If the Board raises assessments higher than allowed by the governing documents, and uses the money raised to repair streets; the Board could be forced by the courts to pay for the street repairs out of their own pockets.

A different approach might be to ask the Board to hold a meeting to explain the situation to all HOA Members. If they wish, the HOA Members can then take action to amend the governing documents to allow the proposed assessments. Or the community can work together to resolve the financial challenges facing the HOA, which could include simply not maintaining some of the common elements of the community until there are adequate funds to do the maintenance. This approach would allow all HOA Members to have input into the decisions affecting the community, rather than having those decisions made by just a few Members.

[share88]

Gave you some karma tskeeter. Thanks for the advice.

You are really "getting" the way this works here and have given practical suggestions. I don't join in many committees because I lack the people skills to deal with some sorts of confrontational situations like this. I have confirmed there is no state agency to oversee this, so that is not an option (that was suggested by a previous poster).

I was thinking of asking for detailed financial information and I like your suggestions about us having input. My guess is that they will say "no one cares". But you cannot say no one cares unless you ASK. If we had a vote on it, I'd be much more comfortable. I haven't totally decided how "nice" I want to be in any case because to me it really is WRONG of them to do this. I will definitely incorporate your suggestions into my solution though.

[Deleted]

Get involved with the HOA, Share. It will be very frustrating and eye-opening, but maybe you can serve as a catalyst to get other people involved.

If they are having to raise the fees beyond what is allowed because of foreclosures or people not being able to afford that dues, that means your neighborhood is declining. So what happens if the collected fees don't generate enough revenue to pay the common area taxes and to maintain them? The money has to come from somewhere. Be proactive if necessary and be the one to suggest amending the bylaws.

As part of being proactive, ask questions about budgets. How is this determined? Is maintenance bid out? Where does the HOA keep its money? You don't have to be confrontational. You want to understand the process.

Reread your documents again. There has to be a mechanism somewhere that determines the HOA board members. This lack of information is really dangerous in terms of the potential for embezzlement. There seems to be no transparency or accountability. But I find it hard to believe that there isn't a way to have a called meeting even if you have to place flyers on doors.

Aren't HOAs legal entities of some sort? They have to be with the type of power they have. Check with your local law school to see if they have some students who can help you uncover information. It's not the same thing as hiring a lawyer, but it might give you enough info to get you started.

[Clever Username]

May 3, 2011 14:34:59 GMT -5 share88 said:

They pretty much said they don't know or care what the rules are they need money.
I do take care of my own property - they only do streets and things city will not do. I was able to check with city to see if property tax was paid on common area and it is. I am not sure what I will do next.

There are two "styles" of HOAs.
To figure out what to do next, first you need to figure out what type you have.

One is run by simple, honest individuals doing the best with what they've got.
Their job is to "pass through" the community expenses to the community itself.
Foreclosures may have skewed which members of the community they are able to pass the costs through to.

See how from that perspective, your "but the bylaws say 10%" actually should be ignored.
The alternative is to pick which expenses to cut (road maintenance, roof repairs, close the pool?).
Maybe there are some good expenses to cut.
Maybe there are ways to collect the outstanding fees.
Maybe the board needs honest help to identify these.

The other type are petty mini-Napoleans more concerned with their egos, pet projects and power plays than anything else.
Tread very carefully here.
Sometimes it's best to hold your friends close and your enemies closer.

[tskeeter]

To tag on to Clever's comment about mini-Napoleons, you must remember that even the HOA dictators are almost always elected to their post. Frequently, they are elected because nobody else wants to be bothered with participating in operating the HOA.

For most of us, our home is our single biggest asset. The actions of the HOA have a direct impact on the value of our homes. Would you let someone you don't know make all of the decisions about how your car is maintained and repaired? Not many of us would. Why would you abdicate that level of control over your home, an even more valuable asset, to someone you don't know, then?

Ya gotta get involved, folks. Even if the only reason you're getting involved is because you don't like what is going on in your community.

[moneymaven]

Share - I didn't read the other responses but saw your few posts. I was on the HOA Board, and served as the President. Bylaws of the association must be adhered to. Talk to a few of your neighbors and I am sure they'll support you in an email or certified letter to the association President and/or Management company. They must respond to your grievance. I'd bet you'll win. If they fail to respond, pay only the 5% increase and if they take you to court over the balance, you're in the right.

[moneymaven]

And for the record - I resigned from the board because I wanted to do the right and neighborly thing to help out my community, meanwhile the other members had large egos to be stroked and liked power. You may be dealing with this in general.

[moneymaven]

Ya gotta get involved, folks. Even if the only reason you're getting involved is because you don't like what is going on in your community.

Ding, Ding - you're dead on tskeeter.

[TD2K]

I had a friend of mine who was on his HOA board. No one wanted the job and everyone complained about what was and wasn't done. Basically, he said it was a thankless job.

[Clever Username]

May 4, 2011 12:54:25 GMT -5 moneymaven said:

I'd bet you'll win. If they fail to respond, pay only the 5% increase and if they take you to court over the balance, you're in the right.

It's cases like this where losing gracefully is appropriate.

If the income does not meet their expenses, then expenses will be cut.
This is not a wealthy charitable organization.
Are you ready, willing and able to handle that?

Expenses in associations can vary greatly.
Back in my condo days, mine paid heat, roof and boiler maintenance and insurance as it's largest expenes. Which of those would you like to cut?