HOA / POA HomeOwner Associations
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Homeowner Association Management
Q: Our homeowners association’s board of directors forgave homeowners who were two to three years behind on their assessments. This was done without our knowledge, and we found out about it before our annual meeting. Is this legal? This seems unfair to the homeowners who pay their dues every year.
Read the answer here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/02/15/3855294/can-hoa-board-forgive-unpaid-assessments.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: –>HOA Financial Responsibility
Q. I received a legal update via e-blast from a local law firm that specializes in real estate and condo association law. Apparently there is a new court decision that provides relief for banks and third party investors who buy a property at foreclosure sale. As I understood it, a condo or homeowners association will no longer be able to pursue past due maintenance fees if the association foreclosed its lien and owned the property for a period of time. Can you better explain the court decision and what it means for community associations?
Q. We have an owner who has not paid association fees for almost three years. The bank that financed the unit was apparently involved in “robo signing” and the delinquent owner has successfully fought them every step of the way. Does the association have any recourse against the bank, and if so, do you think it would be worth pursuing?
Q. Our condo association has a management company that uses the same vendors for all of their associations. Many of these vendors are handymen who are jacks of all trades (electrical, mold inspections, painting, plumbing, tile, etc.). The management company does not seem to require proper licenses or make sure they have insurance. Consequently, our board thinks these things are unnecessary. What is the association’s liability if something goes wrong?
At Monday night’s HOA meeting, residents spoke out against the board.
One man said, “Shame on you. Shame on you board members.”
“I mean, it’s just wrong,” homeowner Judith King told 10News outside the meeting. “It’s wrong.” Neighbors said Evolfo applied for a city permit to build a backyard “deck” before receiving HOA approval. After getting the permit, the HOA president called an emergency HOA meeting solely for a vote on his “deck.” Fellow board members approved construction.
By Robert Lee Long
Citizens say streets in Cross Creek, a private gated community in Hernando, are in need of repair and one of the ways to upgrade their condition is to make them public. One way to achieve improvements and upgrades is to turn the streets over to the city. At issue, however, is the fact that plats of the subdivision will have to be changed, and if the streets are taken into the city, they will have to be accessible to the public.
Leigh Pegram, president of the Cross Creek Homeowners Association, said the group is exploring their options and has retained an attorney. She plans to brief Homeowners Association members on information she received at Tuesday’s board meeting at an upcoming meeting of the Homeowners’ Association.
City Attorney Kenneth Stockton said Cross Creek is platted and recorded as a private gated subdivision. Stockton is seeking an Attorney General’s Opinion on the public access issue. Pegram disagreed slightly, saying the word “private” never appears on the plat. However, at present individuals must have an access code to gain entrance into the subdivision. There are presently two active gates and an emergency gate to allow law enforcement officers and firefighters access to the subdivision.
By Gretchen Wenner
One of Oxnard’s premier neighborhoods, where boats nose up to million-dollar homes and the ocean beckons just beyond the harbor, has a problem borne of its marine environment: Sea walls are getting old. The reinforced concrete walls that protect Mandalay Bay’s 743 homes were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They had a projected life span of roughly 40 years — time that’s about up.
A group of homeowners is advocating pre-emptive repairs that would cost a fraction of the estimated $118 million needed for total replacement. A recent evaluation found some stretches are at risk of catastrophic failure, but targeted resurfacing could keep the structures standing 25 more years or so.
The challenge is determining who pays for the repairs, expected to cost millions of dollars.
Bill Scarpino, a resident and member of the Channel Islands Waterfront Homeowners Association, thinks the city owns the sea walls and is responsible for maintenance, just as it is for a public street. He has a folder stuffed 4 inches thick with old city resolutions and court rulings that he says prove it.
By Jan Bergemann
In a perfect community association world the association attorney would make sure that the interests of all members of the community are represented when acting on behalf of the association. The actions of the attorney would benefit all members of the community – since all are paying the legal bills equally. Board members and owners should be able to rely on an attorney, who acts as the professional the association hired to represent its legal interest.
But since we are not in a perfect community association world, we see lots of problems caused by association attorneys who make it their main objective to protect the members of the board who signed their retainer agreement and who sign the checks – no matter what. It should not be the task of the association attorney to find ways to circumvent the statutes and the governing documents in order to please the board members who may have a private agenda or try to defend their personal egos.
We see frivolous lawsuits filed all the time, filed by overeager association attorneys – just because some board member has something to hide and doesn’t like an outspoken owner to challenge his/her “private agenda.” These lawsuits are definitely not in the best interest of these associations or the paying members.
By Loni Blandford
Water can cause quite a lot of damage when it leaks, especially if you are living in an apartment. So when it happened at one Valley condo, the owners turned to their Homeowner’s Association. But when they couldn’t get an answer, they turned to Action News.
“Apparently, there was a leak upstairs,” explained Darlene Castello.
Water started leaking into the Las Vegas condo owned by Darlene’s parents. It damaged the walls and even the carpet. So Darlene called the Homeowner’s Association for help. “I started calling daily. Leaving message after message after message,” said Darlene.
Darlene says she knew who she needed to speak with but he wasn’t returning her calls. “Nobody’s calling back. Let me talk to a supervisor. Well I’m sorry the supervisor is not available would you like to leave a message. I mean that’s all I ever got,” said Darlene.
Darlene says after three months with no response, she decided to call Action News. Our Call for Action volunteers reached out to HOA for her. To her amazement, it worked almost instantly.
By Gary Poliakoff
A Las Vegas HOA is currently fighting with the IRS over the question of whether $2 million held in the HOA’s savings account is subject to a 30% sales tax as corporate surplus.
Associations are generally organized as not-for-profit corporations (some older associations are not incorporated) and therefore must file tax returns like other not-for-profit corporations. Associations are not entitled to tax exempt status like charitable organizations. To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes set forth in the Code. To be tax exempt under IRC 501(c)(4), a homeowners’ association must operate for the benefit of the general public, i.e., it must provide a community benefit – not a benefit to the owners or residents. However, homeowners’ associations are still taxed on any income or support received that did not constitute dues or assessments paid by its property owner-members for maintenance and improvement of its property.
By Donna DiMaggio Berger
Two recent legislative attempts signal a disturbing trend that has the potential to negatively impact Florida’s community associations.
The first is this year’s construction defect bill, HB 1013, sponsored by Representative Artiles and its Senate companion, SB 1196, sponsored by Senator Bennett. These bills would take away a homeowner’s rights to pursue a developer for defects to the driveways, roads, sidewalks. utilities, drainage areas and other so-called “off-site” improvements that are not located on the lot on which a home is constructed or which are located on such a lot but do not contribute to the “habitability” of the home.
By Jennifer Slewer
A slew of changes are now in effect for the state’s homeowners associations, the love-’em-or-hate-’em groups that everyone seems to have an opinion about. The changes grant homeowners more freedoms when it comes to outdoor decorating and installation of environmentally friendly systems. The changes also make it harder for HOAs to foreclose because of unpaid fees.
Now, HOAs won’t be able to keep you from displaying the U.S. or Texas flag, or flags of military branches. Free-standing flagpoles 20 feet tall or less will be allowed, too — legislation filed in response to an HOA that sued a Marine veteran for flying the Stars and Stripes on a flagpole.
HOAs also won’t be able to keep you from hanging a religious display on your front door, but they can require you to keep it at 25 square inches or less. That legislation was filed after a Jewish couple was threatened with a recurring fine for displaying a mezuzah, a parchment with Hebrew verses enclosed in a case affixed to the doorpost.
By Stan Riddle
Over the next few months, a number of homeowner associations will be holding their annual meetings. Of all of the HOA meetings held during the year, this one probably has the most members in attendance due to a number of important issues that are likely on the agenda, such as election of officers.
In an effort to assist HOAs in making this meeting run both effectively and efficiently, the Green Valley Council offers a few suggestions:
By John Salazar
Construction on the Patton family’s backyard shed began in August 2010. At that time, Brian Patton said he was given the green light from his neighborhood’s Homeowners Association. “They came out and did the first inspection. That’s a line inspection (he said pointing to the outline of where their shed would go) where they set out ropes and they check the lines to make sure we are not on easements. They passed it,” Patton said.
The storage building was nearly completed when the postman delivered a letter of bad news. “The letter says we were not in compliance with HOA rules,” he said.
By Christin Coyne
Located in far east Parker County off of White Settlement Road, Remuda Ranch Estates is where rural Parker County allows residents to escape the Fort Worth area. When a home burned down several months ago, many neighbors left their homes to support the family. But the neighborhood isn’t as peaceful as it appears.
After years of feuding, some neighbors don’t speak to each other any more. Ten lawsuits have been filed in Justice of the Peace Court or District Court during the last three years involving the Remuda Ranch homeowners association, those on the board of directors, and Colina Court resident Jack Cavenah. At least two heated issues between neighbors have gone to county commissioners court for decisions. And tens of thousands of dollars go to attorneys as the neighbors duke it out in the legal system.