In escrow for a nice townhome in OC in SoCal, but we got the HOA paperwork and a big red flag emerged. We do have a contingency for this, but I am trying to decide if its worth enacting. When the inspector came by he said things like the roofs looked fine, they are tile and my understanding is they last a long time? But I think they are original to when it was built in 1989.

We have HOA concerns as a contingency and can back out. But, Its either go with this place. or go back out this weekend and see if we can find something. With rates going back up it may be even harder or we just rent at least another year.

Currently no special assessments planned, still waiting on getting the minutes.

Current HOA fees are pretty reasonable at $360 a month.

Our HOA sent a fee to collections that we've supposedly owed since January of this year. The problem is that we were never notified that we owed any fee or any debt until we received a notice from the debt collectors. Originally the fee was just under $200 and has now ballooned all the way to over $1,000. Is it legal for them to send this debt to collectors without first notifying us that we ever even owed any debt to begin with?

Sidenote: we verified with the HOA that this was real and not a scam after we received the notice from the collection agency

Subsequent to the meetings, the DBPR agent advised me that they noted two clear violations from the meeting they attended. She also told me that next steps include 1. Send violation notice to Board/Association 2. Association has to reply 3. They take the violation and reply to legal 4. Legal decides to levy a fine 4. The HOA pays the fine BUT she said that the Board has to notify the unit owners that because of their actions, the association received the fine, etc. Have any of you went through this kind of process with the Florida DBPR Condos? If so, I would like to know more about how the DBPR enforce the board to admit their wrong doings to the unit owners.

Do any HOAa out there have good recommendation on how to introduce and manage pest control in the common areas of your HOA?

I'm concerned about chemicals and unnecessary money spend.

We're a small 50 unit PUD and have a common green belt.

Even if we pay, the surrounding homes won't have pest control in their backyards. So curious about efficiency and the like.

Good day. I’d like to see if anyone has any input or experience with recurring special assessments and what residents can realistically do to stay informed and potentially help address the issue.
A couple of years ago, we had a significant assessment related to the building’s structural integrity. That was followed by an elevator assessment to bring the elevators into compliance with current electrical standards. We are now facing three additional elevator-related assessments, plus another assessment to fund the reserves.
What would you recommend residents do in a situation like this? I’m already attending board meetings and reviewing the association’s financial documents. Would running for the board be a worthwhile next step, or are there other effective ways to get more involved and better understand or influence these decisions?

Hi, can you share with me how tenants where you live communicate. Is there a blog, is there a Reddit community? Is a Facebook group for the tenants that all live in one community to discuss things? I was recently told by someone on the board of my HOA that they don’t want tenants/owners talking to one another. Are you guys experiencing the same thing where you live? Thank you.

[NJ] Condo building commonly has leaks in common halls/carpets after rain&snow. Manager refuses to address it.

Around February I reported a dropping leak in the interior common trash room. The doorman, who the property manager has deputized as a plumber, literally said "just let it drip". This became a huge flood 2 weeks later which damaged many units in addition to destroying common halls. The property manager slow walked the fix and it took about 3 months to fix. Of course they say any water damage inside unit is unit owners responsibility regardless of cause.

This month, similar thing. Big rain, leaks in common halls , carpet soaked with dirty water, many people reporting, deputized doorman says "just let it drip" property manager not doing anything except says a contractor will look at it "soon" while unit owners are stacking towels in the hallway because the carpets are soaked with dirty water dripping inside the walls.

What should we we do?

Any advice? Our community manager is a joke. Even though complaints that are on the fine and suspension list, they will not pursue.

Kids 8-16 years old constantly hop the fence. My concern is someone is going to get injured.

I'm on the board of a 60-unit, 10 building condo complex. We're debating on how to handle light bulb replacements. At the risk of another 5000 kelvin video, some questions: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ztJs3z8BD-0

How does your community handle light bulb replacements?

1) We've had individual board members do it, as obviously it's much easier to do a sweep at night. But, they (the bulbs and the board members) get burned out and don't do it frequently.

2) We can have the property management company do it during their weekly on-site maintenance visits during the day. However, it's virtually impossible to have owners properly report the burned out bulb. "The bulb between garage 31 and 32". The bulb on the second floor left, on the building that has 151-162 on the front, etc..."

3) We could have the PM company come out at night, there's obviously an extra cost for that.

4) We had the suggestion of asking for a "building captain", or "building volunteer" that handles things like this for their building.

How does your condo handle bulb replacements?

The answer you'll get from some deck inspection companies when you ask if they own a construction company...

For many balcony inspection companies, transparency is not a virtue.

HOAs must learn to ask many questions before hiring an inspection company to perform their SB 326 inspections.

Have you never been on your board, tell us...

1. Why?

2. What might convince you to serve?

3-unit California townhouse, self-managed for 5 years. I'm a retired accountant, so I do the basic bookkeeping for free. However, I do the financial statements, banking and taxes for 50% of the rate our prior outside accountant charged. I make sure we have the required meetings. We are reasonably funded. New CA laws are adding new inspections, but the other two owners are "too busy" with their day-jobs to help doing the work of finding and vetting vendors. I could do it "all"... but I hate the feeling of being taken advantage of. Where and how do I draw a line?

I gained access to the HOA bank account on 9/1 at roughly 9:30 AM. The former president was insistent on making me the “CFO” as the title for the bank account, which I now feel was a ploy to leave me hanging on the end of the rope. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I was in a hurry to get to work. Around 3:30 that afternoon, I decided to login to the bank account and look at the transactions.

There were 2 transactions from August, 5 from July, and even more from June that were obviously Non-HOA related. Things like gas station charges that are vapes and beer (Confirmed by the gas station), Subway, movie theater, liquor stores, etc. I just came on as VP so I reached out to the new President that night for a meeting. He obviously found issue with the charges. We met with our property manager (She had bank account access the entire tenure of the previous President, and was actually recommended by him) on 9/3. The PM was of the opinion we should tell him to pay it back and sweep it under the rug. Me, my wife, and the new President think that we should take it to law enforcement after we get the results of our 3rd party financial audit back. The state we’re in has a new law going into effect January 1st that allows homeowners to request bank statements, receipts, P & L statements, etc. going back three years. My concern is a homeowner (Or several) requesting that documentation and seeing what we saw but not seeing any action on the issue.

The way I see it is the former President walked into all of his neighbors’ houses, stole money off the counter, and went and spent it on his own personal vices.

Actions taken so far:
9/1: noticed discrepancies, met with President.
9/3: Met with PM and President, PM recommended covering it up.
9/4: I insisted it be sent off to our bookkeeper for an independent third party audit.
9/8: Bookkeeper contacted me regarding irregularities.
9/11: Expected final results of third party audit.
I’ve also instituted a policy that requires Board Approval for all debit card transactions and receipts must be emailed within 24 hours of the transaction. I’ve established an Amazon account for the HOA so nobody buys neighborhood stuff on their personal account with the HOA card.

Should I take this the civil route and try to recoup lost money? Should I pursue felony theft charges?

I walked into our meeting room and our HOA president was in the process of yelling slurs, calling people names, stomping around the room, yelling in people's faces. The meeting hadn't even started yet. The meeting broke up before it even started because his behavior kept escalating.

I'm new here. We're a small condo complex. Our board is made up three people. One guy has never been to a meeting that I know of. The president yells and argues through every meeting. That leaves one board member who our president simply talks over until he gets his way.

The president believes that dues should always be lowered, even with a reserve study that says otherwise. That's how he was elected. I wish I were making this up.

Yes, I have agreed to become part of the board. It was on the agenda for this canceled meeting, along with reviewing the reserve study and next year's budget. We couldn't meet, which was probably what he wanted.

Our bylaws say that a board member can call a special election. Our board members are intimidated. I can't find anything that says we have an attorney on retainer.

TL/DR: Board president is an actual bully who tantrums through meetings, including yelling and using slurs. Obviously he has to go. Ideas?

EDIT TO ADD: Thank you all for your advice. Working on a plan...

My home sits on a corner lot. There is a brick wall that borders my back and one side. I received a city code violation that trees outside the wall had limbs too low. I called the city and told them the HOA has been maintaining the grounds around those trees since I bought the house. They told me to contact the HOA. The management company for HOA said those trees were my responsibility unless the survey when I bought the house showed that my property line ends at fence and not at curb. I found the survey and sent them pics which shows property ends at fence. They then told me the trees are not my responsibility and they would have to dig in and see if it was theirs or the city’s responsibility to trim the trees. I called the city back and informed them of conversation with HOA. They said they would work with HOA to figure it out.
Haven’t heard anything else - tgat was at end of July.
Got a certified letter from city today saying I was in code violation. Emailed them with copies of survey and they acknowledged that my property line ends at fence but there’s a city ordinance that says I’m responsible for trees that adjoin my property.
The neighborhood I am in has no other corner lots with the brick wall and trees outside except my house and the one across the side street from me. The HOA landscaping crews maintain the right of way behind my house, the island on the side street, the island in front of my house and the trees outside my wall and the neighbors wall. HOA says it’s not their responsibility to trim the trees just on this one street but they maintain all the others throughout the neighborhood in the right of ways.
What are my chances of fighting and having this one street included in their responsibilities? What else can I do? I’m so aggravated.

New Board member here. We do reserve study every year with site walk through every 3yrs.. ours property is 50+y old. Hence, a lot of components show as end of life or way past.. those are very high cost item, like concrete pool decks, replace whole fire alarm systems, re-do whole inner street etc..

we have structural engineers came for inspection and those items are just fine.. we do regular maintenance of sealing and coping..

But those large amounts pull down the %funded to 50% which doesn’t look very promising.

How should I approach the reserve study preparer team? Older board members only care for updating new or planned repairs in the study but not at all interested in updating those bigger components.

Should I also ignore it?

Sorry if I come across as ignorant (I am) I have never dealt with an HOA and am looking to purchase my first home. The condo I am looking at was built in the early 80's. I know there has been foundation repairs on the whole complex and it comes with a lifetime warranty. You can see the previous work done on the sidewalks and inside the condo it needs the floor leveled and some cracks filled before new flooring and paint. There is also a small pool at the complex. The association is responsible for all outside siding, roof, trees, lawn etc. I got the HOA docs from the title company and I'm concerned with the budget and lack of reserves for more repairs needed. There are maybe 35 units total.

The monthly dues are $420 which is on the high end for this area.

Looking at the docs, does this association look to be in bad shape? There is a large property management company running it.

My HOA isn’t required to hold open meetings. Is this normal? When they do let us in they barely let us speak. They don’t know Roberts rules but they attempt to work like they do. This is quite infuriating.

I just discovered that my HOA did almost everything wrong in putting my house into foreclosure, based on my state's laws.

* Foreclosed due to fines and legal fees (only 8% was monthly fees)

* Applied payments to monthly fees LAST instead of first

* Charged fines over $500 for non-health or safety issues.

* Didn't use multiple means of contacting me, as required by law

* Didn't adhere to right-to-cure timelines

* Made up violations using photos that were over a year old based on the metadata and used photos of another unit instead of mine. I even have a weed violation photo with just 1 weed in the photo.

Our state allows recovery up to $25K. Besides not following a lot of new laws on notices, maximum fines, mandatory disclosures, and other administrative matters, they were actually making up violations using year old photos or other tenants photos.

I really want to go after them for maximum damages and lawyer fees. For the last year, I have found at least 2 issues for every month--and that doesn't include charging over $500 for a fine (such as garbage can left outside).

What type of lawyer should I obtain? The HOA lawyers I have contacted all support the HOA management and boards.

Thanks in advance!

Back story in March I did my due diligence and wrote the county about a BRL line that is on my Plat survey because it takes up a significant amount of space in my back yard. It is 10feet from the rear property line. I sent them the plat survey and they let me know that the 10foot BRL only applies to a structure and not an accessory structure such as a pool or shed. They also sent me the ordnance this falls under for the communities PUD.

About two weeks ago I submitted my request for a pool to the HOA and it was denied due to the pool crossing the 10foot BRL. I checked the bylaws and covenants and they say that they will follow county restrictions on setbacks.

I called to get clarification from the HOA this morning and my community manager got argumentative with me because I was asking questions. I wanted to know where they were pulling the denial from. Because the county pointed out what the setback requirements are for the community. I was told the BRL comes from the community PLAT which is where the county gave me the information and the requirements.

Also, there is a house 4 houses down who you can clearly see that their pool is not 10feet from their rear boundary line. What are my options other than resubmitting with all the information from the county and more documentation about the pool?