Fighting HOA - anyone have any luck?

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You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run


Good luck, frustrating yes!
 
Best thing to do with HOAs is stay away from them. I would never buy a home in an HOA...
 
Originally Posted by grampi
Best thing to do with HOAs is stay away from them. I would never buy a home in an HOA...


^^^Yes this^^^. U signed an agreement to relinquish certain things to this HOA group. Suck it up then move...lesson learned. 🤷â€â™‚ï¸ Sorry but noone to blame but yourself. It's like getting married...then divorced.
 
Originally Posted by grampi
Best thing to do with HOAs is stay away from them. I would never buy a home in an HOA...


Water under the bridge buddy....
 
The thing about HOA's is the homeowner's hire them. Get your neighbors to speak at a board meeting with you or get on the board yourself. Then hire someone better. I think your legal options are very limited.

Most property management companies I deal with are hired because they are the cheapest. No one in the HOA wants to pay for anything. A lot of HOA's are just "friends cliques" and don't care what most people that live there think. They are often managed by people who have no idea what they're doing and that leads to a lot of problems.
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy


This has nothing to do with the management company, if your HOA board (your neighbors) were unhappy with the management company they would relay this to the management company or simply hire a new one.

You could bring this up with your HOA (neighbors) and see if they could work out a solution to the issue, its senseless to fight the management company because you and your neighbors are the ones who hire and pay them to manage!

Its your HOA board (your neighbors) that you and your neighbors elected that you need to talk to. the other solution is to run for a position on the board next election.




In theory. HOA's are VERY political. I would not be surprised at all if the vendor is someone who is a friend/family member of one of the board members. They know that they won't get canned so they do whatever they want. Also, if he tries to run for the board and has a different view than the current board members, it is unlikely he will get elected. There are a few HOA's in my town, and with some of the stories I've heard the board members should be in jail.

If run correctly and by the rules, an HOA is not a bad thing, but usually they end up being full of the political types who want to dictate. No joke in one of the neighborhoods across town there was a retired lady who would just drive around her neighborhood and yell at children playing "too loud" in their yards.
 
I worked in property management for 3 condo boards that shared a management office and common grounds, for 2 years.

I learned enough over those 2 years that I decided I didn't want to be in property management any longer and that I would never own a condo or anything else with a board / HOA type setup.
NO THANKS!

You should have heard our annual meetings and how vile things were between residents and management and honestly we were really good to the residents with good contractors and at least a weeks notice unless it was an emergency then security would escort the contractor into the suite and video tape the whole entry and we would keep on file for 30 days (or longer for problem residents that would always accuse us of things going missing).

They were never happy though. Most of the residents were older and had nothing better to do then complain about literally everything, all day long. We would come in and Security would have a report a mile long about nonsense stuff that some of the 900 residents complained about. We had one person out there measuring grass height in between cuttings. Or another complaining about finger prints on the elevator mirrors 10 minutes after the superintendent cleaned it for the day and you could eat off the floors in this place it was so spotless.
smirk2.gif


Good luck to the OP, it's a tough boat to be in but there is little recourse other than trying to raise [censored] at meetings along with other owners that might feel the same way and hopefully you can force a change in contractors and/or procedures.
 
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There is a very good chance that the hired company has some connection to someone in management.

A good way to deal with this problem would be to gather some data from your fellow residents. Go around and ask them if they have had the hired company cancel their inspection on them last minute. See how many other people report the same problem. If it is a reoccurring problem, bring this up on the next HOA meeting and get them to impose a fine on the company for last minute cancellations.

Someone above mentioned that "it's the nature of the business". Well yes because the common mantra is that the business has to make money and the customer always has to pay. Most contracts are set up that way. But that nature can easily be changed by re-writing the contracts or going to a different contractor.

Also, the reaction of the management to your findings and proposal should give you clues if there is "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" type of business going on between the management and the contractor.
 
Originally Posted by pezzy669
...
Has anyone successfully lit up and fought their HOA on their own? If so what was your angle? ...


The starting point is to carefully examine the HOA Agreement, restrictive covenants, and any other relevant written instruments in order to fully understand the contractual rights and obligations of each party, and any state statutes or administrative regulations * that may affect the relationship of the parties, or impose rights or obligations, outside of the contracts. Review of the written instruments should also examine whether or not the documents are correctly recorded, acknowledged, signed, drafted, or are otherwise legally deficient in some manner.

* In some circumstances, there may be an overriding federal regulation or statute.
 
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pezzy669/OP,

first disclaimer: I do live in condo building with a HOA so I had to raise he44 a couple times (accounting errors, assigned parking space mess, parking sticker violations, stopping her car in the middle of the street to tell me to do something, ignoring neighbors noise complaints, etc etc etc).
I just kind of ignore the management lady and go to the building engineer now.

re-read your HOA papers on what you are allowed to do or not! That is your first base of action.

Alternate idea: seems it is a big building, so make friends with the building engineer/maintenance/grounds keeper (if you have one).
If not leave the key with a neighbor (if you thrust one)
Or a small twist to Wolf's idea: leave a lockbox on your door knob and have couple internet cameras setup from local bestbuy/costco. when done, return the cameras.

I think the local HOA should have a spare key for emergency events when you're not home. (You in vacation, pipe break in the wall, your condo bathroom floods the neighbor downstairs....)
Other wise they are entitled to break the door, repair damage and bill you/your condo insurance.

The sprinkler inspection may be mandated by the local fire department/local municipality code for the building.
 
If you work during business hours and don't like people in your house when your are not there, no work is going to get done during business hours. I understand that these dudes are just contractors and you don't know them and they don't know you. They also have the maintenance contract and probably don't care about you, too.

Install cameras, crate or lend your pets to someone and hide your valuables. If it's just an inspection they won't be there for long.

Wrenched on many a house while the owner was at work or on vacation. I'll put my lunch in their fridge and use their bathroom and kitchen sink but that's it. However, you have to earn their trust before they give you the keys to the castle.
 
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Originally Posted by pezzy669
Originally Posted by Blkstanger
Why on earth would they need to enter your unit? I owned a Condo for many years and never had this happen.


Fire sprinkler system and community water (water is included in my HOA dues) so they need to access all the units 2x annually to inspect the fire sprinkler system as well as the plumbing to make sure unit owners are maintaining plumbing to avoid water leaks.


This sucks, I get this as a renter.
 
Stop grinding the axe. You can get cheap wireless cams. Set them up, put a lock box on and forget this bull.

Let the inspection get done, and go through whatever complaint process you are allowed.

If you have no other recourse, you know who's fault that is.
 
I wouldnt buy a house in a community without an HOA, it was a MUST have when we relocated to this state.

Communities here with strong HOAs are well kept and homes have higher resale values, typically these communities also have pools, playground ect. People just need to get involved and to read their documents. :eek:)
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy
I wouldnt buy a house in a community without an HOA, it was a MUST have when we relocated to this state.

Communities here with strong HOAs are well kept and homes have higher resale values, typically these communities also have pools, playground ect. People just need to get involved and to read their documents. :eek:)



They are also

https://www.rareddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6oz2km/hoa_please_help/
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by alarmguy
I wouldnt buy a house in a community without an HOA, it was a MUST have when we relocated to this state.

Communities here with strong HOAs are well kept and homes have higher resale values, typically these communities also have pools, playground ect. People just need to get involved and to read their documents. :eek:)



They are also

https://www.rareddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6oz2km/hoa_please_help/



LOL! That writer sure has an imagination.
 
Originally Posted by dishdude
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by alarmguy
I wouldnt buy a house in a community without an HOA, it was a MUST have when we relocated to this state.
Communities here with strong HOAs are well kept and homes have higher resale values, typically these communities also have pools, playground ect. People just need to get involved and to read their documents. :eek:)

They are also
https://www.rareddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6oz2km/hoa_please_help/

LOL! That writer sure has an imagination.

That guy forgot/did not know the "1st-hour-new-house" rule:
In the first hour of ownership of your new house you:
-change ALL of your locks
-reprogram all remotes
-change alarm codes
-recheck all windows and doors locks/locking devices all around the house.

Also, I'm not a gun guy, but him being in TN, I would have made it clear to anybody in that HOA, that any non-approved access is trespassing and being met with extreme prejudice because of reason: safety of home-owner in it's own home.
 
Blame the fall of the Berlin Wall; were it not for that, most HOA members would be working for the East German Secret Police.
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
Originally Posted by alarmguy
I wouldnt buy a house in a community without an HOA, it was a MUST have when we relocated to this state.

Communities here with strong HOAs are well kept and homes have higher resale values, typically these communities also have pools, playground ect. People just need to get involved and to read their documents. :eek:)



They are also

https://www.rareddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/6oz2km/hoa_please_help/



Woah!! That's INSANE!! Who the [censored] would chose to live like that! Isn't home ownership about the freedom of being a "homeowner"??
 
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