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A Letter
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I am a member of a homeowners association that is corrupt
I did not realize this until I stummbled onto the ahrc.com web site
April 30, 2008
By
BarbaraR
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As for publicly exposing corrupt Board members - we did that also, but, they retaliated.
First, they have control over the newsletter and would not let us publish anything unfavorable to them.
Second, co-owners have filed individual lawsuits against them on various grounds, and they sick the attorneys on us, who than create equity stealing scams, to place a lien for legal fees, leading to foreclosure.
Conclusion: Given the depressed housing market; the resources required to fight them, many of us have lost interest in fighting the battle, especially, when the courts have betrayed us. (don't need to explain that - it is posted all over AHRC and Courthouse forum.com)
Our condo market values have dropped significantly due the general economy. I have decided to cut my losses and move on. Looking forward to getting out from under the stress of all of it to move on to something better. (my own roof on my own land with no hoa).
But, some of the above ideas are good in dealing with HOA if you have the strength and motivation for it. Stricly from a business judgement standpoint, it is no longer feasable to fight them.
Posted May 3 2008 11:13AM CEST
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Username withheld
Farmington, Michigan |
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Hi, I along with several others in a large condo complex went through a similar ordeal without success. I have the following comments. (lessons learned, etc).
First, it is next to impossible to defeat the board particularly if it involves many units. This is so because typically, you have to obtain the signatures of 2/3 of the co-owners to demand the desired changes. (Very diffcult to do if this equates to collecting a large number of signatures, especially, if their are old timers in the comples, who are often resistent to "rocking the boat". (At least this was our experience).
Second, board members typically are on the board for ego power centered reasons. Often are former executives, having experienced that power and they therefore, are unwilling to give it up. In fact, they will spend association cash reserves opposing you regardless of the cost. (There is a book on the subject entitled: Why The Board Won't Get Out of The Kitchen (or some similar title). I wouln't waste the money on the book as I just told you the key point. (Also, the book is written by an attorney and our experience with him was unfavorable).
If you want to pursue removing the Board than see an attorney who can explain how to do it. (A lot will depend on the law in your state as well as the association by laws). In our case, it requres the following:
1. Get 2/3 of co-owners on a petition demanding a desired change.
2. Present the Petition to the Board at an open board meeting - if they deny the request, you now have grounds to remove the entire board.
3. Stand up and Motion that the Board be removed!
But, get an attorney specializing in real estate law who can better advise you. Be sure when you call to clear that they have no connection to the people that you oppose. (Don't tell them what you are up to until this is cleared first).
Lastly,if I had it to do over again - would not even attempt it. My views now are to move on - purchase a house on my own land - no HOA, whatsoever. I am convinced that this is the only way to live in peace, preserve your property and prevent legal problems, etc.
Good Luck.
Posted May 2 2008 5:05PM CEST
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Username withheld
Farmington, Michigan |
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What we did in our HOA was bring a lawsuit against our HOA because we were not allowed to hold elections to vote them out.
After 4 long years, the judge ordered that elections be held. Needless to say, our self appointed King and his Court Jesters were ousted. I am now serving on the current 9 person board (seated at the end of March) and we are slowly but surely cleaning up their mess.
We spoke to friends and neighbors about helping to finance the lawsuit. When the judge ruled, the plaintiff got back their costs.
Posted May 1 2008 8:38PM CEST
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Vicki Odom
(View Profile)
Pearland, Texas |
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Please correct the first sentence of my post to read "Is the HOA through its board doing its job, e.g. acting in the best interest of the HOA?
If the board is not doing its job then you need to hold an election to remove the board and elect a board that will act in the best interests of the association.
Posted May 1 2008 3:43PM CEST
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Doug Rosner
(View Profile)
Calabasas, California |
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First: Inventory your number of units in the HOA and compare this with the number in your management firm contract. If there is less in the contract you can bet there are some "held-back" to maintain the control of favorable votes for the management firm. Then watch the board member behaviors. It gets easy to spot when specific ones always want to maintain the status quo.
Second: Get control of the money. Accomplish this by setting up your HOA banking account with a bank of the new board's choice. Don't forget to have someone bonded. Payments need to arrive at a P.O.Box of your choice. Then pay the management firm from your books - not theirs.
Third: Store your records as before with a quality record retrieval service, however, DO NOT allow the management firm control over your access to these records. Your HOA must pay the bill instead of allowing the management firm to control your access.
Posted May 1 2008 3:17PM CEST
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Myles Opheim
(View Profile)
Fort Worth, Texas |
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I posted this yesterday, likely in th wrong place. The pen is mightier than the sword. I have seen it work on our association that was far less than noble.
I took the advice of the association's attorney given to me several years back; and that was to embarrass the bad members of the board. I published several letters to the membership called the HOA observer and only recorded the facts, and the facts where the board was not meeting the law. Eventually, for whatever reason, the management company became more compliant in obeying the law and refused to do illegal activities as they once did with the board. My letters generated interest by other good people in the association that had no idea what the board was doing. I campaigned for them in my monthly letters and two were elected by the membership and the membership discarded the bad director(s).
We now have a board that will walk "the straight and narrow", and will obey all of the state statutes, or CC&R's and the bylaws. This victory was accomplished with only honesty and the good old fashioned way of American democracy. We did it without litigation or other legal enforcement; without intimidation, coercion or any corrupt action, or with legal council.
We now will conduct all of the board's business at the board's regular meetings in an orderly manner, and the exceptions will be handled by legal means. We are living in a democracy; all we need to do is to use the democratic laws we already have; they actually work; they really do!
We have never foreclosed on anyone's home and won't. The banks have foreclosed on homes but we have not. We have only put liens on back monthly dues which is paid when the property is sold; to be fair to the rest on the membership.
I do not see that our situation is unique and this would work with countless other associations with similar problems.
I created a reserve irregularities report I made to the board and distributed to the membership along with the campaign newsletter.
I have also created a chart of the regression analysis of the last eight years on our operating expenses. It shows that inflation is killing us. I excluded the earthquake premium which was canceled two years ago that would have skewed the data. The newly elected professional accountant and I will work on and make the least painful way to improve the reserve account funding.
I don't see why you can't do what I did.
Posted May 1 2008 2:35PM CEST
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George Windsor
(View Profile)
Fulerton, California |
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