Are we a HoA?

Started by SnakeP • 3 replies • 1503 views

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SnakeP (Washington)
Posts: 41

Posted:

I reside in a Washington State.

Our community club was formed in 1976.

Our Board is now stating we are a HoA.

A lot of the property owners are now very concerned about this as it is our understanding that the Washington State Homestead Act (RCW 6.13) will not protect us from forced sales arising from HoA liens.

Are we actually a HoA even though the community club was formed before RCW 64.38 became law?

Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043

Posted:

Snake,

There is nothing in RCW 64.38 to state that it does not apply to HOAs formed before a certain date, therefore, it should apply no matter when your assn was formed.

BTW, it's not uncommon for a state's homestead exemption to NOT apply to HOA properties. That is the way it is in AZ also. However, in AZ the H.E. offers no protection against a mortgage co foreclosure either. The only homestead exemption protection would be a foreclosure by a credit co. which I doubt happens very often. IMO, it's not a big deal that the H.E. does not apply to HOA properties. You may want to revisit your state H.E. statutes. It may not be that big a deal that HOAs are exempted.

SnakeP (Washington)
Posts: 41

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By MaryA1 on 09/18/2010 10:41 AM
Snake,

There is nothing in RCW 64.38 to state that it does not apply to HOAs formed before a certain date, therefore, it should apply no matter when your assn was formed.

BTW, it's not uncommon for a state's homestead exemption to NOT apply to HOA properties. That is the way it is in AZ also. However, in AZ the H.E. offers no protection against a mortgage co foreclosure either. The only homestead exemption protection would be a foreclosure by a credit co. which I doubt happens very often. IMO, it's not a big deal that the H.E. does not apply to HOA properties. You may want to revisit your state H.E. statutes. It may not be that big a deal that HOAs are exempted.

A lot of the members here do feel it is a grave concern due to past the excesses of prior Boards.

An example was a former Board placed an extremely large fine on one member for a covenant violation and the fine was done in contravention to our Bylaws. That former Board was removed from office at a special meeting and the fine was later removed. However many people are concerned this could happen again in the future if another bad Board gets into office.

DennisT (Ohio)
Posts: 109

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SnakeP on 09/19/2010 2:13 PM
A lot of the members here do feel it is a grave concern due to past the excesses of prior Boards.

Then maybe these homeowners should ask themselves what being the HOA does for everybody and consider dissolving it. If it's an older association where it only exists "because it always has" and there's no benefit then consider dissolution. We had an HOA that dissolved on its own because the covenants were scheduled to renew for "a" 10 year period in 2000 with no provision made for "successive" renewals. Let's see it's been nine months now and not a whole lot has changed. Even our infamous "chicken farmer" hasn't been a big problem.

Note that this will be a lot easier to do if the roadways are public streets. If they are private roads then you might have a tough time getting the local government to agree to take them back. In our case the street was already public and the HOA owned no property so there wasn't anything to transition.

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