MarkS22 (Maryland)
Posts: 1
Posts: 1
Posted:
As long as I have been a homeowner, I've always been active in my HOA, serving in various roles as president, vice president and member at large. My wife and I moved into a new community (120 units about a year ago, and this HOA we have is the pits! We could not get any information on the HOA from the management company other than them telling us there was little participation from the homeowners. When we inquired about who the board members were and when the HOA met, the management company said they'd get back to us. They never did. So my wife and I asked around and was directed to a little old lady who lives at the end of the street. She's been the board president by default for the past five years because as she said, "no one is interested in doing anything around here." Well, that was until WE arrived...
In what we've seen so far, the management company and the HOA board president are violating HOA bylaws left and right. They've been operating with this lady as the sole board member, and she seems to think that she answers to the management company. I asked her how does the bidding process work; she said the management company recommends companies to do work around there and she signs off on their recommendations. They have absolutely no checks or balances in this community. The woman is anything but well-versed on HOA matters, and began misquoting the bylaws (which my wife and I read through thoroughly) telling us that the management company makes the decisions and sets the precedent and she's just there to sign off on things as a representative of the community. I told her she had it wrong: the management company was supposed to work for her and the HOA.
When I inquired about her efforts to draw more homeowners to meetings and to get people involved (posting fliers, going door-to-door, etc.), she said, "It wouldn't do any good, plus the management company wouldn't like that anyway." My antennae went up with that. It seems to me that the president and the management company preferred that the owners pay and not show up or ask questions as it makes it easier to run the community. The president boasted that she recently signed off on a $10,000 lighting display (which the community does not need); I asked her how it came about. She said the management company sent her a proposal and an invoice and she signed them. Clearly she is ignorant of her fiduciary responsibility to the homeowners.
My wife and I asked her if we could review the financial records and contracts that she has on file for the HOA. She has nothing. This is critical because the management company is proposing a hefty increase on the HOA assessments, and several of the line items on the 2011 budget are almost double or triple what they are in the current year. This, we know, is in violation of Maryland law; budget increases of more than 15% must be voted on by the homeowners in a special meeting. When we told the president this, she told us we were wrong, "the management company can do this without vote or approval." Ugh.
Since then, my wife and I have started going door-to-door asking the other owners if they are aware of all that's going on. For the most part they've said they only get coupon books from the management company and meeting notices (which sometimes were mailed out late and received by the owners on the day of the meeting). They did send out a meeting notice and the proposed budget per the bylaws this time, but the budget was so elementary and vague that a 6-year-old could have written it. My wife and I are trying to get ahold of copies of the paperwork on the $10,000 project to show the other homeowners. While the president won't give it to us now, the vice president (who was put in in name-only to fill the quorum requirement), says he expressed his opposition to the project via email and has that as proof of this action.
Apparently our asking questions and going door-to-door has awakened the sleeping giant. People are now fired up and ready to come to the next meeting (which some of us are trying to schedule on our own). And the president and the management company have not responded to a single email or phone call since all of this came out. My wife seems to think that the president is getting paid by the management company, and that some of the budget increases for 2011 were padded to include her compensation. I'm afraid my wife might be on to something. The same thing happened in my old community years ago right after I moved in: there was a dictatorial president who had a too-cozy relationship with the management company...the SAME management company that we're dealing with now. We had to fight tooth-and-nail to get ahold of the financial records back in my old community, and guess what we found. Records of monthly payments to the old president.
Now that we are starting to get people mobilized, what can we do to get this train on track? The HOA has been run amok because the management company and the president haven't abided by the bylaws and the long-time owners have no idea of what's been going on, how much they have in reserves, or what the detailed expenses and transactions are. I suggested firing the management company, removing thep president from the board and starting over. Most are in agreement with that, but we need a plan of action that will fall in line with the bylaws and state law. The last thing we need is to do something out of line that the president or current management company could gig us on.
Any advice for us out there?
In what we've seen so far, the management company and the HOA board president are violating HOA bylaws left and right. They've been operating with this lady as the sole board member, and she seems to think that she answers to the management company. I asked her how does the bidding process work; she said the management company recommends companies to do work around there and she signs off on their recommendations. They have absolutely no checks or balances in this community. The woman is anything but well-versed on HOA matters, and began misquoting the bylaws (which my wife and I read through thoroughly) telling us that the management company makes the decisions and sets the precedent and she's just there to sign off on things as a representative of the community. I told her she had it wrong: the management company was supposed to work for her and the HOA.
When I inquired about her efforts to draw more homeowners to meetings and to get people involved (posting fliers, going door-to-door, etc.), she said, "It wouldn't do any good, plus the management company wouldn't like that anyway." My antennae went up with that. It seems to me that the president and the management company preferred that the owners pay and not show up or ask questions as it makes it easier to run the community. The president boasted that she recently signed off on a $10,000 lighting display (which the community does not need); I asked her how it came about. She said the management company sent her a proposal and an invoice and she signed them. Clearly she is ignorant of her fiduciary responsibility to the homeowners.
My wife and I asked her if we could review the financial records and contracts that she has on file for the HOA. She has nothing. This is critical because the management company is proposing a hefty increase on the HOA assessments, and several of the line items on the 2011 budget are almost double or triple what they are in the current year. This, we know, is in violation of Maryland law; budget increases of more than 15% must be voted on by the homeowners in a special meeting. When we told the president this, she told us we were wrong, "the management company can do this without vote or approval." Ugh.
Since then, my wife and I have started going door-to-door asking the other owners if they are aware of all that's going on. For the most part they've said they only get coupon books from the management company and meeting notices (which sometimes were mailed out late and received by the owners on the day of the meeting). They did send out a meeting notice and the proposed budget per the bylaws this time, but the budget was so elementary and vague that a 6-year-old could have written it. My wife and I are trying to get ahold of copies of the paperwork on the $10,000 project to show the other homeowners. While the president won't give it to us now, the vice president (who was put in in name-only to fill the quorum requirement), says he expressed his opposition to the project via email and has that as proof of this action.
Apparently our asking questions and going door-to-door has awakened the sleeping giant. People are now fired up and ready to come to the next meeting (which some of us are trying to schedule on our own). And the president and the management company have not responded to a single email or phone call since all of this came out. My wife seems to think that the president is getting paid by the management company, and that some of the budget increases for 2011 were padded to include her compensation. I'm afraid my wife might be on to something. The same thing happened in my old community years ago right after I moved in: there was a dictatorial president who had a too-cozy relationship with the management company...the SAME management company that we're dealing with now. We had to fight tooth-and-nail to get ahold of the financial records back in my old community, and guess what we found. Records of monthly payments to the old president.
Now that we are starting to get people mobilized, what can we do to get this train on track? The HOA has been run amok because the management company and the president haven't abided by the bylaws and the long-time owners have no idea of what's been going on, how much they have in reserves, or what the detailed expenses and transactions are. I suggested firing the management company, removing thep president from the board and starting over. Most are in agreement with that, but we need a plan of action that will fall in line with the bylaws and state law. The last thing we need is to do something out of line that the president or current management company could gig us on.
Any advice for us out there?