common Property?

Started by JanaC • 9 replies • 1556 views

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JanaC (Tennessee)
Posts: 31

Posted:

Hi again,

I have live in my neighborhood since July 31, 2006. I was told that the lot across the street from where I live was a common property. I have the Deed from the court house and find that the Developer still ownes it. The Sec/Treasure (being one person) has decided that next week he will go and have the Deed transfered into our HOA names. Can he do that without a vote of the members?
He says his attorney says he can, but the Homeowners don't want it, nor the responisablity of it such as taxes and insurance. Our Declaration, Articals of Inc. and By Laws are written that in order to do something like this, the board must have 2/3 of the homeowners written concent, which they do not. We only have 52 homes in this neighborhood and I have 17 proxy votes that say they don't want it. My question is how can the board legally do this without notifing the homeowners and getting the required votes. And it's not a vote of the Meeting of the Members either.

Thanks again,

JanaC (Tennessee)
Posts: 31

Posted:

I should also state that the SEC/TREASURE says he has documents from the developer from before I moved in that give that lot to us, but they just never filed it, Still if this was true wouldn't they still need the number of homeowners votes?

Board Powers state they can only do things that are not reserved to the membership by other provisions of the ByLaws, Articals, and Declaration, (which state they need 2/3 written consent of the homeowners)

JanaC (Tennessee)
Posts: 31

Posted:

Posted By JanaC on 12/08/2006 1:54 AM

Hi again, (CORRECTED DATE I"VE LIVED HERE 1 1/2 yrs! Sorry!)

I have live in my neighborhood since July 31, 2005. I was told that the lot across the street from where I live was a common property. I have the Deed from the court house and find that the Developer still ownes it. The Sec/Treasure (being one person) has decided that next week he will go and have the Deed transfered into our HOA names. Can he do that without a vote of the members?
He says his attorney says he can, but the Homeowners don't want it, nor the responisablity of it such as taxes and insurance. Our Declaration, Articals of Inc. and By Laws are written that in order to do something like this, the board must have 2/3 of the homeowners written concent, which they do not. We only have 52 homes in this neighborhood and I have 17 proxy votes that say they don't want it. My question is how can the board legally do this without notifing the homeowners and getting the required votes. And it's not a vote of the Meeting of the Members either.

Thanks again,

JulieS (Georgia)
Posts: 412

Posted:

More than likely, the property was deeded over from the developer to the HOA and the papers not filed. There is no reason for the developer to keep the land and it was intended for this property, as well as all the others, to have the ownership transferred over to the HOA at various times through the development and transition. I wouldn't think this to be uncommon.

PatrickH (California)
Posts: 204

Posted:

Hi Jana,

It's very common for the developer to give ownership of the common areas to the HOA. It doesn't require a vote of the current owners, it's usually part of the original development plan.

If the lot becomes common area for your HOA, it shouldn't have any property tax bill and won't affect your insurance very much, unless it's an enormous piece of land.

Speaking of that, is the lot large enough to build a home on it? Your HOA may want to take the property for free and see if it can be sold to a builder for another house. Selling a piece of the common area would require a vote of the homeowners since all the homeowners are equal owners of all the common areas.

If it's a small area and will only be a greenbelt, there will be some costs for the HOA in maintaing it; landscaping, irrigation, etc. It shouldn't be a major expense, and if it was across the street from my home, I'd want to have some control of what's done there by having it owned by my HOA instead of by a developer who probably doesn't care about it.

RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901

Posted:

Posted By PatrickH on 12/08/2006 8:59 AM

........ If the lot becomes common area for your HOA, it shouldn't have any property tax bill . ....................

We own several unuseable parcels. One is a couple of acres, two can be measured in square feet (100 or so). We pay taxes on them and pay to maintain the street frontage on some of them.

A suggestion was made by the neighborhood trouble maker that we stop paying taxes on the properties and let the city forclose on them. We are planning on talking to our lawyer before we do anything so drastic.

Ron
SC

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Ron, consider donating them to the City or County if they will accept them and the corresponding responsibility to maintain. Otherwise request they be tax exempt.

RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901

Posted:

Posted By RogerB on 12/08/2006 4:40 PM

Ron, consider donating them to the City or County if they will accept them and the corresponding responsibility to maintain. Otherwise request they be tax exempt.

Would there be any cost involved in donating them? Legal fees, etc.?

It's not only the taxes, there's the liability. Already this tear we had to pay to remove a tree from one of these properties that had fallen and was leaning over a member's fence and garden. A big storm could be costly.

I'll check on it. The president is the one who typically deals with the lawyer but he doesn't get some things done as quickly as he might. I'm going to volunteer to visit the lawyer and see what happens.

Ron
SC

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Ron, there will be legal fees if you use an attorney. I would contact the the City/County directly and not use an attorney if not necessary. Often this gets better results since the City/County representatives are not attorneys and could get defensive.

RonaldW (South Carolina)
Posts: 901

Posted:

Posted By RogerB on 12/09/2006 3:49 PM

Ron, there will be legal fees if you use an attorney. I would contact the the City/County directly and not use an attorney if not necessary. Often this gets better results since the City/County representatives are not attorneys and could get defensive.

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Ron
SC

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