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EllyP (California)
Posts: 9
Posted:
I was pleased to find this forum - looks like a lot of people who really know their stuff, thank goodness.

Anyway - to cut to the chase... my husband and I bought our condo in California last year (it was a foreclosure). He dealt with most of the paperwork and I'm not sure what we actually received re our HOA. Our condo is also part of a larger HOA. However, our small (4 unit HOA) president recently contacted us and asked if my husband would take over running the HOA. Turns out to be a can of worms. I assume at some point we had some bylaws, but there doesn't appear to be a copy anywhere. There is no fictitious name statement on file with the county, at least after 1986 when they have electronic records available. I don't think we've filed tax returns, and I don't even know what else we need to do. I think she collected dues and paid bills. There wasn't a proper election to make my husband president, obviously, although the out-going president owns two of the units, we own one and the other owner is AWOL (with overdue dues).

A friend suggested we hire someone to sort out the mess. I would appreciate any suggestions about sources to find out what we should be doing, especially if we can't recover any of what should be existing information, like bylaws.

Thanks,
Elly
Confused in California!

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836
Posted:
Go to your local courthouse and get a copy of your Convenants and Restrictions. They should be on file in the RECORDS department. You may need to look at the State for your articles of incorporation. By-laws are usually in-house type documentation and ammended often. So I'd ask any member or former president if they have a copy.

Think once you get the CC&R's it will help you with more details. Take some babysteps. I'd also consider hiring an accountant/bookkeeper since your HOA isn't that large. They should help with the tax aspects.

Former HOA President
EllyP (California)
Posts: 9
Posted:
The outgoing president doesn't appear to have anything, unfortunately. I think we do need to go the the country recorder and look on microfiche for anything older they might have on record. It isn't appealing but I think it's the only way. Thanks for the advice. It's all a bit bewildering at the moment

Elly
PetunkaM (Florida)
Posts: 1,009
Posted:
4 unit HOA..

Well, that is a tiny HOA. Aren't the Covenants abvailable on line? You may want to search public records in the county where the community is located?

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