Developer in Ohio turning over HOA but many home owners are behind on Dues and no By-Laws are set.

Started by IrvinM1 • 10 replies • 1858 views

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IrvinM1 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Our small development (65 Homes) is in OHIO and we are being pushed to take over our HOA now that our community is almost complete. The developer collected 22k with 18k in outstanding yearly HOA fees.
1. Some home owners have paid and other havent paid for 3 years.
2. The developer never sent invoices but decided to last month so the Home Owners are stating they shouldnt have to pay 2-3 yrs at once.
3. We are meeting with the developer this weekend and the unpaid dues are a sore subject because they never tried to collect them. Many Home Owners want the back dues to be forgiven and to start fresh when we take over the HOA as Home Owners. Is this even legal and what would we do about the owners who actually paid?
4. The developer also never set up any HOA By-LAws. Is this something that we should make him do before taking over or is it something we can/should do ourselves? We do have some rule in the covenant but they are basic city codes.

Thank you in advance for your responses. Sorry for all the questions in one post.
Thank You
imitchely

IrvinM1 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

I wanted to add that this is a single family home association

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

1 & 2 If he never sent invoices how did some know to pay.

3 Of the powers granted the Board in your CC&R's, I doubt very much is the power to forgive assessments. In fact the only way it works is if everyone pays their fair share. The Board can forgive late fees and work out payment plans with the past due homeowners with the understanding if the plan is not kept a lien will be filed.

4 Ohio law requires by-laws and that they be filed with the County Recorders Office. If there are truly no by-laws then the Board would be better off writing their own.

You can see Ohio's Planned Community Law here: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5312

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

BrianB (California)
Posts: 2,820

Posted:

do not forgive unpaid dues. ever.

What you say when you do that is "Hey, all you stupid suckers who bought a home and paid their dues, who played the game properly, what a bunch of morons you are. We love you, cause you pay on time and support us, but we love these guys more, because they don't pay a thing, they use up the same resources as you, cost us more money than you do, AND, they give us headaches. And look, they got all that stuff for free, AND, have more money than you, cause they didn't pay up like you did. Wise up, stupids, and stop paying your dues too, cause that's what we reward."

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563

Posted:

I soooooo agree with Brian & Glen--do not let the freeloaders off the hook. Payment plans should be very workable and we've successfully done that as a Board. We've waived late fees too. But dues--never! See Glen's #3.

How much are the dues, Irvin?

I would try to have the developer pay for the crafting the Bylaws because it's probably best to involve an attorney.

IrvinM1 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thank you for you quick responses. I do agree that everyone needs to pay thier back fees or the HOA will take action once we assume control.

Our dues are only $250.00 per year. I called the developer after reading everyones responses and told them they needed to have the By-Laws in place before we take over. They told me to search for sample By-Laws and let them know what we wanted. Im not sure if this is standard practice but it doesnt seem fair / legal that a developer can just add his By-Laws 3yrs later and home owners will be forced to live with them even though they didnt vote on them or agree to them at any point in time. Its also strange that they dont even have a list of common By-laws. I got the feeling that they must push home owners into taking over to avoid the hassle / cost of doing this step. I thought it was ohio law to have this done by the developer before turning it over.

The other thing they tried to get me to commit to was submitting the names of 5 people so they could set them up as the board members. I asked if there needed to be a vote and she told me no because the developer controlled the HOA at this point. She wasnt clear if we could just submit 5 names and then have a vote immediatly after the HOA was turned over but this thing is getting pushed on us ready or not. I told her I would get back to her but Im not sure what to do at this point. I dont want to upset the homeowners by making it look like we appointed the people we wanted without thier input.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Irvin

As long as the developer controls the HOA, they can pretty well do as they wish. Apppoint a BOD, implement Bylaws, set Rules and Regulations, etc.

Your developer does not seem to be playing hardball by forcing things upon people. Maybe quite the opposite. They are asking you to help/decide.

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Irvin

Me agaain....

Do not let the past due dues slide. This sets a bad tone for all. Make a best effort to collect.

IrvinM1 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thank you soo much. I just wanted to make sure things were moving the way they were supposed too.
I agree and hope that our soon to be appointed board agrees that no dues should be forgiven.
I am glad to hear that the developer can add the bylaws now and then turn the HOA over. This was a big issue for me due to wanting bylaws to help keep our neighborhood as nice as possible.
Also.. Thank You for explaining that the developer has the right to do these things as well as appoint the initial board members without needing a vote from the homeowners. This still doesnt seem moral to me but I know the people we agree to submit would be open to a true board member vote as soon as we took over the HOA.

Once again thank you guys soo much for the help.

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Irvin, if you want to send me an email at [email protected] I'll send you a copy of our by-laws. We are a condo HOA and follow 5311 instead of 5312 but 12 was based on 11 and contains many of the same requirements.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

IrvinM1 (Ohio)
Posts: 5

Posted:

Thanks Glen. I sent you an email. I would love a copy.

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