HOA Annual Budget Report in Tennessee HOA

Have you had a chance to read your ByLaws? It should state when the Annual Meeting is held. Is the HOA managed by a property management company? If so they should be able to answer the question. If that doesn't work go to the next HOA meeting and make your request in person and in writing. Good Luck

Thanks by-laws very vague and it seems I wasn't given complete copy at closing. Will go door to door to find out who my elected Board members are and when the next meeting is taking place. Only received incomplete by-laws when I refused to close on house until I had what I thought was complete set.

Sorry I know the Treasurer, this person has refused to acknowledge my requests. Need to find other board members to inquire.

Melissa,

How does your Board determine the annual Assessment without an annual budget (as it's the budget that is used to determine how much you need to bring in to meet expected expenses)?

Although it is true that where Boards have the authority to adopt/amend a budget, the budget is somewhat of a guideline, where budgets have to be approved by the membership I would expect it to be a hard line on how much can be spent in each category/line item.

Tim, it didn't take us an annual budget to figure out our requirements. I did try to make an annual budget but due to various reasons it wasn't exactly possible to put into place. In the end, it worked out because of simple math and the rules. We paid $50 a month with a $20 late fee. There were 107 owners. Our HOA must meet bills were about $5K a month. There was frequent owner turnover as houses could sell fast.

We provided a monthly expense report at every monthly meeting so people did not need to ask for an annual report. It was more important to them to review what we did monthly on the short term. Plus I had figured out on past history the percentage of regular payers. It was about 85 to 90% who paid on time every time. There was another 5% that would pay late. The other 5% would be non-payers. Basically figured out that atleast 7 homes did not pay their assessments and budgeted for 100 homes meeting the dues on the good months.

If you figure out the number of homes that meet the dues and you know your monthly bills, then no need to mess with your annual budget at all. I let people know the number who routinely paid and let them know we were pursuing those who didn't. We always had the option to raise our dues 2 to 3 % annually or have a special assessment to meet any changes. An option I never took as was pretty good with keeping our budget under control through openness of the monthly expense reports.

Now after I left office is when our HOA's trouble began. The new Board raised our dues and had a special unneccessary assessment. I had the budget in balance. They spent the whole month's budget the first month in on their "special projects". They did not get the concept that $5K collected at the beginning of the month did NOT mean we had $5K in the bank at the end of the month. A hard lesson that took them a few months to sort out and to this day continue to raise dues annually. These people truly did not know how to budget...Which was quite obvious if one attended a meeting of theirs. The same of which I recommend if you have concerns about how your HOA spends money. Look at their monthly short term spending and attend meetings. That's how you understand your HOA's spending habits the best.

Jeff,

Joe pointed out the TN Horizontal Property Act and the TN Condominium Act. He should have also referenced TN Corporate Statutes as it's typical for Associations to be incorporated. Since corporate laws typically address procedures, it's usually best to check these when looking at what rights members have and what procedures should be followed in a corporation.

As I previously stated, if your Association is incorporated as a non-profit corporation (most are), the TN corporate laws apply and these also specify what records you are allowed to view and copy. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 48-66-102 (title 48, chapter 66 section 102).

TN statutes are available through lexisnexis.com.

Hope this helps,

Tim

Per that statute:

48-66-102. Inspection of records by members.

(a) Subject to § 48-66-103(c), a member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and location specified by the corporation, any of the records of the corporation described in § 48-66-101(e) if the member gives the corporation a written demand at least five (5) business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy.

(b) A member is entitled to inspect and copy, at a reasonable time and reasonable location specified by the corporation, any of the following records of the corporation if the member meets the requirements of subsection (c) and gives the corporation written notice at least five (5) business days before the date on which the member wishes to inspect and copy:

(1) Excerpts from any records required to be maintained under § 48-66-101(a), to the extent not subject to inspection under subsection (a);

(2) Accounting records of the corporation; and

(3) Subject to § 48-66-105, the membership list.

(c) A member may inspect and copy the records identified in subsection (b) only if:

(1) The member's demand is made in good faith and for a proper purpose;

(2) The member describes with reasonable particularity the purpose and the records the member desires to inspect; and

(3) The records are directly connected with the purpose for which the demand is made.

(d) The right of inspection granted by this section may not be abolished or limited by a corporation's charter or bylaws.

(e) This section does not affect:

(1) The right of a member to inspect records under § 48-57-201 or, if the member is in litigation with the corporation, to the same extent as any other litigant; or

(2) The power of a court, independently of chapters 51-68 of this title, to compel the production of corporate records for examination.

Possibly.

However, I think he was posting it as a method to assist (clarifying how he might have access to those documents). The posting didn't appear to be soliciting service but was offering methods (citing TN laws) to assist the OP in obtaining access to his records.

Glad to hear it.