Transition process. How are homeowners protected??

We are in a community that is still being built.

The sponsor has a majority of the board. Talk of a Transition Committee has been raised by the homeowners, and the builder keeps suggesting it is too early (the community is about 75% sold out and it may be another two years before it is totally sold out).

Additionally, when pushed about the committee, the builder tells us that the sitting board is the best qualified to serve on a Transition Committee when the time is right. The homeowners feel that such a committee would only look out for the builder's interests since the majority of votes are his, and our resident-elected board members have no background in legal or financial matters.

We were even told that the management company would be the best choice to lead this Transition Committee because "We will need to rely on them to obtain the required skills (engineering, maintenance, repair, budgets, etc) when they are required."

The problem the homeowners see is that the management company that our builder hired to run our community is the same one the builder hires to run all of his communities, and the two appear to be tied at the hip, so we are not terribly confident that the homeowners' interests will be part of the equation in any of the above scenarios.

As best I can determine, our Offering Plan does not mention Transition at all.

So, my question is... what power do the homeowners have to choose their own representatives for the Transition Committee, and what powers do we have to refuse the builder's desire to have the current board and management company run such a committee?

Thanks!!
Steve

Thanks, Steve.
I can understand why we may not have a say in the day to day affairs of the community, but a Transition Committee seems to cover a grey area which takes us from control by the builder to control by the homeowners.

In that process, we have to determine if the builder still has work to do to shore up and complete the community before he is gone.

Why would the builder not just hire lackies who will say that everything is fine and dandy and he can leave without doing anything?

What recourse do homeowners have if they do not get a say in that process?

Steve

Steve,

There is no reason why you and other concerned homeowners cannot form some sort of ad hoc committee to start looking into things now.

For example, examine whatever structures and infrastucture that the builder will turn over when he leaves. If you see problems or defects, bring it to his attention and request repair before he folds his tents although I would caution you to seek legal advice before doing so as such a request could start the statute of limitations clock ticking. If you can, take an inventory of personal property that you expect the builder to turn over when he goes.

Even if the builder is not all that cooperative, the owners can start planning now for the day he leaves.