Has my HOA been abandoned?

As it turns out, just after posting, another post with some of the same issues came to the top of the forum. Lot of good information. Still trying to go through it all.

Start by giving Jane a call, or knock on her door. Tell her you want to get more involved with the HOA and would like to setup a time to meet. No need to bring in the lawyers. Sheesh.

1) If your HOA was dissolved by the state, you would know. When the state takes over an HOA, its a very unpleasant experience for everyone in the HOA. The state tells you what you're going to pay, and what you're going to do. They most likely revoked the corporate charter. So its still an HOA.

2) Your documents should provide for a special meeting to be held by the members to discuss a specific issue - in this case the removal of a board member. There is also a provision for removing board members. And the board generally is required to have at least 3 members, not only 1.

3) HOA's typically have a lien on the property, which never goes away, regardless if there is an outstanding amount or not. The association can go after you personally for not paying prior assessments, even after you have sold your home. Essentially, the association is suing you for unpaid assessments... and the HOA typically wins.

4) First, request a copy of the minutes, meeting notices, budget, etc for the years/months of concern. If you cannot obtain a copy, then its most likely that there isnt a copy, which means you have a basis for argument in court that the association's increase in fees was never officially passed.

Oh, John! How I wish you would just see things correctly - you know, my way.

Seriously, by purchasing property subject to the CC&R's, the owners agreed to join the ABC Homeowners Association and somewhere in the CC&R's it will spell out that the association will be a Florida non-profit corporation. If that non-profit disappears for any reason, they got problems. The owners did not agree to join the XYZ association nor did they agree to join an unincorporated association. What they agreed to join no longer exists and without some sort of court order I see no legal way of forcing them to join some other organization.

Like the proverbial broken watch, John is right twice a day. The deed restrictions are still in force. If they prohibit pink flamingo lawn ornaments, you cannot put them in now just because the association is out of business.

I cannot let this go without a comment about the players in this situation. Jane assumed control of the HOA without much legal authority and ran it into the ground. Bad Jane. Bad, bad Jane. But what about the other 24 owners? They acquiesced to Jane's authority by taking CC&R complaints to her and they stood with their hands in their pockets while Jane imposed allegedly unlawful assessments. Nobody pressed for a meeting or a budget. Jane was a bad girl but she had 24 accomplices who stood by and did nothing.

A dissolved corporation normally does not cease to exist but it is limited as to what it may or may not do. Generally, the only activities it may carry on are those necessary to close out the corporation. This ranges from collecting money that was owed at the time of dissolution, being sued, and disposing of assets. In the case of an association, dissolution should preclude it from imposing new assessments or filing liens for assessments that became due after dissolution.

There is usually a period of time when a corporation may be reinstated. This may require payment of fines and/or late fees, payment of filing fees, and filing missing reports.

One thing to worry about is that during the period of dissolution the name of the corporation may be up for grabs. There was recently another thread on this forum where the association had been dissolved and the person who had a beef with them had formed a new corporation using that same name. Talk about messy.