Mandatory or Voluntary HOA?

Hi Darlene:

It should be somewhere in the CC&R's; it may relate to membership in the Association (a subsection under the Association chapter).

J. Patrick Moore, CMCA

Darlene, your CC&Rs probably don't use terms such as manditory or voluntary. Instead, if an assessment may be made (manditory) it will state somethings like the following:
RTICLE FIVE: ASSESSMENTS

5.1 Creation of the Lien and Personal Obligation of the Assessment. The Declarant for each Lot owned, within The Planned Community, hereby covenants, and each Owner, other than the Declarant, of any Lot by acceptance of a deed therefor, whether or not it shall be so expressed in such deed, is deemed to covenant and agree to pay to the Association certain assessments to be fixed, levied and collected from time to time as herein provided. All assessments created and defined in this Declaration, together with late fees, costs, and reasonable attorneys fees shall be:

(a) a charge on the Lot and shall be a continuing lien upon the property against which each such assessment was levied, which lien shall attach as of the date the assessment was levied and shall continue until such assessment, together with any late fees, costs of collection, and attorneys fees are paid; and

(b) a personal obligation of the person who was the Owner of such Lot or of the persons jointly and severally, who were the Owners of such Lot at the time when the assessment was levied. The personal obligation for delinquent assessments shall not pass to successors in title unless expressly assumed by them and such Owner's personal obligation shall survive the sale or foreclosure of such Owner's Lot.

We don't have a property manager, nor do we have an HOA manager. We have a group of homeowners who run the association. The By-Laws describe their duties and that only includes roads and cutting the easements. We have no other ammenities here. There are only about 82 lots subject to the CC&RS as 8 lots were exempt when the developer wanted to sell the property. CC&RS state that each lot will have a vote and belong to the association for voting and attending meetings as well as paying the yearly fee, but nothing that states that it is mandatory and/or voluntary.

I am aware of all of the expenses and we live in a very rural community with each owner having anywhere from 5-30 acres. There are lots that are exempt because the developer wrote them out of the CC&Rs. They pay the yearly fee because they want to help pay for the roads if they need to be paved again since they use them.

The problem comes in when these lots aren't part of the community because it clearly states they are exempt in the Restrictions and they still hold offices on the board as well as vote. Crazy.....

I did go onto the county website to see what other communities are using as the new verbage for Restrictions and they clearly spell out whether they are mandatory or voluntary. Ours was written in the 70's and there is no definitive statement.