HOA not responding

Started by RobA • 6 replies • 2350 views

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RobA (Arizona)
Posts: 3

Posted:

We recently bought a house in a "development" that never got off the ground out in a rural area. Its been an HOA for 10 years, but only a few houses have been built in that time.
There are no electricity or gas utilities in the development. (we will be doing solar and propane).
We are wanting to put on an addition to the house and had some questions about compliance. We have tried contacting the "association", which is only a P.O. box and email address,
but no phone number, and have NOT gotten any response after 2 months. Looking online, we found documents that showed that the HOA status was reupped in June 2014.

Are we liable to conform to building restrictions when the HOA doesn't even respond to our query and didn't even provide the basics for
utilities in a development? This is holding us up in our plans.

Hope someone here can shed light on the legalities here.

Thanks.

DouglasK1 (Florida)
Posts: 2,046

Posted:

If you haven't already, the first thing you should do is get a copy of the HOA documents. This would include deed restrictions, covenents (CCRs), and if possible, bylaws, and read them to see what your and the association's responsibilities are. In my HOA, the CCRs state that any architectural review committee (ARC) application that is not responded to within 15 days is automatically deemed approved. You might have similar wording. If so, make sure to send a traceable request so you can prove when you sent the request. Assuming no response, then you could go forward.

Escaped former treasurer and director of a self managed association.

JimR24 (Texas)
Posts: 399

Posted:

I believe you have some good advice from Douglas in Florida. I know it's a tough issue to have purchased a home in a development where there is supposed to be a functioning Association but there is none to be found.

If i were in your shoes - after i had access to the governing documents - i would get involved in how to get the association up and running again. Sounds like it needs some leadership and you might be the ideal person for it.

Good luck - and keep us posting on how things are going for you...okay?

Lovin' life with my honey!
and, President of HOA in Texas

LarryB13 (Arizona)
Posts: 4,099

Posted:

Rob,

Many years ago Arizona was the land fraud capitol of the country, leading to a whole lot of reforms. One of those reforms was to require subdivisions to have paved roads, a water supply, sewer system, and utilities prior to selling homes. Developments were required to be registered with the Arizona Department of Real Estate. These restrictions have been in place for at least three or four decades, so I am wondering why your development does not comply.

An exception to the above requirements is that a developer can sell parcels of 36 acres or more without having to comply. (I own such a parcel in Yavapai County.) How large is your lot?

At closing, you should have received a copy of the CC&R's and bylaws. Did you get them and do you still have them? In Maricopa and Yavapai counties you can find recorded documents online. The other counties are not quite so sophisticated the last time I looked and you may have to make a trip to the recorder's office to find your CC&R's.

There is also a state law that requires an association to record a notice as to how to contact them. That should be on file at the county recorder's office.

Why do you believe that there may be an issue of compliance? My association exists for the sole purpose of maintaining our roads and has no provisions for architectural control.

Since only a few lots have been sold in your development it is likely that the developer is still in control of the association. You might be able to locate the HOA by taking the names of the directors from the Corporation Commission website and checking to see if any of them are licensed by the Dept of Real Estate.

PitA1
Posts: 222

Posted:

DITTO DOUGLAS K

RobA (Arizona)
Posts: 3

Posted:

We do have those documents so I will go through them carefully.
Thanks so much for the suggestion! So pleased to find this forum.

RobA (Arizona)
Posts: 3

Posted:

Our lot is 8 acres and is in Yavapai County. I'll be curious to look into the issue of paved roads, etc. with AZ law. We'll check at the registrars office if we can't find the info we need in the documents we do have.
There are some architectural guidelines for height (though what we want to do is not that much different). Just wanted to do things that won't get us into trouble later.
Hey, someone bought the property next to us and is going to live in a trailer. (nice guy, not a problem, but surely against the HOA rules).

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