HOA refuses to elect officers

Sorry for the long post in advance. I will try to give as much info as possible.

Overview:
State of Ohio. Single family subdivision.
Developer has followed all state laws. HOA was formed and documents filed before the first property was sold. Deed restrictions include CCs & R. Developer has followed all state and county laws.

2 common lots exist. 1 is for recreational purposes, the second holds the retention pond for the subdivision. Both lots have been deeded to the HOA. When first meeting was held by developer residents refused to elect officers. At the 2nd meeting the deveopler appointed officers. Officers have since resigned (2 moved away) due to lack of cooperation and a couple of rude and uniformed residents intimidating them.

At this time the HOA is responsible for maintentance and insurance of common lots. A couple of volunteers are cutting the grass. No insurance (required by Ohio law) is in place. No dues have ever been collected. The appointed officers did not do anything other than talk to the neighbors and try to see how much everyone would agree to pay. No dues were ever collected.

I held a neighborhood meeting at my home to discuss drainage issues and had the county engineer present specifically for that purpose. He mentioned the HOA and a resident claimed the meeting was about the HOA and when I said it is not he called me a liar several times before leaving at my insistance. Most of the residents don't care, and the ones that do are being intimidated by a couple of bullys who yell and act stupid. One resident is also quietly (he won't say anything in front of a group) going neighbor to neighbor and giving incorrect information as to whether the HOA is legal.

Any ideas short of legal action? One of the problems is that the HOA has no money so legal advise would have to be paid for by those supporting the HOA and willing to put up their own money to force the issue.

If the developer did everything proper, then there should be some money somewhere.

My advice, petition the court for a receiver.
Receivership should be the last course of action but I think you will need said action to protect the members who simply don't want to belong.

The other option is to petition the City/County to make the area a special tax district so the City/county will maintain the storm water pond and, perhaps, the playground.

Encourage the builder to sell the lots and transfer the declarant rights.

GlenL,

I'm with you on this. The County engineer said exactly the same thing to the
group (less than 1/2) of the residents that showed up to the meeting about
drainage. Nobody seemed to care.

He also read from the deed restrictions (and county subdivision regulations)
which included a section of the county's right to server notice upon the HOA for not
maintaining the retention pond. This gives the county the right to force the
HOA to mainatin the pond (it needs to be cleaned and dredged some to get back to design specs. part of our drainage problem).

The county can sue and then hire a contractor to come in and do what is necessary. Costs would be assesed to each home owner. However, additional court costs and legal fees can be added which would end up costing more than taking care of it ourselves.

What a mess, and I only have a handful out of 33 owners who are willing to listen. As mentioned above a couple vocal ones who don't understand and don't want to understand who intimdate others and spread false info.

In Ohio I beleive they are one in the same. There are no board members
and/or officers at this time. Ohio law requires that officers be elected and that the HOA does a minimum of insuring the common properties and the officers and maintaning any common properties.

The CC&Rs state 65% of lots or 4 years after first house is sold is when home owners can take control whichever occurs first. The first house was sold in 2006. The developer filed HOA as non-profit in state of ohio in 2012. Then transferred the 2 common properties to the HOA. As stated above he tried to get residents to elect officers and was not sucessful.

Since he transferred the common lots to the HOA he has no longer been maintaining them. He still cuts the grass on the lots he owns peridoically, but does not in any way maintain the common properties. Although I think he must be paying the taxes on them which is only a few
dollars per year. The count auditor site shows them up to date.

As I said everything I have read and researched is that he has followed laws and proper
procedures.

Proposed Plan of Action.
1. Get a quote from an insurance company on what your premiums would be for the coverage you need.
2. Get an estimate of maintenance costs for the common areas.
3. Find out how much it will cost to regain corporate status for the HOA.
4. Add 10% for administrative costs.
5. Add it all up.
6. Send a bill to the Developer for half. He owns half the lots. He should pay his half.

Perhaps. But everything I can find online - County recorder records,
auditor records, State of Ohio Secretary of State leads me to believe the
following:

Developer filed all proper forms to establish the Home owners association before
the first home was sold. I see CC&Rs filed for every lot in the subdivsion prior
to the sale of the first home. I beleive this establishes the HOA per Ohio and
county law.

At a time legally within the CC&Rs the developer filed with the Sate of Ohio the
xxx Homeowners association as a non-profit llc in state of Ohio for the stated purpose
of maintainng the common properties. Since there were no officers at the time he is
listed as the agent.

The developer transfered the 2 common lots from his development company to the
xxx homeowners association on the same day he filed the non-profit for the HOA.

County auditor records list the xxx HOA as the owner of the common lots.

The deveoper held a meeting informing the residents of the transfer of property and that
officers would need to be elected and maintenance of the common area would become
the responsibilty of the HOA. Residents refused to vote at this meeting and argued with
the developer about wanting an HOA. He tried to explain the facts and most did not want to listen. They still think they can choose whether there is an HOA. They can not under Ohio
Law. And, new Ohio law states it requires unanimous agreement to dissolve HOA. Even if they
could some don't beleive that the deed restrictions and CC&Rs remain binding. They do.

A second meeting was held and since the developer has 50% of the vote he was able to
appoint officers. The officers have since resigned. However, none of the things that should have been done by the officers were done. They did not establish a mailing address for the HOA, did not set or collect any dues, did not insure themselves or the common property.

Since there were officers for a short period of time and with the other things mentioned above I have a hard time saying the HOA is under declarent control. However, in the respect
that the declarent still holds 50% of the votes nothing can be done without him.

He has pretty much washed his hands of this. He was treated poorly by the same few residents and has since put the remainng lots of the subdivision up for sale. He says he will not build any more houses.

As far as I know he has not attempted to call another meeting or appoint any new officers.
With what has transpired in the meetings I don't know if he could get 3 people to take on
becoming officers.

If I were him I would take back control, notify everyone that dues (max $300 per year) will be collected starting Jan 1 2016 and hire a managment company to oversee until he can sell the remaining lots to another developer. I don't think he will do that.

In the meantime, all homeowners are at risk by not having the common properties insured,
which is and has always been my main concern.

If the common areas have been conveyed to the HOA, and if the developer has no intent to complete the development or sell the remaining lots, you might be able to legally strip him of his status of Declarant. Why should he get a free ride if the rest of you are going to be stuck with double the cost. But of course, you would have to discuss your options with a lawyer. Receivership may be the better way to go - but I do think that the developer should have a fire lit under his butt as well.

Zero likelihood.

Ahh the old somebody else should do it while I sit a wring my hands excuse. While you continue to do nothing, you should contact your attorney and insurance company on how best to mitigate your exposure. After all winter is coming and Little Johnny is itching to learn how to ice-skate on your not quite frozen retention pond. In the mean time I imagine it will come to a head the next time someone tries to sell their property and find they can't because of this mishigas.

Am I reading this wrong or are you chastising me for doing nothing?