Member Expectations

I am the President of a 164 unit HOA in CA. All of the homes are over 14 years old. A new owner has discovered that they have a leak under the concrete slab and wants the association to sue the builder. A lot of other homes have had similar issues and during the warranty period (10 years) the builder would fix the issue. After the warranty period it has been up to the individual home owner.

My question is how to I tactfully tell this homeowner off.

Thanks

Rick

Why do you want to tell the homeowner off instead of simply informing them the warranty period is over? Is that your management style? Harold

RickR3 - Understand your frustration regarding abrasive owners. Curious though. Do you have information from other owners on concrete slab leaks? What the owner seems to be seeking is a deficiency trend in the construction of the slabs. Curious if a survey of owners was ever conducted as part of a Transition Analysis. If so and there were comments on slab leaks, then technically the owner is entitled to review the survey.

Rick:

without knowing more details I would simply tell them that the warranty period is gone and they are welcome to pursue action but the HOA will not be involved.

Why not give this member the name of the builder and have them contact them. Simply say this does NOT fall under the HOA's responsibilities. You may even send them a letter addressing the true responsibilities of the HOA. Your HOA sounds similar to mine. There is a place where it does state the HOA is ONLY responsible for landscaping. You may want to review your CC&R's and check for similar references.

It's also important to note that your CC&R's most likely have never been updated to remove the builder's references. Have they? This may be leading to the confusion. We updated our CC&R's and By-laws eliminating ALL references to the builder and their original 2 voting system. I'd highly recommend updating your documents every 5 years as a rule of thumb. Even doing a review is good if no law changes even apply.

In our HOA, the owner's own the lot their house sits on and the outside area from that lot is considered "common property". The owner may have "Exclusive use" of this property but they don't own it per se. Everyone owns a piece of the property. Hence why it's HOA common property.

I would provide the homeowner with as much information you can about the situation. You may want to ask the owners involved if they don't mind them being contacted or giving out their information. They may be able to help this person go in the right direction. I don't see where this information should be held "private" from a member of the HOA if they are a homeowner/member. If you don't release this information, the HOA could be looking at being part of a lawsuit they have no need to be in. Suing your HOA is suing yourself and your neighbors. A piece of advice you may also want to note to your bothersome homeowner.